Thinking about Paris, which I do think, unfortunately, we’re going to continue to see more and more examples like this in the months and years to come, so I think in some ways we need to have a national and global conversation about religion to prepare us for how do we carry on that work of healing when these atrocities hit us. So the healing work actually has to come before the atrocities, through the atrocity, and after. It’s going to—we’re in an era where we have to be planning for healing just as carefully as others are planning for destruction. We’re simply, by necessity, now in an era of global processes of healing, and as others have said, we’re all wounded, so we’re wounded healers now.
Professor Omid Safi, director of Duke University’s Islamic Studies Center, says the Paris terror attacks were a “harbinger” of more to come. He urges faith communities to build relationships of trust and begin a global conversation about religion so they can be ready to begin the healing process when the next attack occurs.
