A professor from the University of California Berkeley addressed students about secularism Thursday.
Saba Mahmood spoke to about 120 people on how the separation of church and state affects Islam. Her presentation took place at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service in the Pugh Hall Ocora at 6 p.m. and was free to the public. The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Department of Religion and the Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research.
Mahmood compared religious minorities in different countries including Baha’is in Egypt and Muslims in France. She discussed minorities’ legal rights and instances of discrimination.
“How is discrimination to be judged,” she said. “By whom, and what grounds?”
Mahmood told students discrimination is the result of majority power.
“We are all implicated in the same problem, and it’s hard for us to see that,” she said.
Kevin Baron, the civic engagement coordinator for the center, said Mahmood was brought in to have an open discussion on religious minorities.
“The idea of the event is bringing in a prominent researcher to talk about an important subject matter,” he said.
UF political science junior Luke Waldron said he thought Mahmood’s speech opened up an interesting dialogue.
“It was a little different than what I thought,” the 21-year-old said. “I liked that she used examples from both Europe and the Middle East.”
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mkornfield@alligator.org
Saba Mahmood spoke to about 120 people on how the separation of church and state affects Islam at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service on Thursday.
