What I imagine accomplishing on this trip

Having done this sort of travel before, I already know exactly how it will go. The experience will not be what I expect. It never is. Knowing that in advance leaves me open to whatever the experience ends up being.

Nevertheless, I'm going with a lot of curiosity about Turkey, Islam in its various expressions, and the Fethullah Gülen movement.

Turkey was once the center of the Ottoman Empire, the military, technological, and cultural hedgemon of its world. I'm interested in "life after empire," and how it unfolds there. I'm interested in what it might tell about my own community and nation's futures.

The Gülen movement, that is sponsoring my visit, has said and done some very appealing things. They are an Islamic movement, and have their detractors among those in Turkey who favor official secularism. The main argument of the detractors I've read seems to be that while the public face of the Gülen movement is very sweet, its leadership is covertly Islamist (especially Islamist, not just Islamic). They consider foreigners who come to Turkey on dialogue tours such as ours to be simple propaganda victims.

Lack of trust was a major barrier to interfaith dialogue cited by Fr. Thomas Michel, in his lecture at Seattle University.

Jesus talked about this "wolf in sheep's clothing" problem. He suggested that the way to tell about a tree is by examining its fruit. I'm very curious to continue tasting and seeing the fruit of the Gülen movement's tree.

Finally, I'm curious about new possibilities for interfaith dialogue, tolerance, and even love in Seattle, America, and the world.