ISFiT presents: Discrimiligion - Christianity and Islam

The plenary session will be held at Litteraturhuset.

Is religion discriminating? Does there exist discrimination within different religions? Is secularisation discriminative for religions?

The speakers will tell their own stories and experiences from different parts of the world and religions, and then take part in a discussion about this topic. The plenary session will be held in the Mosque in Trondheim. To discuss and share their stories we have invited Marina Nemat (IR), a Christian refugee from the Iranian regime, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit (NO), the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Dr. Ismail Cuneyt Guzey (TR), Associate Professor of the Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science at NTNU and leader of the Muslim Society in Trondheim. And as moderator of the plenary session we have invited Professor Ulrika Mårtensson, professor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at NTNU.

The plenary session will be in English.

More about the speaker

Marina Nemat is an international bestselling author, originally from Iran, now with residence and citizenship in Canada. At 16 she was arrested by the Iranian regime as a Christian demonstrator, and spent two years in the Evin prison, a prison for political prisoners. During the imprisonment she was tortured and came very close to execution. She later escaped and moved to Canada in 1991 which has been her home every since. In 2007 she published her memoir of her life in Iran called "Prisoner of Tehran" which became an international best seller. Since then she has been giving talks about her life experiences at universities, high schools, associations and forums, and published a second book called "After Tehran: A Life Reclaimed" in 2010. Nemat received the Human Dignity Award from the European Parliament in 2007, the Grinzane Prize in Italy and the Morris Abram Human Rights Award from the UN Watch in 2014. She is also the chair of the Writers in Exile Committee at PEN Canada and a member of the International Council of the Oslo Freedom Forum.

Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit is a Norwegian Lutheran theologian. Rev. Tveit has a Master in Theology from the Norwegian School of Theology (NST) from 1986 and a Doctorate in Theology from NST from 2002. Rev. Tveit is an ordained pastor in the Church of Norway and has served as a parish priest. From 2002 to 2009 Rev. Tveit served as the general secretary of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations. Rev. Tveit has also been the leader of an Inter-Faith dialogue group between the Islamic Council of Norway and the Christian Council of Norway and a member of the board of trustees of Norwegian Church Aid. The Rev. was elected the General secretary of the World Councils of Churches in 2009 and re-elected for a second term in 2014.

Dr. Cuneyt Guzey is an Associate Professor of the Department of Mental Health at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and a Senior Consultant at St. Olavs Hospital. Cuneyt Guzey got his Doctorate of Medicine from Gazi Üniversitesi in Turkey and his Doctorate of Philosophy in Molecular Medicine from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His main research interests are genetics of behavior, biological psychiatry and pharmacogenetics. Dr. Cuneyt Guzey is also the leader of the Muslim Society in Trondheim.

Ulrika Mårtensson will work as the moderator of the plenary session. Mårtensson is a professor of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Mårtensson has a MA in Arabic and History of Religions from Stockholm University from 1998 and a PhD in History of Religions from Uppsala University from 2001. She has done research about Islam and is currently teaching several courses at NTNU. Her knowledge, research and experience with religious studies, philosophy and history will make her well equipped for leading the dialogue between the speakers and putting important questions on the agenda.