Approximately 100 students and faculty attended a panel discussion of the book “The Children of Abraham” Tuesday night in Belk Library.

The talk was part of the Let’s Talk About It program series hosted by the library and the Muslim Student Association.

The talk featured three Appalachian State University professors: Maria Lichtmann and Alan Hauser from the Department of Philosophy and Religion, and Rahman Tashakkori from the Department of Computer Science.

The professors gave introductory statements about their backgrounds in regards to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and then proceeded to pose several discussion-leading statements about the book before taking questions from the audience.

The discussion primarily focused on the acceptance and understanding of similarities between Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Tashakkori emphasized that many of the problems that arise between religions are the result of misinformation and misinterpretation.

“Many things are translated between languages very differently,” Tashakkori said.

Lichtmann said she was surprised by the turnout to the discussion.

“I’m really impressed and very gratified that people were interested enough to come and hear about these three religions together,” Lichtmann said. “There’s that much interest in learning about each other.”

She said there needs to be more face-to-face encounters between religions.

“We sat at a table with a Muslim and we heard about what it means to be in dialogue with Muslims and I think we need a lot more of it,” Lichtmann said. “So the more opportunities we can have like this the better.”

Allan Scherlen, a librarian at Belk Library, organized the event. Scherlen said that the talk exemplified what the Let’s Talk About It series tries to do.

“They talked about building compassion and understanding other religions, and this whole series is for that purpose, so students can learn about other religions than their own as we become a much more global community,” Scherlen said.

Story: CARL BLANKENSHIP, Intern News Reporter 
Photo: MOLLY COGBURN, Staff Photographer