I believe we need to identify the key issues that will form the focus of our intellectual activity in the future. Of these, Islam continues to get a bad press and evoke hostility.
Different civilizations look differently at the idea of the divine.
There is conflict between civilizations on the one hand but there is also interfaith dialogue on the other. The factors responsible are multicausal in nature. There is globalization, which makes national borders irrelevant. There is the continued injustice that many nations face across the world - the Balkans, Palestine, Kashmir are just some examples. There is the impact of the media, which is now so intrusive, powerful and irresistible.