I am proud to announce the first release of Nurani, Meedan’s platform for cross-language scriptural discussion for Muslim and Christian scholars managed by the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme at the University of Cambridge, a programme of the Faculty of Divinity.

The long term goal is a federated system of discussion fora (Nurani, ScripturalReasoning.org and others run by new partners) drawing upon a common textual resource (the library).  The next phase in this vision is to be funded over 18 months by a UK Research Council Digital Economy Grant with two new developer positions to be hired at Cambridge with project management, design and strategy provided by Meedan.

International society urgently needs more face-to-face communication across cultural barriers to stave off the threat of increased communal tension and extremism, UN chief Ban Ki-moon told civil society leaders in Istanbul on Monday.

Radicalization of the poor in the midst of global economic crisis could only be tackled through cooperation and dialogue, the UN Secretary General said in an address at the Alliance of Civilizations Forum.

Ki-moon also urged assembled world leaders, including the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to share ‘the spirit of goodwill’ in the worst global economic downturn since the 1930s.

Initiatives for peace within and between societies could also enable economic growth by encouraging stability and investment, he said.

Barack Obama will head to Turkey following the G20 summit in London for his first visit to a Muslim country in power.

The U.S. President is expected to address Turkey’s parliament and talk with opposition parties during the trip.

But aides have stressed the visit is not being planned as a platform for speaking to the wider Muslim world, according to Hurriyet newspaper.

U.S. officials do not want the visit to extend beyond bilateral affairs, the paper reports.