Press Releases
September 22, 2006
University of Denver Bridges to the Future program is dedicated to "The Pursuit of Peace"
DENVER—The 2006—07 University of Denver Bridges to the Future program is dedicated to "The Pursuit of Peace"—a concept that has both enticed and eluded global society. For millennia, wars have been fought over land, religion, people and politics. Movements for peace surface sporadically, some as response to the latest conflict, others in an effort to chart a new course for human interaction.
The events of the summer of 2006 and the past several years have again drawn our attention to the pursuit of peace. As the Middle East erupts anew in bloody conflict and the threat and response to terrorism continues to claim lives, we are left wondering whether a world at peace is imaginable or attainable, and shaken by the reality that it may be neither.
The waves of war ripple beyond the leaders responsible for starting and ending them. Ordinary citizens on and off the battlefield suffer as well. Health experts see escalating consequences; beyond the obvious violence of bombs and bullets, rising stress levels are impacting the human body and mind. Religious leaders and public safety officials see an increase in conflicts between individuals and groups. And families see the direct human cost of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives coming home in caskets or with injuries both physical and mental. What can we do? Can individual citizens stop the bloodshed when world leaders cannot? Can religious leaders see past their different ideologies to forge a path for peace? Can political leaders forget the short-term gains of so-called "wedge issues" and begin a statesman-like struggle to end conflicts? Can business leaders likewise forget short-term, resource-driven profits and realize instead the economic benefits of a strife-free, sustainable world? And what can our academic communities do?
This year's Bridges to the Future program is a start. Keying off the call to action by 10 Nobel laureates gathering at the University of Denver for the international PeaceJam event in September 2006, this year's program again strives to stimulate community dialogue on the pursuit of peace by focusing on the peace movement, world conflict, and peace and religion. In the fifth year of its premier lecture series, DU calls on the best local, national and international academic, religious and political leaders to guide the discussion and engage the public. The Bridges to the Future series remains free and open to all.
