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Mobilizing Faith for Womenis that women, and also men, are afraid of enteringpolitics and being in the public eye. As Ritu Sharma,president and founder of Women Thrive Worldwide,shared, “The other side has guns, zeal, and power.They will use violence.” She illustrated how realthe fear is for women, from activists in Afghanistanand Iraq who receive threats every day to those whofear backlash from news media if they speak out oncontroversial issues in the United States. Campbell,while traveling the country with Nuns on the Bus,found that “while all faiths tell us ‘fear not,’ society iscontrolled by fear — fear of the other, fear of attack.”Sharma responded, “Yes, scripture talks to power,but when power has a gun, how do we strengthen,protect, and inspire our nonviolent movements tostand strong in the face of the zealous, radical movementson the other side?” Anwar highlighted theimportance of opening the space for public debatebefore it is completely closed by violence in placessuch as Pakistan and Afghanistan where “death awaitsyou.” Every time Sisters in Islam is publicly attacked,they use it as an opportunity to widen public awarenesson those controversies, eventually garnering ahuge public constituency and public resonance totheir work.Rishmawi contended that “it will all be sorted outthe moment violence is finished.” In the meantime,human rights defenders exhibit extraordinary braverydriven by their faith. Exemplifying this, Campbellsaid, “My heart has broken for people who have experiencedinjustice. And when my heart is broken, whatis fear to me? Living for me, in a Christian context,is living out the Gospel. Jesus was all about going toplaces where people ache and hurt, so how can I not?Too often we focus on the fear and less on the need.Faith is always about walking, willingly, into trouble.”“Yes, scripture talks to power,but when power has a gun,how do we strengthen, protect,and inspire our nonviolentmovements to stand strong inthe face of the zealous, radicalmovements on the other side?”— Ritu SharmaThe Carter Center 31