Peace Post of the Day: "Christian Terrorism in Norway?"

Check out this excellent article by Joseph Cumming, Director of the Reconciliation Program of the Center for Faith and Culture at the Yale Divinity School. He reflects on the recent "Christian" terrorist attack in Norway, and concludes, "Thus, Christians have a terrorism problem too. It flows from the kind of tribal thinking that is a catastrophic misinterpretation of the Christian faith, but it is a misinterpretation that this killer is not alone in believing. And if we search our consciences honestly, some of us may find just a little bit of that misinterpretation hidden in our own hearts."

Tribalism works against peace, whatever people and religious context it takes root in. 

Hope for Peace? Reflections by Rick Love on the "Building Hope" Conference

I just attended the Building Hope Conference at Yale (June 13-22, 2011), a strategic international conference of Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders, committed to seeking the common good. So what are some of the major lessons I learned? (click to follow the link for the full reflection)

Building Hope: The Final Statement

Here is the Final Statement from the 10-day Building Hope Conference of the Reconciliation Program at the Center for Faith and Culture at Yale Divinity. It was a significant, transformative, "intercultural" and "interreligious" time.

Peace Quote of the Day: Daisy Khan on Extremists

Okay, here's a trip:

Visiting the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue in New York City, led by Rabbi Elie Abbadie, with a group of Muslims, Christians and Orthodox Jews, and hearing Daisy Khan speak.

Daisy Khan is the wife of Imam Faisal, who has been at the center of the Ground Zero mosque controversy.

She is interesting, engaging, real, and anything but threatening. That, she says, is because (according to her critics) she is practicing takia, i.e., concealing the truth - "faking us out," so that she (they) can "take over and impose Sharia on America" (basically, the same as the Moral Majority, I guess?). 

The thing is, I believe her, and I'm willing to risk something on that belief. (I would add that, in 30 years of living among Muslims, I have never seen any teaching or practice that supports the accusation of takia. And I think I have some ability to judge character.

Anyway, here's a quote, among other things she said: 

“we must not be held hostage by extremists.” 

She was speaking of Terry Jones, but her words are equally relevant to Muslim and Jewish extremists.

If we can't distinguish between extremists and others, we are going to have a very hard time moving forward.

Words for Peace from Imam Dawood

Another "peace nugget" from the Building Hope Conference:

“it's much harder to hate someone once you know them” (Imam Dawood)

We must meet and know people, if we are to grow toward peace. This is true whether we're talking about Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations, about race relations, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We have to step out of our comfort zone, leave our bubbles, and meet The Other.

Words for Peace by Sami Awad (from the Building Hope Conference)

Words for peace, from a talk by Sami Awad at the Building Hope Conference (you can follow it on Twitter at #buildinghope):

“if you want peace, you work for peace, and you never stop, no matter what the other side does”

“finding a solution to just benefit one group or another, is not peace”

“peace is what you give, not what you take”

“peace is not a strategic option” (i.e., our commitment needs to be deeper and stronger than "strategy")

Does Peace Lie in the Texts, or in the Interpretation and Application?

One thing that has become clear to me, as we - committed Christians, Muslims and Jews - discuss our sacred texts about various issues (like love of neighbor, the poor, violence including terrorism, and others), at the Building Hope Conference, is that our problem does not lie in our sacred texts, but in the interpretation and application of those texts.

To put it very simply, you can interpret and apply the texts - in any of our traditions - in a way that leads to and supports good relations and peace with others, or the opposite.

To give one example, which I keep coming back to, it is one thing to have a text that says "love your neighbor as yourself"; it is another to decide what that means and who it applies to (Jesus threw a wrench in the works by applying the verse to the despised Samaritans, who the Jews of his day would never have thought of as their neighbors). And that's one of the "easy" or "nice" verses.

One of the things which encourages me about this conference is, the participants are deeply religious / committed, AND broad-minded, open-hearted, eager to live out their faith in good relations with those of other faiths (or none). That is encouraging.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow: we're talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. :-)

Love of Neighbor, Yes - But Who is Our Neighbor?

An interesting question came up yesterday, as we were talking about peacemaking and tolerance in our (Christian, Jewish and Muslim) traditions.

First of all, we all agreed that "tolerance" is a weak and insufficient goal. We want something more, and we need something more, if we are to be seeking and building peace with different others.

But then a question arose, as we considered what our sacred texts teach about our relationship with The Other.

A Jewish presenter shared the text,
The reason Adam was created alone in the world is to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever keeps alive a single soul, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had preserved the entire world.

But someone pointed out that there is another version,

FOR THIS REASON WAS MAN CREATED ALONE, TO TEACH THEE THAT WHOSOEVER DESTROYS A SINGLE SOUL OF ISRAEL,39 SCRIPTURE IMPUTES [GUILT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD DESTROYED A COMPLETE WORLD; AND WHOSOEVER PRESERVES A SINGLE SOUL OF ISRAEL, SCRIPTURE ASCRIBES [MERIT] TO HIM AS THOUGH HE HAD PRESERVED A COMPLETE WORLD.40

This raises the question, are Jews encouraged not to destroy / to save, Jewish life, or all life?

Similarly, a Muslim presenter shared the Hadith,

"None of you truly believes (in Allaah and in His religion) until he loves for his neighbor what he loves for himself,"

but another pointed out that this is "weak," that the "strong" version is

"None of you truly believes (in Allah and in His religion) until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself,"

with the understanding that "brother" means fellow Muslims.

And for Christians, does Jesus' teaching to "love your neighbor as yourself" mean fellow Christian, or all others? (Note, for example, that in Matthew 5:23-24 it says, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to that person; then come and offer your gift." - does "brother or sister" mean fellow Christian, or everyone?)

I do not approach this from the position of arguing what Islam or Judaism teaches (e.g., some Christians argue that Islam teaches only love of Muslims). One question is what the texts say; another is, how do we interpret and apply them, what do we emphasize?

My perspective is that in any of our traditions we are faced with the question, how do we relate to people (The Other) outside our tradition, outside our community? What are our commitments? Are we committed to doing good to all people, loving all people, saving the life of all people? The potential is there, in each of our traditions, for inclusivity or exclusivity, for narrowness or breadth. And depending on the interpretation and the path we take, the end result can be conflict, oppression, even the extremes of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

As a Christian, I believe that our mandate, from Jesus, is to love all people. After all, when he taught that the second great commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself,” the example he used to illustrate this (to his Jewish listeners) was the dispised, “half-breed,” “false religion” Samaritan. Every person is our neighbor. We are to treat every person as we ourselves want to be treated. There is no room, in the teachings of Jesus, for the kind of exclusive views that might lead us to devalue and ultimately dehumanize other people, whatever their gender or race or ethnicity or religion.

Seeking Peace through "Building Hope"? Muslims, Christians and Jews at Yale

The "Building Hope" conference has begun.

There is too much to reflect on coherently at this time, but a couple of thoughts about how to relate to the Other, in a way that might lead to something positive:

* We were encouraged last night that for deeper understanding, we must go beyond study of texts (history, etc.), and focus on developing friendship with others (the others we might be suspicious or afraid or ignorant of, in conflict with, etc.). In fact, that's why 30 of us - Muslims, Christians and Jews - are spending 10 days together, sharing life, sharing meals, sharing faith, and discussing difficult issues.

* We were also encouraged that the path to understanding usually leads through times of non-understanding. If we think we "understand" the Other from the start, what we really understand are just our own stereotypes of the Other, relating to an image rather than reality. 

* Today, one of the Jewish speakers reminded us that Muslims and Christians both tend to think they understand Judaism, but what we really understand are our own versions of Judaism, based on our textual traditions. If we really want to understand Judaism (and Jews), we need to let them speak, and listen, to come to know them, and their version. The challenge, the speaker pointed out, is to hold our texts and images in one hand, and to create space for understanding Judaism on its own terms, at the same time. 

What we experienced, today, was Muslims and Jews sharing about their beliefs and practices, and significant question and answer times (that were too short, but very significant); and lots of relational time, as well, over meals and breaks, interacting, getting to know each other, and - I hope - moving toward more of an understanding of Each Other as we really are (not as images). 

This definitely seems like steps on the path toward peace. I'm hopeful...

Pursuing Peace through Building Hope - Muslims, Christians and Jews Seeking the Common Good

Can Muslims, Christians and Jews - especially those with deep faith commitments, and who are more "conservative" within their respective traditions - work together for the common good? What might it take? What barriers must be overcome? This is where I'll be, the next two weeks. We'll see what happens.