A Christian interfaith peace builder, and an initial supporter of the Green Interfaith Dialogue speaks for the civil right movement of Iran:
Making Peace among the Descendents of Abraham
David Kreider
A personal journey towards hope
One of the most meaningful experiences of my life has been my opportunity these past two years to get acquainted with Muslim and Jewish colleagues at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Several of us began attending an exploratory Scriptural Reasoning group, an interfaith dialogue group exploring similar texts in our holy scriptures, the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. Our excitement to find common ground led several of us to form an additional group we called Interfaith Search for Scriptural Common Ground for Peace to explore the teachings in our faiths that relate to peacemaking - compassion, love, nonviolence, forgiveness, mercy, etc. As we talked we found a growing sense of kinship and awe in the realization that we were also finding our common humanity, a deepening sense of connection in our common quest for God and God’s moral laws as revealed to us through our prophets.
Among these students was an Iranian by the name of Fatemeh whose gentle and beautiful spirit, deep faith, and passion for citizen diplomacy, dialogue and interfaith peacemaking has given me a deep sense of hope that through the central teachings of our faiths, what some have blindly considered enemies are actually friends who have yet to open their eyes to recognize each other. Through Fatemeh I have become acquainted with several other Iranians...whose passions for interfaith dialogue and profound concern for justice in their country in the aftermath of the elections in June 2009 have converged in this effort to bring peace not only in their native Iran but to our wider human family whose spiritual roots come together in Abraham, Hagar and Sarah.
As a student of peacebuilding and conflict transformation who has come to recognize nonviolence as a powerful agent of change in the face of injustice, one rooted in the visionary words of Isaiah, Hosea, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, and demonstrated in the movements of Ghaffar Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr and others, I am excited to see these transformative spiritual principles reawakening in the emerging Green movement in Iran. I believe it is these moral and political principles of compassion, justice, and freedom, qualities of God Himself, and inalienable human rights, will ultimately bring us together as a human family and define our ideals as human communities.
Marc Gopin, in his book “Holy War, Holy Peace, How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East” features a remarkable document drawn up by several rabbis and sheikhs called the Jerusalem Peace Agreement which I found profoundly moving:
“We as representatives of the two faiths, of Islam and Judaism, agree to the following: Both the Torah and the Qur’an are expressions of faith which speak of the divine revelation and oneness of G-d . Both [..] teach their faithful to honor every human being as the living image of G-d. The Holy Torah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, the prophet of the Jewish people, calls for the respect and honor of every human being regardless of race or creed [and for] special respect and feeling of brotherhood to all believers in the one G-d. Thus Muslims, who worship the same G-d as the Jews, are primary recipients of these feelings of brotherhood.
The Holy Qur’an revealed to Mohammed, peace be upon him, the prophet of Islam, calls for the respect and honor of every human being regardless of race or creed [and for] special respect and feeling of brotherhood to all believers in the one G-d. Thus Jews, who worship the same G-d as the Muslims, are primary recipients of these feelings of brotherhood.
Based on these eternal truths of the Holy Torah and the Holy Qur’an, we declare that no human being shall be persecuted, physically or morally, because of their faith or the practice of their beliefs. We also express our wish for greater harmony and understanding between [us]. We the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac, the children of Abraham, are united to offer our prayers [..] for the end of all enmity and for the beginning of an era of peace, love and compassion.” (Excerpts 2002, 53-54)
The question that haunts me as a Christian as I read this beautiful affirmation of common faith is where is Jesus in this, a Jew who also spoke of God as One, and of love and peace and faith beyond the framework of his own tradition? Where were Christians in this remarkable peace agreement?
Reason for hope
There is an amazing growing groundswell of passion for inter-religious peacemaking around the world. Universities and seminaries are building programs in interfaith studies. Initiatives such as “A Common Word between Us and You,” from 300 Muslim clerics to Christian leaders in the West, and the Interfaith Youth Core movement of Eboo Patel are reflective of this hunger for mutual understanding and peace. At high levels of US policy analysis, the Center for Strategic International Studies and the U.S. Institute of Peace have sponsored landmark studies whose findings point to inter-religious diplomacy as strategic to engaging the ideological underpinnings of terrorist groups whose networks have become global and their designs apocalyptic. World leaders like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Barak Obama have increasingly engaged the language of faith in their work to bridge the political and ideological divides we face in today’s world. Today in Iran, the Green Movement has also given expression to a deep spiritual hunger for peace, religious, social and political freedom, justice, and good governance that is uniting people across the lines of faith in prayer, solidarity, political action, and support.
Those who recognize the transformative premises in the teachings of our prophets for peacemaking and compassion have an increasingly strategic role to play in transforming the twisted logics of holy war to those of peace and a new social order built on a moral law of love that bridges enmity. Those who have espoused the premises in our scriptures of peace through justice and nonviolence, and acted on a politics of compassion for the needs of the poor and disenfranchised are garnering renewed respect across these lines of faith and politics. It is to this work and to these principles that we have been called by God. We are blessed by an awakening sense of God’s Spirit bringing together an unprecedented convergence of common interest, a remarkable opportunity to rediscover our Creator’s vision for the world in our collaborative hunger for peace, justice, and liberty. May our God draw us together as a human family through faith, through our pursuit of the truth God has sought so diligently to reveal to us, and give us wisdom in the pursuit of peace and justice in our respective countries and among our interfaith communities that transcend all boundaries around the world.
1) Dr Rabbi Marc Gopin is Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
2) This rendering of the name of God is a notation of respect to Jewish tradition which does not actually pronounce the name of God. God’s name is usually read “Elohim” or “Adonai” (meaning “the Lord”).
David Kreider is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where he is also involved on the Advisory Board of Abraham’s Tent, a Center for Interfaith Engagement.
Making Peace among the Descendents of Abraham
David Kreider
A personal journey towards hope
One of the most meaningful experiences of my life has been my opportunity these past two years to get acquainted with Muslim and Jewish colleagues at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Several of us began attending an exploratory Scriptural Reasoning group, an interfaith dialogue group exploring similar texts in our holy scriptures, the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. Our excitement to find common ground led several of us to form an additional group we called Interfaith Search for Scriptural Common Ground for Peace to explore the teachings in our faiths that relate to peacemaking - compassion, love, nonviolence, forgiveness, mercy, etc. As we talked we found a growing sense of kinship and awe in the realization that we were also finding our common humanity, a deepening sense of connection in our common quest for God and God’s moral laws as revealed to us through our prophets.
Among these students was an Iranian by the name of Fatemeh whose gentle and beautiful spirit, deep faith, and passion for citizen diplomacy, dialogue and interfaith peacemaking has given me a deep sense of hope that through the central teachings of our faiths, what some have blindly considered enemies are actually friends who have yet to open their eyes to recognize each other. Through Fatemeh I have become acquainted with several other Iranians...whose passions for interfaith dialogue and profound concern for justice in their country in the aftermath of the elections in June 2009 have converged in this effort to bring peace not only in their native Iran but to our wider human family whose spiritual roots come together in Abraham, Hagar and Sarah.
As a student of peacebuilding and conflict transformation who has come to recognize nonviolence as a powerful agent of change in the face of injustice, one rooted in the visionary words of Isaiah, Hosea, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, and demonstrated in the movements of Ghaffar Khan, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr and others, I am excited to see these transformative spiritual principles reawakening in the emerging Green movement in Iran. I believe it is these moral and political principles of compassion, justice, and freedom, qualities of God Himself, and inalienable human rights, will ultimately bring us together as a human family and define our ideals as human communities.
Marc Gopin, in his book “Holy War, Holy Peace, How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East” features a remarkable document drawn up by several rabbis and sheikhs called the Jerusalem Peace Agreement which I found profoundly moving:
“We as representatives of the two faiths, of Islam and Judaism, agree to the following: Both the Torah and the Qur’an are expressions of faith which speak of the divine revelation and oneness of G-d . Both [..] teach their faithful to honor every human being as the living image of G-d. The Holy Torah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, the prophet of the Jewish people, calls for the respect and honor of every human being regardless of race or creed [and for] special respect and feeling of brotherhood to all believers in the one G-d. Thus Muslims, who worship the same G-d as the Jews, are primary recipients of these feelings of brotherhood.
The Holy Qur’an revealed to Mohammed, peace be upon him, the prophet of Islam, calls for the respect and honor of every human being regardless of race or creed [and for] special respect and feeling of brotherhood to all believers in the one G-d. Thus Jews, who worship the same G-d as the Muslims, are primary recipients of these feelings of brotherhood.
Based on these eternal truths of the Holy Torah and the Holy Qur’an, we declare that no human being shall be persecuted, physically or morally, because of their faith or the practice of their beliefs. We also express our wish for greater harmony and understanding between [us]. We the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac, the children of Abraham, are united to offer our prayers [..] for the end of all enmity and for the beginning of an era of peace, love and compassion.” (Excerpts 2002, 53-54)
The question that haunts me as a Christian as I read this beautiful affirmation of common faith is where is Jesus in this, a Jew who also spoke of God as One, and of love and peace and faith beyond the framework of his own tradition? Where were Christians in this remarkable peace agreement?
Reason for hope
There is an amazing growing groundswell of passion for inter-religious peacemaking around the world. Universities and seminaries are building programs in interfaith studies. Initiatives such as “A Common Word between Us and You,” from 300 Muslim clerics to Christian leaders in the West, and the Interfaith Youth Core movement of Eboo Patel are reflective of this hunger for mutual understanding and peace. At high levels of US policy analysis, the Center for Strategic International Studies and the U.S. Institute of Peace have sponsored landmark studies whose findings point to inter-religious diplomacy as strategic to engaging the ideological underpinnings of terrorist groups whose networks have become global and their designs apocalyptic. World leaders like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Barak Obama have increasingly engaged the language of faith in their work to bridge the political and ideological divides we face in today’s world. Today in Iran, the Green Movement has also given expression to a deep spiritual hunger for peace, religious, social and political freedom, justice, and good governance that is uniting people across the lines of faith in prayer, solidarity, political action, and support.
Those who recognize the transformative premises in the teachings of our prophets for peacemaking and compassion have an increasingly strategic role to play in transforming the twisted logics of holy war to those of peace and a new social order built on a moral law of love that bridges enmity. Those who have espoused the premises in our scriptures of peace through justice and nonviolence, and acted on a politics of compassion for the needs of the poor and disenfranchised are garnering renewed respect across these lines of faith and politics. It is to this work and to these principles that we have been called by God. We are blessed by an awakening sense of God’s Spirit bringing together an unprecedented convergence of common interest, a remarkable opportunity to rediscover our Creator’s vision for the world in our collaborative hunger for peace, justice, and liberty. May our God draw us together as a human family through faith, through our pursuit of the truth God has sought so diligently to reveal to us, and give us wisdom in the pursuit of peace and justice in our respective countries and among our interfaith communities that transcend all boundaries around the world.
1) Dr Rabbi Marc Gopin is Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
2) This rendering of the name of God is a notation of respect to Jewish tradition which does not actually pronounce the name of God. God’s name is usually read “Elohim” or “Adonai” (meaning “the Lord”).
David Kreider is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where he is also involved on the Advisory Board of Abraham’s Tent, a Center for Interfaith Engagement.
سلام...بسیار خرسندم از آشنایی با وبلاگ شما...موفق باشید.....سید رضا
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