American Christians, Jews, Muslims Join to Promote Peace
(Interfaith organization builds bridges, calls for strong U.S. leadership) (1069)
By Carrie Loewenthal Massey
Special Correspondent
Washington - When President Obama spoke at Cairo University in June 2009, he repeated the United States' goal of fostering a fair, two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"If we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security," he said.
The National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) works to make President Obama's words a reality.
Founded in 2003, NILI is an organization of American Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders dedicated to garnering widespread support for strong U.S. leadership in pursuit of peace among Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians. Since its inception, the group has collectively called upon Israel to dismantle settlements, the Palestinian Authority to put an end to violence that originates in its territories, and the United States to closely monitor and regulate the peace process.
NILI regards the United States as a powerful leader of the peace process because of the country's own history of hard-fought battles for civil rights that have led to a successful pluralistic society.
"America was a Puritan country. It took a long time for Catholics to be recognized and later when the Jewish community came they suffered too," said Sayyid M. Syeed, a national director of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and a founding member of NILI.
"We have in America a long tradition of an interfaith movement where different faiths have worked together and fought for justice and rights. To our credit we have great achievements of religious leaders involved in the civil rights movement," Syeed said.
Syeed sees the Middle East as "a new frontier" for American religious leaders, a place where they can continue the interfaith efforts that have led to increased tolerance in the United States.
"We have to bring interfaith groups together and push for building bridges and using commonalities to push for peace in the Middle East. We found there is a consensus between Muslims, Christians and Jews: All of us are praying and working for peace in the Middle East," he said.
The approximately 30 religious leaders who make up NILI have outlined their consensus on peace in their Principles of Cooperation. These seven principles are acknowledging that peace is fundamental to the teachings of each of their religions, emphasizing areas of agreement while remaining sensitive to conflicting viewpoints, condemning all acts of violence in favor of diplomacy and negotiation, supporting a two-state solution with security for both states, building on efforts made by Israelis and Palestinians already working together for peace, advocating for U.S. leadership backed by global support, and learning from each other through prayer and action for peace.
With these principles in place for its members, NILI strives to expand its base of support in the United States, the Middle East and around the world. The organization helps local religious groups start their own interfaith initiatives. Efforts on the national scale have included meetings with former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice and, in 2005, NILI organized an international videoconference, reaching live audiences in Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United States.
"Forces such as NILI, committed to equality and justice in the Mideast, can be a positive presence in helping to develop a healthy climate for understanding the dynamics of the conflict" between the Israelis and Palestinians, said William Shaw, pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia and immediate past president of the National Baptist Convention.
This effort to increase understanding of the possible pathways for partnership among religious groups led Shaw and 14 other U.S. religious leaders to travel to the region in December. The NILI representatives met and prayed with Jordanians, Israelis and Palestinians, an experience that allowed them to see that a certain level of understanding already exists among the area's residents.
"People on both sides know the difficult compromises that will be necessary for peace, and most people are prepared to accept them," Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, said in a NILI press release.
Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president emeritus of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, detailed some of the compromises the peace process entails.
"Even on the most emotional issues of refugees and Jerusalem, we believe most Palestinians understand that they will have to accept a negotiated solution regarding refugees that does not jeopardize the Jewish majority in Israel; and most Israelis understand that they will have to accept a negotiated solution regarding sharing Jerusalem that includes provision for both Israel and Palestine to have their capitals in Jerusalem," he said in the release.
Despite this existing understanding, NILI representatives still used their time in the region to try to dispel lingering doubts about the potential for peace. Syeed spoke with Arabs living inside the conflict area about his efforts to bring together Jewish and Muslim groups in the United States.
"I wanted to convey to them that in the U.S. we have been able to create an environment of trust and confidence, but it did not come easily," he said.
Syeed told his audience about a text produced jointly by ISNA and the Union for Reform Judaism. The book, Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation, provides a curriculum for dialogue between Jews and Muslims, covering topics including similarities and differences between the Torah and the Quran, comparisons of other basic religious principles, tolerance and ending prejudice against both groups. Syeed also discussed ongoing annual conferences for which North American mosques and synagogues come together to celebrate their commonalities and condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
To follow their visit to the Middle East, NILI representatives plan to seek meetings with the Obama administration to pledge their support for U.S. leadership of the peace process, according to the NILI press release. Syeed holds onto the belief that through cooperation and strong leadership, NILI will achieve its mission of helping to bring about a peaceful solution to the conflict. Interfaith activities promoting tolerance and collaboration remain key to NILI's agenda.
"We believe that ultimately humanity will prevail and bringing understanding and reconciliation is possible," Syeed said.
No comments:
Post a Comment