Archive for June, 2008
Rachael Kohn recently interviewed Issa Jaber Abu Ghosh, the director of the Education Department for the Abu Gosh local council. The town of Abu Ghosh, outside of Jerusalem, close to pilgrimage sites for all three faiths, is primarily a Muslim settlement which is working actively to promote positive relations with their Jewish and Christian neighbours. The town has a history of abstaining from engaging in war and violence, and while some neighbouring Arabs see them as traitors because of their acceptance of the state of Israel, the Abu Ghosh community sees their struggle as being one of walking the line between living peacefully within the Israeli political system while advocating for equal recognition of all who live there.
You can listen to the interview here for the next week or so, after that you should be able to find a transcript and links to related information here.
Mark
June 30th, 2008
Recently in Brunswick, Melbourne, two contemplative traditions met (perhaps for the first time) in a shared prayer service that incorporated Zikhr and Taize chanting.
Zikhr, or Dhikr, is an Arabic word meaning “remembrance”. In Islam, Zikhr refers to any practice which leads to greater awareness of God. These practices include repetition of the name of allah (God), uttering short phrases of praise, controlled breathing, movement, and any everyday activity performed with awareness of God’s presence. The Zikhr used in the Prayers for Peace service is based on the form used by the Chisti Order, a sufi (or mystical) tradition within Islam. The Chisti order was founded by Abu Ishaq Shami (“the Syrian”) who brought Sufism to the town of Chist, some 95 miles east of herat in present-day western Afghanistan about 930 C.E. and continues to this day. The Chisti order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness.
The Taize tradition of chant takes its name from the town of Taize, in the south of Burgundy, France, the home of an international Christian ecumencial community founded in 1949 by Brother Roger. The community is committed to material and spiritual sharing and to a greater simplicity of life. People from all around the world visit Taize every year to participate in prayer, singing and silence and to share in the life of the community. In Taize style, short songs or chants are sung and repeated again and again, giving them a meditative quality. Using just a few words they express a reality of faith, and our deep longing for the divine.
The shared service arose from two friends, Leesl and Rasheeda, discussing their respective contemplative traditions. Leesl is involved in organising Taize services which take place monthly in the church of the Brunswick Christian Fellowship. Nearby, Rasheeda helps to coordinate a regular Zikhr gathering. The two friends decided to seek a way of allowing the two traditions to meet.
Prayers for Peace opened with Zikhr, led by Ustad Khalil Gudaz. In between chants, verses from the Koran and the Old and New Testaments were read. After a period silence, people joined in Taize chants, interspersed with readings from the Persian Sufi Poet, Hafiz, and Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him). In a long period of quiet contemplation, particpants came and lit candles, placing them upon a map of the world, and offered prayers of intercession, reconciliation and healing. After each prayer, the group offered a chant asking for God’s mercy.
The service closed with a prayer from Pax Christi:
O God, you are the source of life and peace
Muslims, Christians, and jews remember, and profoundly affirm,
that they are followers of the one God,
Children of Abraham, brothers and sisters;
enemies begin to speak to one another;
those who were estranged join hands in friendship;
nations seek the way of peace together.
Strengthen our resolve to give witness to these truths by the way we live.
Give to us:
Understanding that puts an end to strife;
Mercy that quenches hatred, and
Forgiveness that overcomes vengeance.
Empower all people to live in your law of love
Amen.
It was the first time for many of the Muslim and Christian participants to meet one other, and there was a sense of profound respect following the sharing of each others’ traditions and texts.
A similar service, including Jewish and Buddhist traditions, is being held on Friday 11th July 2008 from 1-2 pm at the Pilgrim house of Prayer, St Augustine Church, Bourke St, Melbourne (between Spencer St and King St).
Mark
June 29th, 2008
Theolog has an excellent post today about violence in scripture.
“Muslim leader Maher Hathout asked rhetorically before a packed sanctuary, ‘if we are so good, why are we so bad?’ … The keys to being good, he said, include justice, compassion and the ability to forgive, adding that doing right or wrong often gets impetus from one’s tendencies toward inclusion or exclusion respectively.”
“Confronting troubling principles in our faith’s teachings is often painful…”
“It is crucial to understand sacred texts in all three traditions through the lens of critical inquiry and contemporary thought…”
Well worth a read, and we’ll be keeping a lookout for the “Abrahamic Peace Initiative” referred to in the article.
Dave
June 27th, 2008
Today we welcome our first guest blogger, Jenny Chalmers, an Anglican Priest who lives and works in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. She is a member of the Wellington Council of Christians and Jews and is interested in the various forms of Christian antisemitism. You can contact her on jenny@clear.net.nz.
At the best of times, Zionism is a controversial topic, and guaranteed to stir emotions in anyone who has engaged with the subject There’s no doubt that supporting each others’ religions is generally a good idea, but where do you draw the line, and to what extent does one question the motivations of extra-religious supporters? And how do you react when you feel that others are “supporting” elements within your religion in an inappropriate way?
Jenny explores the history of and ethos of Christian Zionism in her article below, adapted from a chapter in her Ph.D thesis.
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There is a wide range of belief within the term Christian Zionism. In its simplest form Christian Zionism is defined as Christian support for Zionism, the return of Jews to their homeland, Israel. But, the term also describes beliefs referred to as premillenium dispensationalism, a pessimistic view of a time of the second messianic age. Although Christian Zionism, at first glance, seems to consist of Christians supporting the Jewish right to a homeland, a closer inspection reveals that Christians Zionists support Israel as a means to their own redemption at the Apocalypse.
Hal Lindsey’s book The Late Great Planet Earth, a well known work of ‘biblical prophesy’ identifies the ‘restoration of Jews’ to be God’s faithfulness to the covenant God made with Abraham. However, Lindsay says, many Jews will die in Armageddon and the church will replace God’s chosen people as Israel, on earth.
In Tim LaHaye’s prophecies, played out in the Left Behind series of popular apocalyptic novels, those left behind after the rapture will live in what might be described as a ‘one world socialist gulag’.
Using the same eccentric eisegesis as Lindsay and LaHaye, in The Next World War Grant Jeffrey writes that:
Christians and others who are familiar with the Old Testament should not be surprised that extreme Islam is waging all-out war against Israel and the West. God prophesised that there would be irreconcilable hatred in the heart of Ishmael, the son of the Egyptian Hagar, toward his brother, Isaac, the ancestor of the Jewish people.
Support for Israel is not always because Israel is entitled to the promised land. John Hagee in his book Jerusalem Countdown, in a chapter entitled ‘Five Bible reasons Christians should support Israel’ explains in his third reason that ‘Christians are to support Israel because it brings the blessings of God to them personally’.
Many Christian Zionists believe that supporting Israel fulfils Biblical prophesies and accelerates the coming of the second messianic era.
Amongst other Christian Zionist beliefs are:
- Genesis 12:3 should be interpreted literally which leads to unqualified support of the modern state of Israel.
- Scripture should be interpreted literally and apocalyptic texts, Revelation and Daniel, and chapters from Zechariah, Ezekiel, and 1 Thessalonians which Christian Zionists believe refer to actual and future events.
- The return of all of historic Palestine, that is all the land occupied by Israel after the 1967 war, west of Jordan, and the Sinai to Israel
Christian Zionism is found within most protestant, charismatic, fundamentalist and pentecostal churches. Some support is found in the evangelical wings of the mainline churches; premillenilist dispensationalist themes cross denominational boundaries because of there prevalence in Christian radio and television broadcasting. The National Religious Broadcasters organization which controls almost 90 percent of religious radio and television in the U.S., is dominated by a Christian Zionist orientation.
In the United States, where Christian Zionist beliefs are most prolific, a 1984 Yankelovich poll found that 39% of Americans believed that when the Bible says the earth would be destroyed by fire, this meant that we would destroy the earth in a nuclear Armegedon.
A number of commentators have described the relationship between Christian Zionists and political power. Grace Halsell in the book Burning Issues describe the relationship between Jerry Falwell and the Israeli government.
Halsell describes an incident in 1985 when she took part in a Jerry Falwell sponsored tour: “…I heard Falwell say, in an aside to (Israeli Defence Minister) Moshe Arens, ‘By the way, I want to thank you for that jet plane you gave me’.”
Halsell explains that she had seen the jet on a visit to Lynchburg, Virginia, Falwell’s base, and had been told that the jet was a gift from the Israelis in payment for what he had done for them.
Sixty Minutes journalist, Ted Wagner says that in April 2002 after the Passover bombings, when Israel in retaliation attacked ‘several cities and refugee camps in the West Bank’ the President of the United States, George W Bush, ‘repeatedly appealed to Sharon to withdraw from the West Bank city of Jenin’. The pro-Israel lobby co-ordinated with the Christian right ‘urging the President to avoid restraining Israel’. Jerry Falwell, commenting in a 60 minutes interview said: ‘I really believe when the chips are down Ariel Sharon can trust George Bush to do the right thing every time,’ In the same interview Falwell said ‘It’s my belief that the Bible Belt in America is Israel’s only safety belt right now’.
In Israel, the International Christian Embassy Jersualem, is cross denominational and sponsors a number of activities. The embassy is a good example of a Christian Zionist organisation which the website says ’views both the Jewish people and the Land of Israel as chosen by God long ago for purposes of world redemption’.
According to the website, it was founded in 1980 as an evangelical Christian response to the need to comfort Zion, according to the command of scripture found in Isaiah 40:1-2: ‘Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…’
The embassy’s website describes the embassy as having a ‘theology, actions and motives…based on ‘biblical principles and promises’, and that it is ‘covenantal’.
The first two chapters of the monograph ‘Swords into Ploughshares’ published on the ICEJ website, states that before the return of the Messiah there will be a final battle of Armageddon when the nations will fight against Israel. This is consistent with traditional dispensationalism‘.
The two largest activities the Embassy promotes are resettling Soviet Jews and holding a feast of the Tabernacles. The embassy also promotes tours of Israel, using Israeli guides.
The ICEJ aliyah programme helps Jews from ‘remote areas of Siberia and other former Soviet republics as well as North and South America, encouraging the Jewish population to return to the land of Israel’. The website boasts that ’52 plane loads of people have been assisted in this way’.
The annual ‘Feast of the Tabernacles’ which the ICEJ hosts, invites ‘thousands of Christians’ from around the world ‘come up to Jerusalem in answer to God’s call to celebrate the ancient biblical festival of Succcot’. This, press reports from the ICEJ say, is the largest single tourist attraction in Israel. Since it’s inception in 1980, successive Israeli Prime ministers have addressed the ‘Feast of the Tabernacles’ gatherings.
It seems that apart from the Israeli political contacts the website informs readers that1 the ICEJ has also jointly formed an organisation which seeks to inform officials and members of the European Parliament and other political leaders across the 25-state European Union about the complex realities of the Middle East conflict by acknowledging Israel’s right to exist in peace within secure borders.
However, in keeping with literal and prophetic Biblical prophecies, the Embassy believes that ‘comfort’ is conditional upon the Jewish people meeting certain conditions. In an statement entitled A Biblical stand on Zionism #2, the authors write in the first conclusion that “Israel’s right of domicile is dependent on her reconciled relationship with God” and in the second they observe that “the Jewish people have returned to Israel a secular people (and) correction and judgement are to be expected…”
The eight points in the conclusion warn that Israel will be judged and “God’s process of dealing with Israel does not legitimize those like the PLO, Hamas, etc, who are actively working for Israel’s destruction… “
The ICEJ is not however, supported by the indigenous churches of Jerusalem. A statement entitled ‘We Stand for Justice. We can do no other’ and issued by church leaders, representing the Latin and Syrian Orthodox churches and the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Churches, begins with the definition:
Christian Zionism is a modern theological and political movement that embraces the most extreme ideological positions of Zionism, thereby becoming detrimental to a just peace within Palestine and Israel.
The seventh statement clarifies this further holding that “the teachings of Christian Zionism advance racial exclusivity and perpetual war rather than the gospel of love, redemption and reconciliation taught by Jesus Christ.”
Christian Zionism, a cross denominational belief brings strong reactions. It’s not supported by orthodox Christians, and certainly not by those Christians who want to contribute to an authentic Jewish homeland. Jews should also be wary of Christian Zionists, in the end, Christian Zionist support of Israel is only so that Christian Zionists might be ‘saved’ at the end times.
June 26th, 2008
Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia and Spain have agreed to hold an interfaith dialogue of Muslims, Christians and Jews in Madrid in July.
“The dialogue, called for by King Abdullah after he won the backing of Sunni and Shi’ite clerics at a meeting in Mecca this month, will be held on July 16-18 by the Saudi-based World Muslim League, the Saudi Press Agency said.”
The dialogue will cover life in human societies, international cooperation, human rights, and issues of security, peace and living together in the world.
Iran’s former president Rafsanjani said that the meeting would also cover Western influence in the Muslim world, including issue around Iraq and Palestine.
Let’s pray for the ability of the attendees to listen as well as talk …
Dave
June 23rd, 2008
Paul Walton, minister at the Centenary Uniting Church in Brisbane, wrote a great blog post today highlighting the tensions between our three faiths and outlining a way forward: Whose sword is it?
He reports an incident in which he was encouraging multi-faith use of a hospital prayer room, but was confronted by an angry parishioner who was unhappy about the example being given to Christian youth.
His bottom line: “I am convinced that our best response to the sword is to be people of peace.”
Amen to that!
Dave
June 23rd, 2008
The British Association for Jewish Studies (BAJS) reports that the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies is offering three prizes of £1,000 each for essays of publishable quality in a scholarly journal on a subject related to dispute resolution in one or more of the Abrahamic faiths.
See the announcement for details, but be in quick because they’ve just extended their deadline.
June 16th, 2008
Many years ago, I suffered from regular migraine headaches. After a particularly debilitating series, I consulted our family doctor at the time, Dr Rosemary Dodd. She helped me solve my problem without any medication, by determining that I only got my headaches if the following three conditions were true: (a) overtiredness, (b) overexertion, and (c) not enough water. Bingo, now I drink lots of water, and I haven’t had a migraine since. Fresh water, the elixir of life, that increasingly scarce resource they tell us we’ll be fighting wars over in the near future. Control one factor, and you can solve the problem.
In the Long Now Foundation’s recent Seminar on Long-Term Thinking (podcast), Niall Ferguson posits (from his book The War of the World) that the outbreak of large-scale lethal violence usually results from a combination of three factors: (1) economic volatility, (2) empires in decline, and (3) ethnic disintegration. Like my migraines, such violence can be avoided by seizing control of one of the factors. Ordinary people have little control over the first two factors, but one thing for which we can all work is ethnic harmony. Religion has often been used as a tool in ethnic violence, and vice-versa.
We can all contribute to controlling ethnic disintegration by be being courageous and refusing to participate in or support the incendiary elements within our religions and ethnic groups. Say no to violence, and say it loudly. We can also act positively by reaching out to others who are different from ourselves. But it will only work if we’re all working in this together.
It’s more than our best hope for the future, it’s our only hope.
June 12th, 2008
The New York Times reports on a comedy act based on the three faiths. It would appear that the New Age Borsht Belt has evolved into the Kebab Comedy Circuit.
Rabbi Bob Alper, Azhar Usman (Muslim) and Nazareth Rizkallah (Evangelical Christian) performed recently at Drew University in New Jersey.
Alper is a full time comedian, and Usman has been on the Allah Made Me Funny tour.
I always say that “it all starts with a conversation”, and if we can laugh together, all the better!
June 8th, 2008
The Institute of International Education is pleased to announce the launch of the Russell Berrie Fellowship Program, a new and timely initiative at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
The goal of the Fellowship Program is to build bridges between Catholic, Jewish, and other religious traditions by providing the next generation of religious leaders with a comprehensive understanding of and dedication to inter-faith issues. Russell Berrie Fellows are expected to complete the program and return home to their parishes and communities to lead others in efforts to promote inter-faith understanding.
The Fellowship targets priests and members of the laity for the purpose of studying at the Angelicum to obtain either a License or Doctoral Degree in Theology with a concentration in Interreligious Studies. The Fellowship Award will provide up to two years of financial support for Russell Berrie Fellows to pursue License or Doctoral degrees at the Angelicum. It is intended to cover tuition, a modest living stipend, examination fees, a modest book allowance, and travel to and from the recipient’s home country once a year.
Applicants of all faiths and backgrounds from around the world who have a demonstrated interest in interreligious Studies are encouraged to apply.
Program information and application materials can be found at http://www.iie.eu.
June 6th, 2008
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