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Opportunity to push for peace

Two articles popped up on the internet and give hope that some religious leaders are understanding that if you want to drink from clean springs, you need to go upstream and remove the sources of pollution. Rather than focussing on what has gone wrong or who is to blame for the past, some leaders are saying that now is the time to begin constructing a new solid foundation.

Rabbi Waskow comments that a big fear is that the exchange of bombs and rockets will stir up so much rage on all sides as to force us into an endless worldwide war. (Which personally I think is the ultimate fantasy for many of these terrorists and arms merchants). But Rabbi Waskow comments that global warming could bring more misery upon the human race than such a war. His list is too short, I would add AIDS epidemic, systemic poverty and human rights abuses are even scarier and a reality that we have been living with for a long time, but have been too complacent to fully appreciate the vulnerabilty of humanity's very existence.

The wasteful shepherds who tell us that it is okay, they can destroy the world and God/Allah will give us a new one are delusional. Any shepherd of any creed or philosophy who espouses such foolishness should not be trusted to give advice on the problems of this world, as they secretly are prepared to write it (and us) off for the sake of their religious insanity.

Instead, we should be trying to find and seek out those shepherds and religious communities who have the wisdom to appreciate that we need to embrace new paradigms if we want to get out of the gridlock of glorifying greed, violence and repression.There is a call for the compassionate commitment of the grass-roots of all peoples of all nations to help collectively give birth to a more just, compassionate and sustainable future, we are called to be allies with each other.

Rabbi Waskow points out the "coincidences" that God has thrown our way to help us find a new way forward. "This fall, the Muslim sacred month of Ramadan and the sacred Jewish month that includes Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot coincide. They join as well with the Worldwide Communion Sunday that Protestant and Orthodox Christians celebrate, and with the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, who opposed the Crusades and studied with Muslims to enrich his own Christian life. That confluence will happen again in 2007, and then not for another 30 years. We could be taking advantage of God's gift of this holy time by meeting under "the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah." They kept their tent open in all four directions, to welcome travelers from everywhere. If Americans of all religious orientations want to bring peace to the region where Abraham's families sojourned, we should be joining in action this fall, sharing those sacred seasons."

The Washington Post article gives us home that dialogue can continue. For example: "In some communities, Muslim-Jewish relations have become close enough that they can talk about Middle Eastern politics, even passionately but without losing their tempers, said several interfaith leaders. "We have fierce discussions," Jafri said. "You do see people being passionate about their issues, and you do see people taking a stand." As long as people "agree to disagree" and keep an "environment which is simple," the passion is all right."

"Times like now, things can become a little tense. But the relationships we have developed are pretty solid," Campos-Marquetti said. "And when you develop a warm friendship, that supersedes those things." But, he added, newer interfaith dialogues that his mosque has started with two other, more conservative Jewish congregations might be too fragile to withstand debates about Middle Eastern politics.

The latter piece of advice is very important, we are talking about long term relationship building (the kind of thing we are meant to be doing with our spouse and with God). Early on in the relationship it is vulnerable to misunderstanding and the relationship can easily be disrupted by jealous interlopers. However, if the parties understand these risks and commit to the long-term healing, it becomes harder for trouble-makers to sully the relationship and cause unnecessary conflict. It also becomes easier for the parties to apply increasingly mature methods to contain difficult souls before they do too much damage.

Sources: Philidelphia Daily News and Washington Post

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