Hope may come from inter-religious efforts.

I grew up in Israel, in the aftermath of one of history’s most horrific tragedies. Traumatized and desperate after 6 million of their kin were annihilated in gas chambers and death camps across Eastern Europe, my first friends were Jews whose hopes converged in this Jewish State. Sadly, their tragedy has given birth to yet another, causing a conflict that has infected the entire Middle East and three of the world’s great faiths—over half the world’s population.

War and insecurity have long been part of life in Israel. I remember June 1967, at age 14, digging our bomb shelter, taping up our windows and headlights, the fighter jets, sirens and incoming missiles aimed at the refineries nearby. I remember the anxiety and then five days later the relief as news came in of Egypt’s surrender in the Sinai, the capture of the Golan, Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. For Israelis reeling from what was at stake this was a “miracle” of biblical proportions—God had again “delivered his people,” as in days of old.

Soon I saw how this looked from the other side as we met missionaries and their children from Gaza. My wife to be, Mary Ann, was among them. How could God favor one people against another? Doesn’t God love Arabs and all people as much as Jews? Was God in this? As Palestinian Muslims and Christians tried to make sense of the growing magnitude of their injustice, they developed their own liberation theologies. Some took on extreme forms as their outcries fell on deaf ears.

I have seen the power of competing religious ideologies in the Middle East and how they contend for influence in the halls and think tanks of Washington and elsewhere to devastating effect. Is this the vision for the world God had in mind?

Toward holy peace: Jesus was about different politics. His vision was for a social order that transcended all boundaries—a kingdom whose transformative force and governing moral law was love—an all-inclusive love that encompassed God, our neighbors and our enemies.

As I’ve reflected on the ramifications of those words, I am struck by the focus of Jesus’ ministry. Galilee was a Gentile region at the sociological and political edge of Jewish life, a crossroads in that region where Judean culture intersected with those of Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Persians, Arabs and Samaritans who lived along and traveled the trade routes, and where the outcasts of Judaism—the “sinners,” the demoniacs, lepers and the poor—were relegated to live among “the heathen” and “unclean.” This is where Jesus grew up, spent most of his time and recruited his disciples. He spoke to his diverse audiences here in parables, realizing many of them would not immediately comprehend their meaning.

Jesus was deliberate and passionate about inclusively engaging others outside his tradition, and he often affirmed their faith (Matthew 8:10-12). His most animated act recorded in Scripture (Mark 11:15-17) sees him so infuriated by the merchants’ disregard for those whose space they had taken over and exploited in the Temple’s Gentile courtyard that he chases them out with a whip.

The words that burned in his mind were from Isaiah 56:3,6-8: “Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people.’ … And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, … and hold fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Paul later put it this way: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near … [making] both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. … that he might create in himself one new humanity, … thus making peace. … So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but … members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:13-19).

A personal journey: One of the most meaningful experiences of my life has been my opportunity these past two years to get acquainted with several Muslim and Jewish colleagues at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in Harrisonburg, Va. As our friendships grew, several of us talked about forming a group we called Search for Scriptural Common Ground to explore the teachings in our faiths that relate to peacemaking—compassion, love, nonviolence, forgiveness, mercy. As we shared and discussed our Scriptures, we found a growing sense of kinship, trust and awe in the realization that we were also finding our common humanity, a deepening sense of peace and connection in our common quest for God.
Marc Gopin, in his book Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East (2002), features a remarkable document drawn up by several rabbis and sheikhs called the Jerusalem Peace Agreement, which I found 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.”

The question that haunts me as I read that 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 (Matthew 8:10-12)? Where were Christians in this?

Reason for hope: There is a groundswell of passion for inter-religious peacemaking around the world. Universities and seminaries are building programs in interfaith studies. Closer to home, I am excited to see Eastern Mennonite University, too, developing a center for interfaith engagement and peacebuilding. 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 reflect this hunger for mutual understanding and peace. At higher levels of state and 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 such as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Barack Obama have increasingly engaged the language of faith in their work to bridge the political and ideological divides we face in today’s world.

Those who recognize the transformative premises in Jesus’ teachings 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. Anabaptist-Mennonites who have espoused these premises of just peace and nonviolence and established a legacy of service and partnership in relief, development, dialogue and peacebuilding are garnering renewed respect for their work across these lines of faith and politics. It is to this exciting work that we have been called in Christ, and with this unprecedented convergence of interest in interfaith engagement we have a remarkable opportunity to inculcate Jesus’ vision for the world in these conversations and collaborative efforts for peace.

David Kreider is a graduate of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., where he has also been involved on the advisory board of the emerging Center for Interfaith Engagement. He is a member of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.