Word from Winkler — The sacred work of reconciliation

This week I attended the public forum of the Christian-Muslim Summit held in the beautiful National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Security was tight reflecting criticism leveled against the organizers by extremist groups worried about the possibility of Christian “appeasement” of Muslims.

The summit emphasized that reconciliation is sacred work involving laboring with God to re-weave the fabric of the world.

Over the previous three days, 12 Roman Catholics and Anglicans and 12 Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders grappled with the concept of reconciliation. Two Jewish observers attended the summit.

The summit emphasized that reconciliation is sacred work involving laboring with God to re-weave the fabric of the world.

Participants grappled with questions such as:

It is clear to me that we must work together across religious and cultural divides for the sake of the world. It is difficult to envision or rationalize the need for war when you engage the “other” in significant interaction that develops relationships.

Faces on the ‘other’

During the Cold War, a wonderful United Methodist laywoman named Betty Bumpers created “Peace Links,” an organization devoted to developing relationships between citizens of the Soviet Union and the United States. Betty’s husband was a U.S. Senator from Arkansas.

Many members of Peace Links were spouses of members of Congress. They believed if they told their powerful spouses about persons they had come to know in the USSR their spouses would be more reluctant to venture into war against them. In essence, they put faces on the “other.”

[Glenn Beck] advised people to run away from any church that discusses the need for social and economic justice.

The Christian-Muslim summit was similarly a diplomatic endeavor. A vital concern is how we can avert the so-called “clash of civilizations” propounded by Samuel Huntington some years ago. What common ground can be identified in the search for peace, justice and security?

A few days ago I heard a radio segment from commentator Glenn Beck. He advised people to run away from any church that discusses the need for social and economic justice. I doubt Jesus himself would be welcomed into Beck’s ideal congregation.

A friend of mine told me that a group of clergy were gathered together recently to discuss aspects of The United Methodist Church. The pastor of a large membership church reported that the word “justice” meant the Democratic Party to people in his congregation. We have reached a new low when influential people have come to associate social justice and justice negatively.

Eradicate systemic injustice

Nevertheless, Christian-Muslim Summit participants said that work for the eradication of systemic injustice is exactly the business Christians and Muslims must be about. They pledged to confront issues of unequal treatment of women and children and to condemn attacks on holy places or the use of holy places to propagate violence.

Ayatollah Ahmad Iravani said that without trust we cannot go anywhere. Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran noted that friendship is the beginning of interfaith dialogue. He stressed that such dialogue is between people, not religions.

Dialogue is between people, not religions.

Dr. Ahmad Tayeb of Al-Azhar University said he has learned two fundamental truths from Allah: First, if God wanted people to be one color and one faith, God would have created people that way; and second, until the end of time people will be different.

There’s an old joke that there will never be a newspaper headline: “Plane lands safely.” For some, a Christian-Muslim Summit is not newsworthy unless it collapses in acrimony. But the patient work of understanding and reconciliation takes time. Advances and setbacks occur. A summit participant, Kjell Magne Bondevik, former prime minister of Norway, asserted that because politicians misuse religion so easily, they must be brought into the process of study and dialogue.

We have to appreciate in the other what we most appreciate in ourselves. No value exists in comparing the best in oneself with the worst in the other. We have to face each other in good will. The clash of civilizations only takes place if we have ill will toward others.

Most important, as Clare Amos, director of theological studies in the Anglican Communion Office in London, emphasized: We have to learn not to try to possess God but to let God possess us.