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Peace Not Walls

ELCA/Israeli Consulate meet to discuss Arab spring, recognition of ELCJHL, permits for Mt of Olives Housing Project

The seal of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

Representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, both based here, met Feb. 29 to discuss one another’s understanding of the “Arab Spring” developments, especially concerns for minority religious groups in the Middle East, and the official Israeli-government position regarding the situation in Syria.

The request for the meeting came from Bahij Mansour, who directs the inter-religious affairs division of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mansour is the former Israeli ambassador to Angola and will soon become ambassador to Nigeria.

They also discussed recognition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and the issuance of permits for the Mt. of Olives Housing project, a key initiative by the Lutheran World Federation, the ELCJHL, the ELCA and other international partners to build 84 affordable housing units in East Jerusalem.

“The urgency of this meeting is that we believe that the government of Israel should give formal recognition to the ELCJHL” the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said in an interview.      He said the recognition would be “a tangible sign of Israel’s concern for and commitment to religious minorities, because Christians are a numerical minority among Palestinian people.”

“I felt it was very important today to hold the government of Israel to the promise made to the Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and to me when I served as president of The Lutheran World Federation. That recognition has not happened and is of deep concern,” said Hanson.

Mansour responded that he was supportive of the request for recognition, but that complex relationships within the present coalition government of Israel were delaying the request.

Hanson also cited that the Israeli government has yet to grant necessary permits to support the Mount of Olives Housing Project — an effort to build affordable homes on Lutheran World Federation-owned property on the Mount of Olives. Homes would be leased to Palestinian families and individuals, many of them Christians, which would enable them to maintain their Jerusalem residency and keep the right to work, live and move freely within the city.      Hanson said the granting of the housing permits can “become a concrete sign that even seemingly small steps can contribute towards a movement for peace.”

Read full ELCA news story

 

 

Use your words, not your bombs: ELCA action alert in favor of diplomacy not war with Iran

The ELCA has issued an action alert to advocate for using diplomacy and not military action with Iran.  It asks advocates to tell their congressional leaders to endorse  The Ellison-Jones House letter , a positive message to the President in support of diplomacy with Iran.  The deadline for House members to sign  is March 1, so time is of the essence in contacting your Representative.

Senate resolution 380, on the other hand, is a dangerous one that in essence lowers the threshold for war with Iran.  There isn’t a deadline for action on this one, but Senators need to hear from constituents who oppose it.  

Please take action and spread the word to others as well.

For interesting developments on Iran, read these articles: 
Israel wouldn’t warn US of strike on Iran
Q and A on a Nuclear Iran from the BBC

 

Religions for Peace in the Middle East and North Africa Council Release Statement on Syria

Religions for Peace Middle East/ North Africa (MENA) Council, an international and independent NGO committed to peace, convened a meeting of Muslim Ulemas and Christian Clergy, in addition to a number of researchers and concerned persons from Syria and other countries, in Larnaca, Cyprus, on 22-23 February 2012.  The meeting built on the Religions for Peace MENA Marrakesh Declaration (16-17 November 2011) that rejected violence, the misuse of religions, and acknowledged religious diversity and respect for human dignity.  The group released a statement that contained these conclusions: 

Given the recent bloody developments (in Syria) that stir conscience, and based on their religious and human responsibility as well as their belief in God Almighty, the participants agreed on the following:

Our faith in the Lord inspires us:
1. To support the quest for a peaceful solution, mainly based on national dialogue and the rejection of all forms of violence regardless of its sources.
2. To reject the use of military and security measures by all parties after they proved inefficient and exacerbated the problem.
3.To call upon the authorities to the immediate release of prisoners of opinion to respect human dignity.
4.To refuse all forms of foreign interference given that the Syrian crisis is an internal issue which should be solved only by Syrians with the support of others.
5.To call Syria to embrace all its citizens, with no distinction or discrimination, as a mother nurtures its children within its territory and abroad.
6.To reject absolutely the violation of the territorial integrity of Syria or its ethnic, religious and denomination diversity.
7.To reaffirm that Christians and Muslims are historical components of the Syrian social fabric that should be preserved to guarantee the future, prosperity and coexistence in this country.
8.To acknowledge that the values of justice, freedom, dignity and equality are the basis of citizenship. Citizenship is not a grant but a right for every Syrian citizen.
9.To reaffirm the responsibility of religious, political and cultural elites to face all forms of religious incitement, and cooperate in disseminating a message of moderation, tolerance and rejection of hatred.
10.To call upon all countries involved in economic sanctions imposed on Syria to reconsider these sanctions, which have affected the Syrian people, exacerbated the crisis and undermined stability and growth.

Middle East Evangelical Christians call for peace and awareness of their continuing presence and importance

The Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Christians (FMEEC) released their final communique  after their symposium on Evangelical and Christian Presence in the Middle East in Beirut, Lebanon.  The group explored ways in which they could remain faithful to their universal Reformation legacy while properly responding to the challenges they currently face in the various countries in which they live (Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Sudan, North Africa and the Gulf region).

Among other things, the communique calls for a Middle East that: 

enjoys peace based on justice, freedom and the respect and preservation of human rights. They called upon all their Muslim compatriots, but especially those authorities now in power, to work for the establishment of civic states in the region; states founded on a modernized understanding of democracy which is not based merely on numbers and vote counts, but rather on equality in the rights of all to equal citizenship under the just rule of law; states that offer equal opportunities for work and prosperity to all the inhabitants of the Middle East without discrimination. It is only in such a Middle East that all communities, evangelical and non-evangelical, but especially the youth amongst us, shall enjoy safety and wellbeing, and therefore shall no more live in frustration and fear, or be subjected to the temptation to emigrate.

A plea was put forth to all those concerned with the question of Christian presence and witness in the Middle East (be they regional or world governments, church leaders and congregations or partner organizations across the globe) to become more aware of the dangers currently besetting all Middle Eastern Christian minorities, but especially the evangelicals amongst them (who are a minority within a minority).

An invitation was issued to all our regional and international partners and friends, inviting them to conduct a serious investigation into the truth of what is in fact happening in the different countries of the Middle East; and which differ from one country to another. Having done so, it becomes incumbent on all to inform the international community of these facts and to respond accordingly. It is our hope that this response shall be inspired by the Biblical principles upon which the Evangelical Reformation was based centuries ago. To us this means to uphold justice and truth and repudiate the violence that now so sadly prevails in the Middle East region – violence that comes all sides and parties involved.

The communique also said the group held workshops and discussion about how to “reach a definitive strategy that contributes to rebuilding Middle Eastern Evangelical communities on the basis of a new and indigenous theology of public issues; a theology inspired by a unified Christian evangelical vision that calls for freedom and equality before the law in the context of a just understanding of citizenship for all ethnic, religious and national identities, and that contributes to the further development of human resources. In this regard, the participants emphasized that a final, just and fair solution to the Palestinian crisis is necessary for any future progress on all these fronts.”

Egyptian Christians Say Christian Political Party Is Not Solution

I encourage you to read this report from a recent meeting in Washington, DC, hosted by the World Evangelical Alliance. Two of the quoted speakers, Dr. Atef Gendy and Dr. Andrea Zaki, are close companions of the ELCA in Egypt.

Syria and International Foreign Policy

The suffering in Syria has become horrifying and there is worse to come. It nevertheless remains quite difficult to determine the causes of the present situation and more difficult still to determine how other governments within the international community ought to respond.

Since last Saturday, when Russia and China engaged in a “double veto” of a UN Security Council resolution aimed at bringing some resolution to the conflict raging in Syria, news media in the United States have analyzed the national interests served by their joint decision. Speculation for why these countries would support the Syrian despot has included Russia’s desire to continue accessing Syria’s warm-water ports and the benefit both countries gain from unhindered access to Iran’s vast oil reserves. In any case, Ambassador Susan Rice described the vetoes as “disgusting” and “unforgiveable.”

Syrian forces tank moving along a road during clashes with the Syrian army defectors, in the Rastan area in Homs province, Jan. 30, 2012.

This surfeit of analysis aimed at Russia and China is remarkable primarily for the corresponding lack of analysis of why the United States is taking its own approach to the conflict. Even after the following Tuesday, when the Pentagon announced that plans for military intervention were being reviewed, most US media analysis remained focused on why Russia and China felt compelled to offer a  minority report. What might we hear if media analysis in the United States worked from the (admittedly countercultural) presumption that US foreign policy is no less interest-driven than that of our rivals?

We might hear that the low, grumbling threat of US military intervention against a regime supported by Russia and China contains more than echoes of cold war containment policy, this time writ regional. We might hear that the larger US strategic goal in this revolutionary time is to contain the spread of Iranian influence.

Over the past year, many Christian friends in the Arab world have shared various versions of a conspiracy theory in which the United States does not fear but is rather aiding Islamist takeovers of governments in the region. While this possibility may be strange for many Americans to ponder, the theory accounts for what some may argue to be the national interest of the United States.

Facilitated by the previous administration’s failure in Iraq, Iran has enjoyed a bloc of influence stretching westward through Syria and Lebanon. The fall of Assad’s regime would limit Iran’s ability to project power throughout the region—by severing the Iranian connection to Hezbollah in Lebanon, for instance—a boon to both the State of Israel and the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Arabia chief among them.

It appears that the US, focused on preserving stability in the Gulf region, is confident in Saudi abilities to control the broad streams of Sunni Islamist impulses (as they have done in their own local context). Some would therefore argue that Islamist political orders, although antithetical to US ideologies, may be preferred as the enemy we know to the Iranian enemy we know all too well.

This observation is the mirror image of what many have pointed out as Russia’s geopolitical interest in weakening Sunni communities within the confederation. By propping up a nominally Shiite regime in Syria and thus bolstering Iran’s Shiite political order, Russia achieves the double aim of preserving its oil interests in Iran while crafting a counterbalance to Sunni groups within its own sphere of influence.

The current diplomatic tensions between the United States on one side with China and Russia on the other indicate that the Arab Spring has now become the new battleground for the Great Powers—those that remain and those on the rise. The geographic distinction confirms some elements of Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations thesis, though not his underlying theory of civilizational incompatibility. Access to petroleum trumps the civilizational divide.

At the same time, however, we are seeing evidence that the outworking of the Arab Spring will likely be accomplished quite apart from Great Powers influence. The heart of the current struggle in the Arab world is an internal conversation, a struggle between Sunnis and Shiites and between levels of accommodation for the secular west (including quasi-Communist ideologies). The outcomes of that struggle are quite unpredictable to persons embodying western ideologies. As much as Russia may try to preserve Shiite political power as a tool to balance Sunni insurgents and as much as the United States may try to limit Iranian influence by opening the door to populist Sunni Islamism, the volatility emerging from centuries of political manipulation at their hands is not easily controlled.

Russia is correct to warn that hasty regime change in Syria will lead to civil war and greater violence than we have already seen. Such a change will break the country in much the same way US policy left Iraq broken. US policymakers are confident that such a breaking will work toward a variety of US ends. Russia would benefit most from some version of the status quo. Both options are drenched in blood, and both fundamentally disregard the wellbeing of the Syrian people. And that, rather than the veto of a UN Security Council resolution, is both disgusting and unforgiveable.

Pray for the People of Syria

The people of Syria are in our thoughts and prayers as the violence intensifies following lack of action by the UN Security Council.  China and Russia vetoed a Western-Arab U.N. Security Council resolution backing an Arab League plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside and end the government’s violence against its people.  The changes proposed by Russia, seen by Reuters, would have introduced language assigning blame to Syria’s opposition, as well as the government, for violence in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died.

Western nations reject the idea of equal blame, saying the government is mainly responsible.

Russia had also insisted on dropping a demand that the Syrian government withdraw its security forces from cities, but U.S. and European delegations refuse to include that change.

Please pray for an end to the violence and an outcome that will bring freedom and prosperity for the Syrian people.

For more information and analysis, see:

Bishop Hanson sends letters of support to Syrian church leaders

In letters to Christian church leaders in Syria, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), offered his support of the churches’ collective call for an end to violence and his prayers for the people in the region.

“In these difficult days, I will continue to pray and encourage members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to pray for you and your efforts to sustain the courage and faith of your communities,” wrote Hanson. In addition to prayers for the people of Syria, the presiding bishop said he mourns the recent death of a priest there, “who died serving others.”

Participants in the WCC meeting on Muslim-Christian Relations

As the violence in Syria continues, Hanson acknowledged in his letters that there are no simple answers to resolve the current situation, and therefore agrees with many Syrian church leaders on the need for dialogue instead of further fighting.

“We who are at ‘the ends of the earth’ cannot forget the importance of Syria for the growth of our faith or the communities of disciples keeping the faith in the land of Christianity’s birth,” Hanson wrote. “We affirm, with you, that the Christian communities in Syria are an essential component to the fabric of Syrian culture and history.”

At the conclusion of his letter, Hanson said he will pray for the efforts of Syrian church leaders toward renewing and strengthening their relationships with Muslim neighbors, and he asked how the ELCA might assist church leaders and the people of Syria.

“We know that well-meaning actions can sometimes result in unintended negative consequences, thus we seek your guidance. In this critical time, we hope to do all we can to strengthen your callings to be ministers of reconciliation in your land,” wrote Hanson.

The Rev. Robert Smith, Area Program Director for the Middle East & North Africa, was attending a World Council of Churches on Christian meeting in Beirut about Christian and Muslim relations when the letter was released. He read the message to the group of about 40 Christians and Muslims gathered from throughout the region, including participants from Syria. The letter was received as an important message from a church leader in the U.S. that respected the complexity of the ongoing situation in Syria while offering heart-felt solidarity. Since then, Bishop Hanson has received responses from Syrian church leaders expressing similar thoughts.

Read the ELCA news release

Christian and Muslim Leaders Reflect on Christian Presence in the Middle East

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reaffirmed churches’ commitment to justice and peace in the Middle East, while stressing the importance of a common vision for living together by Christians and Muslims in the Arab world.

WCC Conference in Lebanon

From left to right: Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the WCC general secretary; H.H. Catholicos Aram I of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church; and H.B. Patriarch emeritus Michel Sabbah at the WCC consultation in Lebanon. © Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia

From the World Council of Churches article – “Without this Christian presence, the conviviality among peoples from different faiths, cultures, and civilisations, which is a sign of God’s love for all humanity, will be endangered,” said Tveit.

He appreciated the participation of a range of Muslims in the consultation, who he says, have emphasized their commitment to strengthen the Christian presence in the Middle East. He said that it is through their action for the common good that people in the Arab world can accomplish peace, justice, freedom and harmony.

“We will certainly want to make clear to our wider constituency, the WCC’s extensive experience over many years of how Christians and Muslims continue to work together constructively for the common good,” he said.

Tveit also pointed out the challenges faced by the Christians in the Arab world, and the sense of insecurity they feel, due to political divides and persistent conflicts.  The WCC has addressed over a number of years the issue of emigration of Christians from the region resulting from the occupation and war in Iraq and the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

He said, “We know that the changes in the Arab world over the last year – and changes still to come – have also left many Christians, along with many Muslims, feeling uncertain and even afraid for their future.”

Highlighting the efforts of churches struggling for justice and peace in Israel and Palestine, Tveit said that the situation is of great concern for Christians in Jerusalem, as well as people of other faiths.

Tveit was speaking at the Christian-Muslim consultation on “Christian Presence and Witness in the Arab World” organized by the WCC programmes for Churches in the Middle East and Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation in collaboration with the Middle East Council of Churches.

Syrian Christian Leaders Issue Statement

The leaders of the three largest Orthodox communities in Syria have issued a statement regarding the current situation in their country. The two files attached here show the letter, translated from Arabic.

For the several years it has been in existence, the Peace Not Walls campaign of the ELCA has been focused primarily on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The events of this year have shown, more than ever before, that the conflict cannot be comprehended apart from its regional context.

Please keep the people of Syria in your prayers, the Christian communities among them. Additionally, pray that leaders around the world seeking to intervene in the conflict brewing there — including leaders in the United States — will receive the gift of discernment.

This is the season of hope. Amen, come Lord Jesus.