On May 19, 2011 a group of religious leaders from Serbia met with a small group of members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square. They were traveling under the auspices of the US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. The visitors were the Imam and Head, Council of the Islamic Community, Presevo; Supreme Rabbi, Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia; a journalist who is a member of the Church of Christ, Belgrade; Mufti, Islamic Community of Serbia; Secretary, Office of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej, Serbian Orthodox Church, Belgrade. Here are my notes from that meeting.
Just seeing this group together was interesting. The Mufti, very tall in a black caftan and white hat; the tall Secretary in gray caftan; the short Rabbi with black yarmulke; the Imam similar in appearance to the rabbi; and the journalist - the last three all in casual clothing.
The Rabbi commented that in Exodus it says: "You are a nation of priests." Historically priests were the educated class, but now education is democratized and available to everyone.
In the 1950's all property was nationalized. For Jews in the early 1940's and earlier, property was the source of independence. Now there is discussion of restitution of seized property. Now the Jewish and Islamic communities are working together now that religion is not suppressed in Serbia.
The religious groups are conservative forces. Many of the NGO's are former Communists and oppose religious activism. The religions are working cooperatively with each other. The Rabbi and the Mufti put on a joint poetry event that was very successful. They read classical poems in Hebrew and Arabic and translated into Serbian.
In Serbia about 95% of people say they are believers, but most don't practice and don't really know about their religions.
There is a state Ministry of Religions. When the State returns property to religious groups the groups must pay taxes on the property as if they had bought or built it. None of the religious institutions have financial resources, so this is a challenge. Lack of funds prevents the religions from providing social welfare programs that would attract more congregants.
As recently as the 1980's it was forbidden for people serving in the army to have a bible in their position.
644,000 Serbs were killed in the Jasovenic concentration camps because they were Christian Orthodox. Later people were told to convert to Roman Catholicism or be killed. Two groups of Serbs fought the Nazis and also against each other. Some were Communists, some were not. The largest number of Serbs killed in World War II were killed by Serbs.
One of the visitors lived in the US for four years (2003-2007). He said that a person "cannot understand what it is like to live in a foreign, repressed nation without living there. You must listen to the people living there when making decisions."
In Turkish "bal" means honey, and "kan" means blood. That describes the Balkans area.
A few years ago the government started to give religions rights, but the country has no money and social problems are growing because of a lack of jobs. Serbian farmers can grow a lot of food, enough to feed the country and much of Europe, but they don't have markets. They lost their trade partners during the Balkan war. For example, they used to grow tomatoes but now hybrid tomatoes are sold in the markets and they don't have seeds to grow new crops.
There are a lot of people that think the economy was better under Milosevic and when it was Yugoslavia. It will take time to adjust, probably a new generation.
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After their visit I sent them a note telling them that I hope that the goodwill that exists among them and their congregations today continues in the future. Here is the note that I sent:
Thank you all for meeting with members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square in Dallas today. I am very glad I got to meet each of you and to hear you speak about your country and your hopes.
Your group is very different than the other groups I have met with when they visited us. The other groups have wanted to discuss how to improve relationships within and among their communities: between Shia and Sunni; between Muslims and Christians; between light skinned people and dark skinned people; conditions for Muslim women; and things like that.
Your group seems to get along very well while facing your common challenge. It is my hope that as each of your communities grows and flourishes that the harmony that your group displayed today carries over into the broader communities. That you are all planting the seeds of harmony and mutual respect for now and for the future (and maybe some tomato seeds too).
Best wishes for a safe and prosperous future,
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A surprising view of, and from, Pakistan
This week I had the opportunity to meet with a group of influential leaders from tribal and other parts of Pakistan. There were surprises on both sides - surprises that I think are worth sharing, even important to share.
Background
The US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program arranged for the group from Pakistan to meet with various American groups around the country to gain insight into how we get along in an ethnically and religiously diverse society. Here they were meeting with members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square. The visitors included tribal chiefs from areas near the Afghan border, professors, political and interfaith activists, security officials, attorneys and authors and a TV anchor. Other members of their delegation were police officials and they met with local police. Five of the male members of the delegation met with us. They are all Muslim. The Interfaith Council was represented by a small group consisting of two Jews, a Sikh, a Muslim, a Christian Scientist, and an Orthodox Christian. All of the visitors were multi-lingual, all speaking at least Urdu and English. There were two translators present, but very little of their services were needed.
First impressions
Knowing ahead of time where they are from and having seen their bio's, I had an expectation for their general appearance. I was wrong.
The visitors have light complexions, what we would call a Caucasian appearance. They were clean shaven. They wore Western business-casual attire. Their English was excellent.
There were three discussion topics that I would like to share. I hope I am summarizing accurately.
Militants
Their view is that the people in the tribal areas want to lead peaceful lives building on the lives and culture they've had for generations and practice the peaceful Islam that they believe in. When the Afghans were fighting the Russians, mercenaries were brought in to fight the Russians. Many of these were brought in from Arab countries. They have an expression that "The jails in Arabia must be empty, because all their bad guys are here." Remote areas of Pakistan were used as training areas before the mercenaries went into Afghanistan to fight (funded and trained by the US and other Western countries).
These remote tribal areas are relatively independent of the central government of Pakistan, although the national government has good control of about 60% of them. The law establishing the tribal areas was put in place by he British and goes back to 1901. It has not been changed. The tribal areas are very poor and very little aid flows from the government to them. Illiteracy is very high.
When the war with the Russians ended the fighters remained, and continue to use their new power to retain their positions, During this process 2/3 of the schools in Pakistan were destroyed maintaining, and even growing, the rate of illiteracy. About 1,000 new schools have been built, but they are religious schools financed by outside religious groups, not secular schools.
What about the "religion of peace"
Our local Muslim participant asked why the people didn't follow the teachings of Islam and resist the call to arms and militancy.
It was easy for the mercenaries (encouraged by their backers, the US and others) to persuade poor, illiterate rural people that they should fight the Russian infidels - especially when those fighting were given weapons and money and went from being at the bottom of the social pyramid to suddenly having the trappings of power. Literature to promote the militants, Arabs and their local recruits, in the fight against the Russians was published - in Nebraska!
Visitors expressed the opinion that as long as foreign forces remain in Afghanistan there will be propaganda reasons that the militants will use to exploit people and to recruit.
In the name of Islam mosques are being blown up and Muslims are being killed indiscriminately. This is a perversion of Islam which shouldn't be killing anyone. These acts are motivated by outside political forces and they are the suffering pawns.
What can we share that will help the visitors?
Rather than answer that question, our visitors told us what they are learning.
They have learned that Americans have values. That we care about people and want to help. That we are not bad people. And that that is information that they can take home and share.
Background
The US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program arranged for the group from Pakistan to meet with various American groups around the country to gain insight into how we get along in an ethnically and religiously diverse society. Here they were meeting with members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square. The visitors included tribal chiefs from areas near the Afghan border, professors, political and interfaith activists, security officials, attorneys and authors and a TV anchor. Other members of their delegation were police officials and they met with local police. Five of the male members of the delegation met with us. They are all Muslim. The Interfaith Council was represented by a small group consisting of two Jews, a Sikh, a Muslim, a Christian Scientist, and an Orthodox Christian. All of the visitors were multi-lingual, all speaking at least Urdu and English. There were two translators present, but very little of their services were needed.
First impressions
Knowing ahead of time where they are from and having seen their bio's, I had an expectation for their general appearance. I was wrong.
The visitors have light complexions, what we would call a Caucasian appearance. They were clean shaven. They wore Western business-casual attire. Their English was excellent.
There were three discussion topics that I would like to share. I hope I am summarizing accurately.
Militants
Their view is that the people in the tribal areas want to lead peaceful lives building on the lives and culture they've had for generations and practice the peaceful Islam that they believe in. When the Afghans were fighting the Russians, mercenaries were brought in to fight the Russians. Many of these were brought in from Arab countries. They have an expression that "The jails in Arabia must be empty, because all their bad guys are here." Remote areas of Pakistan were used as training areas before the mercenaries went into Afghanistan to fight (funded and trained by the US and other Western countries).
These remote tribal areas are relatively independent of the central government of Pakistan, although the national government has good control of about 60% of them. The law establishing the tribal areas was put in place by he British and goes back to 1901. It has not been changed. The tribal areas are very poor and very little aid flows from the government to them. Illiteracy is very high.
When the war with the Russians ended the fighters remained, and continue to use their new power to retain their positions, During this process 2/3 of the schools in Pakistan were destroyed maintaining, and even growing, the rate of illiteracy. About 1,000 new schools have been built, but they are religious schools financed by outside religious groups, not secular schools.
What about the "religion of peace"
Our local Muslim participant asked why the people didn't follow the teachings of Islam and resist the call to arms and militancy.
It was easy for the mercenaries (encouraged by their backers, the US and others) to persuade poor, illiterate rural people that they should fight the Russian infidels - especially when those fighting were given weapons and money and went from being at the bottom of the social pyramid to suddenly having the trappings of power. Literature to promote the militants, Arabs and their local recruits, in the fight against the Russians was published - in Nebraska!
Visitors expressed the opinion that as long as foreign forces remain in Afghanistan there will be propaganda reasons that the militants will use to exploit people and to recruit.
In the name of Islam mosques are being blown up and Muslims are being killed indiscriminately. This is a perversion of Islam which shouldn't be killing anyone. These acts are motivated by outside political forces and they are the suffering pawns.
What can we share that will help the visitors?
Rather than answer that question, our visitors told us what they are learning.
They have learned that Americans have values. That we care about people and want to help. That we are not bad people. And that that is information that they can take home and share.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Visitors from the Maghreb and middle-east
During the week of April 4, 2011 five other members of the Interfaith Council (IFC) of Thanksgiving Square (TGS) and I, along with four TGS staff members met with seven distinguished and influential visitors from countries bordering the southern and eastern Mediterranean coast. Our multi-talented visitors, all Muslim, were professors, authors, judges, imams, experts in Islamic studies and sharia, economists, university deans, and researchers in Islamic movements. In addition to their native Arabic, they are conversant in French and most are also conversant in English. They were visiting the United States under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. They came from Algeria, Israel, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. Our Interfaith Council participants, including the staff, consisted of a Baptist, a Catholic, a Christian Scientist, three Jews, a Lutheran, a Muslim, an Orthodox Christian and a Sikh. The meeting included men and woman.
To the sorrow of us and our visitors, we had only one hour for discussion, but it was a very worthwhile discussion. I made brief notes as the visitors asked questions or offered comments. In some cases I only have notes about the thought provoking questions. I think you will find them interesting.
Question/comment 1 (from a visitor):
Everyone we have spoken to in the US, everywhere we have been, regardless of culture or religion or their origins or the origins of their ancestors, sees him or herself as American. It applies to Muslims, Christians, Jews, everyone. Why is that? What brings that about?
Question 2/comment 2 (from a visitor):
Before he received his message, the Prophet had a meeting of various faiths that existed at the time and in the area. He said: "We have your faith and we have ours". That is always the case in for Muslims.
Question/comment 3 (from IFC):
What is the relationship between church and state in your countries?
Answer (visitor):
It differs among our countries.
The role of religion in all of our countries is different than in western countries. Islam does not only address spiritual things, but is more deeply involved in many aspects of daily life. I am seeing some commonalities between US history and what our countries are seeing now [a reference to the revolts underway in many countries in their region].
Some governments are trying to use religion to give themselves legitimacy. Islamic scholars contradict governments. Populations give more legitimacy to scholars than to governments. There are two elements at work now:
Israel accommodates multiple legal systems. These include Jewish law, sharia law, and civil law,
Question/comment 4 (from a visitor):
Power in the US comes from the coexistence of groups (ie, the Interfaith Council).
Arabs and Muslims generally want peace and it should result from the fruits of the revolutions now occurring.
Tunisia may have a different view than other countries. Islamists were partners, not leaders, of the Tunisian revolt. Now a debate is happening on the role religion should have. A very serious is underway.
Question/comment 5 (from a visitor):
The dialog among us (the visitors) is valuable. We have differing opinions and learn from each other.
To the sorrow of us and our visitors, we had only one hour for discussion, but it was a very worthwhile discussion. I made brief notes as the visitors asked questions or offered comments. In some cases I only have notes about the thought provoking questions. I think you will find them interesting.
Question/comment 1 (from a visitor):
Everyone we have spoken to in the US, everywhere we have been, regardless of culture or religion or their origins or the origins of their ancestors, sees him or herself as American. It applies to Muslims, Christians, Jews, everyone. Why is that? What brings that about?
Question 2/comment 2 (from a visitor):
Before he received his message, the Prophet had a meeting of various faiths that existed at the time and in the area. He said: "We have your faith and we have ours". That is always the case in for Muslims.
Question/comment 3 (from IFC):
What is the relationship between church and state in your countries?
Answer (visitor):
It differs among our countries.
The role of religion in all of our countries is different than in western countries. Islam does not only address spiritual things, but is more deeply involved in many aspects of daily life. I am seeing some commonalities between US history and what our countries are seeing now [a reference to the revolts underway in many countries in their region].
Some governments are trying to use religion to give themselves legitimacy. Islamic scholars contradict governments. Populations give more legitimacy to scholars than to governments. There are two elements at work now:
- Secular - separation of church and state (eliminate religion as a justification for the government). But those people are the minority.
- Religious stream - build a democratic system based on religion.
Israel accommodates multiple legal systems. These include Jewish law, sharia law, and civil law,
Question/comment 4 (from a visitor):
Power in the US comes from the coexistence of groups (ie, the Interfaith Council).
Arabs and Muslims generally want peace and it should result from the fruits of the revolutions now occurring.
Tunisia may have a different view than other countries. Islamists were partners, not leaders, of the Tunisian revolt. Now a debate is happening on the role religion should have. A very serious is underway.
Question/comment 5 (from a visitor):
The dialog among us (the visitors) is valuable. We have differing opinions and learn from each other.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Are we witnessing a miracle?
Are we seeing a miracle playing out in front of our eyes? If we could add a chapter to the bible, are we witnessing the content occurring in real time? Are we too close to see it?
A lot of you have been telling me about fears of what the uprisings and chaos in the Arab world portend for Israel and for Jews. We've all been seeing and hearing what is occurring. Most of you know me well enough to know that I approach religion primarily with historical curiosity and a respect for the traditions. Perhaps that is what leads me to think we are seeing the stuff that miracles are made of when looked at from a historical perspective.
In my lifetime we've seen other events that would be candidates for our new chapter: the establishment of the modern state of Israel, Israel's survival through several wars against overwhelming odds, the rescue at Entebbe, the advances in science and technology that come from that tiny country and from the relatively miniscule Jewish population worldwide.
Now we're seeing much of the Arab world that aligned itself against Israel and/or Jews erupting in chaos, fighting within itself. The ruler in Egypt has resigned and elections should be held later this year. In Libya there was an unconfirmed report as I write this, that the ruler has fled the country as a revolution is unfolding there. The revolution started in Tunisia, one of the smallest Arab countries, and became contagious. There is revolution underway now in Bahrain and Yemen, and protests in Morocco and Jordan, in what should be Kurdistan, and again in Iran. There must be concerns in Syria and in Saudi Arabia.
I do not know how it will play out but I can't overlook the irony that the Arab and Persian people are fighting to overthrow their own governments -- in order to be more like Israel. Miraculous?
A lot of you have been telling me about fears of what the uprisings and chaos in the Arab world portend for Israel and for Jews. We've all been seeing and hearing what is occurring. Most of you know me well enough to know that I approach religion primarily with historical curiosity and a respect for the traditions. Perhaps that is what leads me to think we are seeing the stuff that miracles are made of when looked at from a historical perspective.
In my lifetime we've seen other events that would be candidates for our new chapter: the establishment of the modern state of Israel, Israel's survival through several wars against overwhelming odds, the rescue at Entebbe, the advances in science and technology that come from that tiny country and from the relatively miniscule Jewish population worldwide.
Now we're seeing much of the Arab world that aligned itself against Israel and/or Jews erupting in chaos, fighting within itself. The ruler in Egypt has resigned and elections should be held later this year. In Libya there was an unconfirmed report as I write this, that the ruler has fled the country as a revolution is unfolding there. The revolution started in Tunisia, one of the smallest Arab countries, and became contagious. There is revolution underway now in Bahrain and Yemen, and protests in Morocco and Jordan, in what should be Kurdistan, and again in Iran. There must be concerns in Syria and in Saudi Arabia.
I do not know how it will play out but I can't overlook the irony that the Arab and Persian people are fighting to overthrow their own governments -- in order to be more like Israel. Miraculous?
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