Visitors from Serbia

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.

====================
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,

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.

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:

1. Secular - separation of church and state (eliminate religion as a justification for the government).  But those people are the minority.
2. Religious stream - build a democratic system based on religion.

This is leading to open discussions about the role of religion in government in Egypt, in Tunisia, in Morocco.  Constitutional changes will decrease government power.

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.

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?

History repeating itself

These are my notes about the fifth in the series of lectures by Professor Luis Martin about the development of Mexico and the USA. Topics covered include opposition to the Mexican-American war with parallels to the US Civil War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War and even the Afghan War. There is also a segment on the Catholic church's decisions on marriage and women.

The planned topic for this lecture was details about the fighting of the Mexican-American War, but that was deferred so that Luis could give some background about the war. He cited a couple of reminders that "An army's role is to kill the enemy and to be ready to die for your own country."

James Polk was the US President in 1848, On January 12, 1848 a freshman Congressman delivered a speech in the House of Representatives in response to Polk's request for additional funds and resources to fight the Mexican-American War. The war was nearing its conclusion by that time. These notes paraphrase parts of the Congressman's speech:

He states that:

• the war was unnecessary and commenced illegally by Polk.
• prior to being in Congress, he believed that everyone, despite their feelings and votes prior to the commencement of the war, should be quiet about their opinions on the war while the war was being fought -- but now, in light of Polk's request, that it was impossible to remain silent.
• that the president asserted that the war began in 1846 on US soil
• that the president's assertion was a shameless deception!
• that the president claimed that the border with Mexico was the Rio Grande while the recognized border was actually the Rio Nueces and thus the president had actually invaded Mexico by crossing the Nueces.
• that if the president can show that he is telling the truth that he will reverse his vote, but if the president cannot show that, then the president is just trying to deflect attention from the illegitimacy of the war by training the focus on the bravery of the military.

That Congressman was Abraham Lincoln. The speech is rarely cited in books about the Mexican-American War. The speech can be found at http://www.animatedatlas.com/mexwar/lincoln2.html

George Santayana, a Spaniard, is the source of the quotation: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." [That is a slight modification of an earlier statement by Edmund Burke.]

War was inevitable as soon as the US annexed Texas. Mexico never recognized Texas' independence. Ironically, a few years later, the US would use the same argument against the South that Mexico had used against Texas. That a state cannot declare its independence. And the same argument had been used by England earlier when the US was declaring its independence.

When Mexico invited Anglos to settle in Texas to populate it, the settlers were allowed to bring slaves and were entitled to additional cheap land for each slave they brought. Mexico was still part of Spain and had not outlawed slavery. When the US annexed Texas, the South believed Texas should be a slave state and the North believed it should not be a slave state.

Book reference: Foreigners in Their Own Land by David Weber about the first generation of Texans who were Mexican citizens when it was annexed.

Luis Martin delivered a sermon at the Catholic church at Columbia University during the Vatican Council. Cardinal Spellman was the Archbishop of New York at the time and was at the Council. Spellman was at the Council and voted against ordaining married men as deacons. Martin opened his sermon by reading from the New York Times about the Cardinal's vote, and then read from Acts of the Apostles where the Apostles decide to ordain deacons, including married men and even women, wherever they are in their life path.

His point, he said, in telling that story is that history is not a science, but a liberal art, to understand what happens in real life situations.

Part 4: Revolt and civil war in Mexico (including Texas)

Another book, in addition to Many Mexicos, was recommended for people interested: The Spanish Frontier in North America by David Weber.

This session talked about the Mexican revolution from Spain, and the Mexican states' revolution, including Texas, from the central government of Mexico; and about the quixotic role of Santa Ana. (It is possible that I have some of the dates wrong in what follows.)

On January 14, 1831 the last living leader of the Mexican revolution of 1810, Vicente Guerrero, was executed by firing squad by Mexico. Santa was responsible for the execution of all four of the independence leaders, leaving himself as the sole remaining original leader.

Santa Ana called himself the Napoleon of the West and reminded people that he fought more battles than George Washington and Napoleon put together.

Santa Ana lead a coup de etat in 1832.

In 1833 Santa Ana is elected President but finds the role boring and uninteresting and turns over control to his vice president, Gomez Farias. Santa Ana retires to his ranch.

Gomez Farias:

• reduces the size of the army;
  
• makes soldiers subject to civilian laws;
  
• says the Church can only be involved in religious matters, not politics
• secularizes education
• closes the University of Mexico (99% of the faculty were clerics)
• severs authority of the Vatican over Mexico
• establishes himself as head of the Church in Mexico
• releases priests and nuns from their vows
• takes over Franciscan monasteries in California

Santa Ana leads a coup against Gomez Farias. reasserts himself as President and negates all of Gomez Farias' policies. But also abolishes the Constitution of 1824 and creates the Constitution of 1833. This leads to civil war as the leaders of the Mexican states revolt against Santa Ana's seizure of power.

Santa Ana puts down revolts leaving Texas as the last holdout.

Texas population in 1700 (not counting Indians) is about 3,000 people. In the 1800's Spain invites immigrants from the north to settle in Texas to strengthen Spain's claim to the territory,m but there are constraints on who can immigrate and be a citizen. Families must be Catholic and promise to abide by Spanish/Mexican law, and all public actions must be conducted in Spanish.

Moses Austin, Stephen Austin's father, comes to Texas. Moses was already a Spanish citizen because Spain considered Oregon to be part of New Spain. Austin brings 300 families to Texas. Land is very cheap and a wife doubles the amount of land a settler can buy at the cheap price. An additional 160 acres per child can be bought for the ten cents per acre. For every slave another 80 acres can be bought. These prices are 1/10 or less of the price in other areas of the south.

By 1824 there are 30,000-35,000 Anglos in Texas and only 7,500 Mexicans.

Santa Ana raises and army and marches from Mexico City to Texas. By March 1836 he is in San Antonio and captures the Alamo. On March 5, 1836 he decides that the siege of the Alamo will turn into an attack and allowing no survivors.

But the battle of Goliad was a more tragic massacre. The Texian leader at Goliad was Colonel James Fannin and an army of 400 men, Fannin tries to negotiate with Mexican General Urrea to avoid a massacre. But Santa Ana invokes a law that any enemy of Mexico found with weapons should be executed immediately and orders Urrea's lieutenant (Portilla) to execute all of them. THey were lined up and massacred on march 27, 1836. Following the massacre at Goliad there was no way that the Texians could agree to remain part of Mexico.

This was followed by the battle of San Jacinto where Santa Ana is taken prisoner by Houston's army. Santa Ana, as President of Mexico, signs two treaties, one public, one secret. The public treaty ceases military action, withdraws south of the Rio Grande, commits to never fight Texians again, and will receive envoys from Texas leading to Texas' independence.

Santa Ana is sent to D.C where he is put on a ship and returned to Veracruz. But the next year, in 1837, the French navy blockades Veracruz and the French army is ordered to invade in what is known as the "pastry war". Santa Ana raises an army and repels them.

Part 3: The Age of Santa Ana

• Santa Ana switched sides and points of view numerous time during his life.
  
• He would become president of Mexico 11 separate times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_state_of_Mexico
  
• He was of pure Spanish blood, not a mestizo, born in Mexico. He trained in the Spanish army and initially fought against Mexican rebels.
• Napoleon restored Ferdinand VII to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand establishes a very right-wing, authoritarian government and mounts an army to re-dominate Mexico. The army rebels.
• A Spanish Constitution of 1812 is drafted, patterned after the US Constitution, but with a king and with Catholicism as the official religion.
  
• Santa Ana supports a rebellion from Spain and favors a Mexican king.
• Then Santa Ana changes to wanting a democratic republic for Mexico, but still ignoring the Indians.
• Mexicans leaders debate whether to create a United States of Mexico patterned after the USA. The counter argument is that Mexico has a very different history than the USA.
• The USA started as 13 separate entities which federated for a common cause and each gave up a certain degree of autonomy.
• Mexico started out as a single entity under the King and Viceroy and creating a United States of Mexico would be creating separations where there hadn't been any.

• Joel Roberts Poinsett is the first US representative to Mexico. (The Poinsettia is naned for him. Among other things, he was a botanist.)
• Poinsett comes from a wealthy South Carolina family, speaks Spanish, French, Italian, German and some Russian. As a young man he travels widely in Europe and Russia and the Middle East meeting the Czar and other leaders in the early 1800's, making him well educated for diplomatic posts.
• In making recommendations about Mexico to John Quincy Adams, Poinsett essentially recommends what comes to be the Monroe Doctrine.
• Poinsett was a high level Mason in South Carolina. Mexican leaders were fascinated with Masonry and joined one of the two Masonic lodges in Mexico, the Scottish Rite or the York Rite. Because of his Masoinc rank, Poinsett has a lot of influence over Mexican leadership
  
• The Scottish Rite was very conservative wanted a monarchy.
• The York Rite was very liberal and wanted a government patterned after the USA with a multi-chamber legislature and a president. Poinsett joins the York Rite.
• The 19 Mexican states send representatives to elect a president and the conservatives win 10 to 9. But that president is not seated and with Santa Ana leading another army they appoint the loser, Vicente Guerrero president and establish a constitution patterned after the USA.

• Ferdinand sent an army of 4,000 from Cuba and Puerto Rico to retake Mexico, landing at Tampico. Simultaneously there is a coupe against Guerrero. Santa Ana gathers a small army of a few hundred and marches against Tampico to discover that half of the Spanish army have died from Yellow Fever.
  
• Sana Ana is eventually elected president and a conservative constitution is drafted ~ 1832 giving the resident almost absolute power, recognizing Catholicism as the state religion giving bishops a lot of power. He appoints a liberal vice president.
• Within a month there is a revolt against the constitution. Santa Ana resigns and the liberal vice president takes over and begins changing the constitution.
• Santa Ana fights against the revolt and defeats the rebels everywhere except in Texas.
• On paper Santa Ana is still president and the USA returns him to Mexico where he is now unpopular.
  
• Poinsett is now Secretary of Wat, appointed by Van Buren. Van Buren is the first US president born in the USA after it became the USA, but his first language was not English! He grew up in New York and his first language was Dutch.

• 1838 - The Pastry War.
  
• A lot of foreign properties were damaged, seized or destroyed during all the rebellions and the owners wanted Mexico to pay compensation, but the government had no money. Miners and farmers had been fighting wars.
  
• France sends an army to Veracruz to demand reparations.
  
• Santa Ana leads an army to defend Veracruz. He is shot in the leg and thinks he is dying. He doesn't die, but the leg is amputated.
• He becomes president again and has the amputated leg brought to Mexico City to appear in a parade demonstrating his dedication and sacrifices for Mexico.
  

Book: Many Mexicos