Ecumenism, Interfaith Dialogue and Peace
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In order to understand why interfaith dialogue for peace is now much needed in the Middle East, I would like to remind you of only one contextual reality of that region and the main challenges that have been emerging in it:

The Contextual Reality

The Middle Eastern societies have not been radically affected by the western industrial revolution or the secular humanist French revolution that led to the separation of the state from religion. Therefore, Politics and Religions are interrelated in the life of its people. Any political action has a religious implication and vice versa. This reality is manifested in many ways but, I will mention only the following:     

a. The human being is communal. The human being is not only individual, like in the

West, but also communal, because he or she is recognized socially and legally as a

member of a community, which in Judaism is the “Chosen People”, in Islam, the

“Umma” and in Christianity, the “Church”.

b. The sense of the past is important. The Americans tend to emphasize today and

tomorrow, while the monotheists believe that the "past" is very determinant of the

"present" and the "future". This is because in their collective memory, they feel that

God, the Father of Abraham is the same yesterday, today and forever.  

Consequently, the Americans and their National Authorities should not use only the secular humanist criteria to analyze the Middle Eat societies or judge the behavior of its states. They should also use the values of the monotheistic religions.

The New Challenges

Early in the 20^th Century, when the Jewish, Christian and Muslim intelligentsia who studied in Paris came back to the Arab World, they promoted the secular humanist modern nationalism as a movement of independence from the Ottoman Empire. They also thought that if applied in their region, modern nationalism could help separate the State from Religion and establish pluralism and equality between citizens regardless of faith, ethnic background and/or culture. Unfortunately, during the last decades, the Middle East people have been experiencing the destructive effects of the Israel/Palestine conflict, the fragmentation of their societies, the absence of economic development and the shortage of democracy. However, the most important challenges that the Middle Eat people have been facing are 1) the emergence of the Ethnic and Religious nationalism, 2) the cultural conflict, 3) The intervention of the American political power and 4) the mission of the so-called “the Zionist Christians”     

1. The Emergence of the Religious or Ethno-Religious Nationalism. This is the result of the marginalization of modern nationalism and the other secular “isms” which made some conservative ethnic and/or religious movements fill the resulting ideological vacuum with their politico-religious ideals. This is leading them to replace social plurality by a form of unfair coexistence between religious particular identities or confessions. Moreover, some national and international political or military powers have been using or misusing ethnicity and religion for their self-centered interests. At the same time, some Middle East religious leaders have been exploiting those powers, in order to achieve their own objectives. Unfortunately, those developments have been leading to the elimination of the “other”, in the name of “God Chosen people” or in the name of “Allah”, instead of dialogue with that “other”. Consequently, religion has become a factor of violence and war instead of being a source of peace. The politically opposed movements are:

a. The Zionist Movement. Understandably, that movement wanted to liberate the Jews

    from anti-Semitism and the horrible experience of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, they

    transformed then the genuine Jewish theology into a political ideology according to

    which they gathered the Jews in what they considered to be “a land without people for

    a people without land.” Then, the Jews of the Diaspora were settled in a land where

    sizeable communities of Christian and Muslim Palestinians were living and many were

    made refugees. The State of Israel was then formed in 1948 on the basis of the concept

    of the divine right over the human right of the Palestinians and is try to fragment the

    Middle East into religious and/or ethnic communities similar to itself and from which

    the Christian  minorities should leave as they cannot form their own state.

b. The extremist conservative Muslim Movements. The ongoing socio-political

    fragmentation and the Israeli political behavior in the Middle East are leading the

    conservative Muslim movements to work for societies based on the Islamic

    law or “Sharia” instead of democracy, which they consider to be a western model of

    governance that is not compatible with their faith and that was imposed by western

    colonialism. Of course, under the rule of Sharia, the Christians are regarded as “people

    of the book” and therefore should be protected as minorities if they live in peace in the

    abode of Islam, or “Dar Al-Islam”. This is spiritually valuable. However, it is not yet

    providing enough protection to the non-Muslim minorities.    

2. The Culture Conflict. The emergence of religious nationalism has cultural implications that are making the Middle East people experience a conflict between two cultures. The first is the so-called “western” secular humanist culture and the second is the monotheistic culture that is rooted on divine values. That conflict is leading people to have a schizophrenic way of life and is happening at the expense of the human being.

3. The Intervention of the American Power. During the last years, instead of helping solve the prevailing tensions in that region, the US Policy of war against “terrorism” and the “Crusade against Evil” has been encouraging their continuation and has used or misused religion to fulfill its own  economic and strategic purposes. For these reasons, some extremist Muslims are sometimes oppressing local Christians whom they wrongly consider to be supportive of the American power or are supported by it.  

4. The American Zionist Christians. Sensitivities are increasing between the Christians and the Muslims of the Middle East because of the missions of the American so-called “Zionist Christians”. That group came to the region and opened its “Christian Embassy in Jerusalem” to support Israel that it considers to be the fulfillment of the prophecies against the Palestinians Arab Muslims and Christians. Also, for that group, the Middle East Christians are not real Christians because they are not “born again”.

Consequently, facing their internal Christian divisions and the ongoing politico-religious and cultural challenges, the Middle East Christians seem to be considering, mainly the following two options:

a. To leave the Middle East and many have been leaving because of suffering, poverty  

    and because of loosing hope.  

b. To continue their presence in the Middle East even as minorities. The great majority

of the Middle East Christians are continuing to live in that region. Accordingly, they

are continuing to work for Christian Unity, religious freedom and equality in

citizenship, in order to start a new era of love, mutual respect and peace. In fact, in

their collective memory, have always considered that their region is bearing seeds of

wars but, at the same time and because of Jesus Christ Incarnation in Bethlehem, it is

carrying divine potentials of love, unity and peace that are calling them to challenge

prophetically the powers involved and to promote interfaith dialogue for Peace.

Interfaith Dialogue for Peace

Therefore, despite their internal divisions and respective problems, as well as their ongoing suffering in some societies and the destructive challenges that they are nowadays facing, the Christians of the Middle East are continuing to call for fair political solutions to their local and regional conflicts and to work for peace in their region. In addition, they are increasingly calling for inter-religious dialogue with the aim of putting an end to violence and of helping the people of the region promote common living in just peace. In their view, interfaith dialogue should have the following objectives:                                                                                                                                                                  

1. Liberate the monotheistic religions from the traumas and misconceptions of the

past, like Anti Semitism against the Jews, the Anti Crusade mentality against the

Christians and that Islam is a religion of violence, against the Muslims.

2. Make the monotheists discover in their respective spiritual heritages, values that will

make them cooperate in serving the poor and in securing freedom, equality and H.R.  

3. Discover in the monotheistic religious traditions, values conducive to common

living in peace. This may lead to establish states that would neither be secular nor

theocratic or ethnocentric, but respectful of religion, plurality and just peace. 

4. Prevent the ongoing cultural conflicts between the M.E and the West from destroying

    human beings as well as make the cultures involved interact constructively for peace. 

5. Help the religious communities prove that religion is not a cause of violence and war,

but a factor of God’s peace. 

6. Help the monotheists discover common solutions to the international crisis

Nowadays, there are very encouraging spiritual and human signs of hope.

1. The Spiritual Signs: Many monotheists involved in local and international dialogues are increasingly emphasizing the following common spiritual dimensions:

a. The continuity of God Revelation to Moses, Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad.

b. Love of God and the love of the neighbor. (The letter of Muslims leaders to the Pope)   

c. Shalom, Salam or peace, that (the Jews, the Christians and the Muslims are calling for).  

d. Peace is inclusive of Justice and rooted in the divine truth ( From Babylonian Talmud)

2. The Human signs: On the Jewish side, one could refer to Btselem in Israel and to the Jewish Voice for Peace, in the USA. On the Muslim side, many Sunni and Shii leaders have made statements opposing the use of violence that for them is not related to Islam. Moreover, many Muslim intellectuals are increasingly claiming the need for “ijtihad” or reinterpretation or clarification of their Faith. 

Conclusion

If the present Middle East politico-religious dynamics remain the same, the 21st century will witness radical geo-political and religious changes that may compel the Middle East Christians to leave their region. However, most of them believe that they are called to continue serious efforts towards peace through positive political solutions to the ongoing conflicts and through inter-religious dialogue toward creating a new society, which should guarantee religious freedom, justice and peace.

The participants in those dialogues are hoping to undertake sincere self-evaluation and rigorous intellectual self-criticism, in order to express their respective faiths with patience, humility, love and sacrifice. This process will help them live together, not in conflict, but in mutual respect as partners in promoting a culture of justice and peace as a sign of the times and of hope for a better future. The Middle East Christians believe that God entered their history in order to enable His followers to transform the ongoing hatred, divisions and war into love, reconciliation, and peace.

Therefore, the Churches in the whole world should support the movement toward Christian Unity in the Middle East and the significant witness of the Middle Christians that they are rendering on behalf of the Universal Church. In particular the American Christians should deepen their knowledge of the Middle East Politico-Religious dynamics and the continuity of Christian Presence in it. It is hoped that this will make them support those Christians, challenge the American “Christian Zionists” and press their National Authority to transform its M. East policy of divisions and wars into unity and just peace.