For most of the last 1,700 years, just a Catholic priest in a Jewish institution would have been considered remarkable. A Catholic and a Protestant in dialogue before 1950 would have received press coverage. The Rev. Billy Graham's comment recently that he was "looking forward to seeing Pope John Paul II in heaven," would have been big news, maybe even a scandal in Protestant circles, only 40 years ago.
Tunisia RPCV Jonathon Dobrer says: Interreligious harmony gets very little press
Interreligious harmony gets very little press
By Jonathan Dobrer, Guest columnist
What was a Muslim religious leader, an imam, doing at the University of Judaism?
Well, he was sitting with a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister and me, a Jew. I had the honor of conducting a panel discussion as part of the university's Great Faiths program.
We had a wonderful discussion of the great religious and theological issues of salvation and tolerance. We also wrestled with the yet hotter questions that the students, mostly Jewish, had about the relationship of Islam and terror.
For most of the last 1,700 years, just a Catholic priest in a Jewish institution would have been considered remarkable. A Catholic and a Protestant in dialogue before 1950 would have received press coverage. The Rev. Billy Graham's comment recently that he was "looking forward to seeing Pope John Paul II in heaven," would have been big news, maybe even a scandal in Protestant circles, only 40 years ago.
Now, add to this already pretty special panel a Muslim! Take our picture and go back in time, to any other time, and people would be incredulous. Could such a group ever agree to meet? And if we did meet, would we either talk in safe platitudes or get into a fight? Well, no. We did not have to choose between such fatal alternatives. We talked to each other with respect, curiosity and candor.
One of the first questions the students had was for the Muslim. They wanted to know how Islam could tolerate terrorism in its name. His response was direct and to the point. "Islam doesn't. It isn't for terrorism. Killing innocents is against the Quran and the religion. There is no religious justification for terror."
To take some of the heat off my Muslim spiritual cousin, I observed that while the Crusades were pursued under the cover of faith and in the name of Christianity, they did not characterize either the message of Jesus or the full history of Christendom. Nor could we consider the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, by a so-called Orthodox Jew, an act of religious orthodoxy.
Not shy, one of the students pushed on, and in a direct but not combative manner asked, "Where are the other Muslim spokesmen denouncing in such a straightforward manner the use of terror under cover of religion?"
This was a good question and it got the good answer it deserved. He explained that Muslim spokesmen, imams and secular Muslim leaders had spoken out against terror, against 9-11 and against the recent bombings in London. Muslims had been part of our national day of mourning at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Muslim leaders are, in fact, participating in interfaith dialogues all over America and are members of interfaith communities and clergy associations in all our major cities. There are Cousins Clubs of Muslims and Jews who meet regularly and talk frankly with each other about real issues and concerns. Pioneered in Detroit, there are now bridge-building programs between synagogues and mosques all over America.
In a panel I had moderated some months ago, also at the University of Judaism, another Muslim leader had responded to the same question with a poignant observation. He looked around the room and asked, not at all rhetorically, "Where is the press? Where are the cameras? If I were standing in front of the University of Judaism with a sign reading, 'Death to the Jews!' does anyone doubt that a dozen trucks from all the TV stations would be here?"
The news tends to focus on things that do not work, when people fight, when there is blood -- or the next best thing, pithy sound bites.
But sometimes, in fact most of the time, the planes arrive; we come home from our adventures on the road unbloodied and physically unscathed. We are, however, psychically scathed by all the hatred, violence, rage and death we see. These are real events and we should not be protected from the truth, no matter how ugly or violent.
I ask for no suppression of the news, nor do I seek any escape from the pain of the world. I want only that these relatively uncommon but still devastating facts of hate, violence and fear be balanced by the unphotogenic truth of our common human decency.
Good things are happening in our world, in our nation and in our community. Good people are meeting and talking honestly and peacefully at the University of Judaism. I thought you should know.
Jonathan Dobrer is a professor of comparative religion at the University of Judaism in Bel-Air. Write to him by e-mail at jdobrer@adelphia.net .
