Interfaith Center for Peace

As the nation reflects upon the tragedy of 9/11 and what has transpired during the decade since, the terms “courage” and “fear” are heard often. From the various discourses taking place, it seems that some understand the dichotomy between courage and fear as analogous to a fight or flight disposition; that is, those who fight are courageous and those who take flight are fearful.

While addressing the philosophy of spiritual development in Islam at an interfaith conference held in Lahore in the year 1896, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a saintly Muslim personage of the past century, explained that “courage” is actually a moral quality that may be developed and should not be confused with basic instincts. He said:

“A virtue which resembles the instinct of bravery is “courage”. A child, when it has no sense of reason, displays bravery by being ready to thrust its hands into fire because, having no knowledge of the consequences, the instinctive quality of bravery is predominant in it. Man, in a similar condition, fearlessly rushes forth even to fight lions and other wild beasts, and stands out alone in the hour of contest against all armies. People may think this is real courage but the fact is that it is more a mechanical drive than a moral quality. Wild beasts are on par with man at this stage. The moral virtue we call “courage” can be displayed only after due reasoning and reflection and after full consideration of the propriety or impropriety of the act. It is a quality which can be classed as an exalted virtue only when displayed on the right occasion.
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The truly courageous do not display their bravery in an insolent manner. True courage is rooted in patience and steadfastness. The courageous person resists his passion and does not flee from danger like a coward but, before he takes any step, looks to the remote consequences of his actions. There is vast difference between the daring dash of a savage and the indomitable courage of a civilized man: the latter is prepared to meet real dangers but he reasons and reflects, even in the fury of battle, before he proceeds and takes the course best suited to avert evil, while the former – in obedience to an irresistible passion – makes a violent onset in one direction only.”

According to this saintly figure, true courage has little to do with heroic responses to conflict or fear. Rather than impulsively trying to take control of the situation, true courage requires controlling one’s inner passions first and, then, taking a course that is best suited to achieve the desired result. Those who are able to display such courage have achieved a heightened spiritual state, a condition that separates man from other animals and an indication of having become “civilized”.

Fazeel S. Khan
President, Interfaith Center for Peace
Secretary, Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Society

“The Courage to See”
by Jonathan Cosner
Christian
member, Vineyard Columbus (Westerville, Ohio)

My heart is torn over the events of 9/11. We have seen the best and worst of humanity. The response of the First Responders (Fire, Police, volunteers) in the wake of the falling of the World Trade Center towers displayed the love, dedication, and heroism to which all of us aspire as human beings. The design and execution of the hijacking of the American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which struck the World Trade Center towers, and American Airlines Flight 77 (which struck the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 (which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania) displayed the worst of humanity; a ruthless mass suicide killing.

Yet my Christian understanding of the world defies the simplistic and nationalistic interpretation of these events seen on mainstream U.S. media. I believe three truths that give me the ‘courage to see’ these events from as close to a ‘God’s-eye-view’ as my human self can come: 1) EVERYONE is created in the Image of God, 2) EVERYONE is subject to the alienation and estrangement from God, others, and self that can be termed ‘sin’, and 3) God is constantly at work to bridge the gap of estrangement between different people, individuals and their own selves, and between people and God (I will call this reunification ‘redemption’). [These thoughts are influenced by the work of theologians Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr, who both influenced the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]

It is easy, as people in the U.S., to see the image of God (the capacity to love, forgive, and be generous and connected, self-aware entities) in the First Responders who served New York and the World Trade Center victims on 9/11/01. It is easy to see the goodness of the U.S. government in wanting to protect it citizens from harm and protect its borders. It is difficult (and almost blasphemous in U.S. society) to consider that Bin Laden and the Taliban, and all who supported these acts have the same image of God in them.

It is easy to see the evil in the heart of those who plotted the 9/11 attacks and the murder they committed. It is difficult (and blasphemous in U.S. society) to see how people in the United States have become corrupted by their own division from God, neighbor, and self. Many of the people who died in the twin towers may have had family members who were estranged or in deep conflict with them due to infidelity, neglect, or judgmentalism. Likewise, the United States Government’s reaction, in face of the anxiety caused by the potential siezing up of the economic system in face of economic uncertainty, estranged itself from God and neighbor by sending troops into Afghanistan and later Iraq in the hopes of destroying the origin of evil in this world. Unfortunately, they neglected the fact that there are 6+ billion gateways of evil into this world, and those doors are through every human heart.

By the grace of God, God is working in the world to redeem humanity. He doesn’t leave anyone out. He seeks and works to restore EVERY human being to the image of God in which he created them. No human is expendible in this. Every life is precious and everyone can be restored. Though the U.S. government has given up on the individuals who form the Taliban, on the innocent civilians who have died and those who may still die due to the U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and Pakistan, God does not give up on those people. Though disillusioned citizens may give up on the individuals that form the U.S. government who make faithless decisions to choose power, money, and national security over the security that only comes in trust in God to love the world and, as Jesus taught and exemplified, to love our enemies, God doesn’t give up on them.

God is in the business of making all things new. May God work through each of us reading this, we who are created to love and forgive, who have allowed ourselves to be estranged from our families, our enemies, ourselves, God, and all life on our planet, to mature us to love ever increasingly, to close the gap of estrangement that can only be closed by God’s love in us.

In my devotional reading this week, I ran into a disturbing passage.  For readers of the New Testament, it may be a familiar one.  Jesus of Nazareth encounters a devoted, faithful, religious young man, a gentleman of means.  They strike up a conversation, and in the process, the youngster asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus, in typical fashion, replies, “Oh, you know, not much.  Just a few things.  Follow the commandments – be a respecter of human beings and creation alike.  Be faithful to your relationships and do no harm. “  The man retorts, “Yeah, yeah, I do all of that.  But what else do I have to do?”  So the Teacher quietly answers, “Give everything you rely on.  All of your wealth, your possessions.  Let them go.  Let everything go.  There is your answer.”

9/11 prompts us all to think about the deepest questions.  How do we want to be remembered? What is justice? What is peace?  Hope? Forgiveness? Courage?

I believe courage in the face of this terrible date – this decade of Septembers – is the very thing this young man could not do.  We must learn to let go (which is not the same as to forget).  We must let it all go – the hatred, the bigotry, the generalizations, our investments in retribution, our banking on human fairness, on understanding “why,” on each and every time we say to ourselves, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve done all of that, so what else can I really do?”  Courage is the ability not to fear the letting go and to take responsibility for our fears, to let the eternal do its work and to leave our egos out of the process.  That is also peace.  And that, friends, may be the only way we will finally find a way to live together in eternity.  So, courage.  Be of faith, and do not fear.

Rev. Julia Nielsen Bingman

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar.  It is a holy month, the month in which the Quran (the holy scripture in Islam) began to be revealed.  It is also the month that is reserved for fasting.  From dawn to dusk, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and engaging in sexual relations. 

There are obvious physical benefits to implementing strict dietary regulations in one’s daily routine.  However, the injunction to fast during Ramadan is primarily a spiritual/moral discipline.  The objective is to exercise discipline in all aspects of one’s life, the refraining from food, drink and sex only being means to achieve the goal.  As hunger, thirst and sexual drive are the base physical desires in animals, Ramadan offers the opportunity to learn to conquer one’s innate passions and, rather than be a slave to one’s appetites and desires, become their master.  Each Ramadan provides an occasion for the realization of the ability within one’s self to be able to change the course of one’s life if he/she so wills.

In particular, the month of Ramadan is to be observed in a manner that promotes peaceful coexistence and self-restraint in conflict situations.  One of the traditions concerning Ramadan states: “Whoever does not give up lying and acting falsely, God does not stand in need of his giving up food and drink” (Bukhari 30:8).  Another tradition states: “Fasting is a shield, so let the person who fasts not indulge in any foul speech or do any evil deed, and if any one fights or quarrels with him or abuses him, he should say I am fasting” (Bukhari 30:2).  These traditions clarify the essence of fasting in Ramadan – it is not simply refraining from carnal desires, but rather exercising control so as to facilitate the development of the higher moral values of honesty, patience, forgiveness, understanding and courage. 

The qualities that are developed through the exercise of fasting during Ramadan are essential for peace-builders and those engaged in non-violent activism.  A new consciousness of life, one that is above that which is maintained by mere physical desires, is awakened.  The Quran, on two occasions, refers to those who fast during Ramadan as sa’ih, or “spiritual wayfarers”.  Let us pray that those who have undertaken this spiritual journey are rewarded with its intended affects.  Ramadan Kareem to all!

Fazeel S. Khan, Esq.
President, Interfaith Center for Peace
Secretary, Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic Society

It’s July, the month of our nation’s birthday party. People in my neighborhood began “practicing” with their fireworks in early June.

But this is not a holiday I observe. The Star Spangled Banner is not in my hymnal. There are no flags in my sanctuary. I don’t say the Pledge of Allegiance, or stand and hold my hand over my heart while others do. I will not swear an oath. (My word is my bond. Why should you ever believe anything I say if I have to swear an oath to you that I’m telling the truth now?)

What kind of crazy person am I? I’m a member of the Church of the Brethren.

For much of our history we were a “plain” people: “plain” in dress (simple and modest), “plain” in speech (speaking simply and truthfully), and “plain” in behavior (what you see is what you get!). We follow Jesus by following another way of living. And even though most of us no longer wear “the garb,” those practices and beliefs still remain.

Even more importantly, we are a peaceful people. Along with the Mennonites and Friends (Quakers), we are an historic peace church. From our very beginning in 1708 we have refused to support the political war machines of the various countries in which we lived. We did not fight in Germany’s 30 years war. We did not fight in the Revolutionary War. We did not fight in the Civil War. We did not fight in WWI, and in WWII we worked with Selective Service to create an official category for conscientious objection so that our young men (and yours) would have an option—other than prison—when they were drafted.

Contrast this with American patriotism and the 4th of July. Our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” is a poem expressing thanksgiving that military might has triumphed over a foe, a foe “whose blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution” (v. 3). Then the fireworks—beautiful explosives—”the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air” (v. 1), celebrating the firepower of victor over vanquished.

American patriotism celebrates “breaking things.” Think of Iraq: we broke it, we patched it with old duct tape and propped it back up, we are now waving “goodbye.” Think of Afghanistan: it was already broken, we broke it some more, we’re now in talks with the guys who broke it before us to give it back to them. (I know, gross oversimplifications and may I add, my own opinion and “not necessarily the opinion of the Interfaith Center for Peace.”)

I would rather build than break. I would rather see a conflict result in a life-affirming “win-win” than a death-imposing “win-lose.” I would rather share abundance, where there is plenty for everyone, than hoard scarcity. Wouldn’t you?

Do I live in a different world than you do? Nope. But I do live in a different world view. The next time you see a flag or some other reminder of patriotism (like a “support our troops” sticker on someone’s car), remember that you can choose how you interact with the world. Will you choose destruction or creation?

Rev. Deb Oskin, Peace Minister
Living Peace Church of the Brethren
Columbus, Ohio

Thich Nhat Hanh, a poet, decades-long peace activist, nominee for the Nobel Peace prize (nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his work building hospitals in war-torn Vietnam and refusing to swear allegiance to communist or non-communist political forces) and Zen master writes the following regarding dialogue (in this case religious dialogue) from his 1995 book Living Buddha, Living Christ (Riverhead Books, New York):

“Real Dialogue Brings Tolerance. The absence of true experience brings forth intolerance and a lack of understanding.  Organized religions, therefore, must create conditions that are favorable for true practice and true experience to flower.  Authentic ecumenical practices help different schools within a tradition learn from one another and restore the best aspects of the tradition that may have been eroded.  This is true within both Buddhism and Christianity.  Today in the West, all schools of Buddhism are present, and through their interactions with one another, mutual learning is taking place, and the elements that have been lost in one tradition can be revived by another.  The Roman Catholic church, the Eastern Orthodox church, and the Protestant churches could do the same.  And it is possible to go even further.  Different religious traditions can engage in dialogue with one another in a true spirit of ecumenism.  Dialogue can be fruitful and enriching if both sides are truly open.  If they really believe that there are valuable elements in each other’s tradition and that they can learn from one another, they will also rediscover many valuable aspects of their own tradition through such an encounter.  Peace will be a beautiful flower blooming in this field of practice.”

Two questions come out of this, for your consideration now and/or over the next few months:

1. What aspects of your tradition seem dry, lifeless, and worn out (when initially they seemed alive and attracted you to your faith)?

2. What aspects of your faith tradition could be potentially enlivened, refreshed, reborn through your dialogue with people of other faith traditions?

Jonathan Cosner
member of Vineyard Church of Columbus, Westerville, Ohio

Do Not Rejoice When Your Enemies Fall… A Response to the Death of Osama Bin Laden

“Osama Bin Laden is dead.” This was the message that lit up the Twitter- and blogospheres all of Sunday evening and beyond. Across the news, we were reminded that this man, master architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was the “face of evil,” and that he had been assassinated for the good of each American. The media portrayed United States citizens, indeed people across the world, celebrating the death of this man. Even Saddam Hussein’s death did not generate such joy.

And those are the words of the day: joy, jubilation, satisfaction, justice, praise. Even ecstasy.

May 1 is also the eighth anniversary of the day in 2003 when President George Bush landed on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a bomber jacket and boasted that after six weeks of war, America’s major combat operations in Iraq were over. Come October 7, we will have been at war in Afghanistan for a decade.

So, it seems that this day, this anniversary of sorts, should truly be a day for joyful celebration, a time of remembrance and contrition for our corporate hubris, for the worship of our own power. But it is not transpiring in that way, and I am continually reminded of a warning from my tradition’s Scriptures: “Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble” (Proverbs 24:17).

This warning strikes me in the heart. Because it reminds me that it is a dangerous game to name who or what is evil. It brings to mind another warning, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

For the United States maintains over a half million soldiers and dependents on 1,000 bases in 175 countries, and another thousand bases at home. We kill people with impunity. We bomb landscapes, we leave behind the litter of “collateral damage,” the families of those who we call our enemies. Perhaps not with fuel-filled airplanes, but with dozens of other weapons of war we, too, make war holy.

If and when we fall, others will rejoice. They will celebrate. Perhaps we can remember this and shift the focus of our rejoicing. Let us not celebrate the violent death of Osama bin Laden and the terrible power of militaries. Let us celebrate the end of an era and the possibility of healing, reconciliation, and peacemaking on the immediate horizon. Let us find hope and joy in a future in which we can be better, more faithful people. Let us renew our commitment to peace, and to building a world where no person or community feels compelled toward violence.

Rev. Julia Nielsen Bingman

United Methodist
Board member, Interfaith Center for Peace

2010 Martin Luther King Day Peace School Report:

We are excited to share with you that we had a very successful Martin Luther King Peace School at Covenant Presbyterian Church on January 18th.  We brought together a group of about 60 students, volunteers, teachers, and participants!  We held classes for preschoolers, elementary school children, youth, and adults.  Many people came to learn with family members, and some – including 7 volunteers from OSU – came to serve.  Members of the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Unitarian Universalist community attended.  We were given coverage on NBC Channel 4′s noon news covering MLK activities around Columbus – our first time on TV!

One of our participants later wrote: “Ours was a small AND mighty celebration of such a remarkable life and legacy – so meaningful and measurably moving…I was so uplifted by my time with the community you gathered today and the lessons and connections that moved forward with me through my day will continue to energize and inspire me for many days to come.”

Thank you to all of you who participated and helped with this project!  We are blessed to have shared this experience with you, and look forward to doing it again next MLK Day!

The board and staff of ICP wrote a letter on November 20th to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch regarding the Rifqa Bary case that is once again in the headlines here in Central Ohio. If you’re interested in our thoughts, click here to read what we sent.

Our annual Fall Conference, tentatively titled “The Golden Thread That Weaves Us Together” (using the Golden Rule), is planned for early November.

And for the first time, the Interfaith Center for Peace will have a booth at the International Festival at Vets Memorial on November 6 & 7! Come stop by and see us! We’re looking forward to having fun and meeting a lot of like-minded folks.