Healing the (American) Christian Relationship with the Muslim World

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Healing the
(American) Christian Relationship with the Muslim World

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Speakers:         Rick
Love, Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale Center
for Faith and Culture

                            Fareeha
Khan, Assistant Professor of Islam,
Georgia State University

                            Mahan Mirza

Moderator:         Andy Saperstein, Associate Director, Reconciliation Program, Yale Center for Faith and
Culture

Mirza: 
In the aftermath of 9/11 President Bush was asked, "Why do they hate
us?"  He responded, "They hate our
freedom."  Osama bin Laden responded to
President Bush's statement saying, "We fought with you because we are
free.  As you spoil our security, so we
will do to you."  Let me unpack some of
the loaded language in the title of this panel, why is ‘American' in brackets
next to Christians?  Are the two
synonymous?  And do they stand in
opposition to the Muslim world?  Back to the
War on Terror.  We are told several
things in the narrative of the War on Terror. 
First, that we were attacked unprovoked and it has nothing to do with
our foreign policy.  The attacks will
keep coming.  Two, they fight us because
they hate our freedom.  In a Republican
primary debate this season Congressman Ron Paul stated, "We've been bombing
Pakistan for 10 years and building bases and embassies in the Middle East for
years.  If we think we can do what we
want around the world and not incite hatred then we have a problem.  They come here and attack us because we're
over there."  I think this exchange is
one of the best on the topic I have seen in the public.  The consequence of the position counter to
Ron Paul's is that unprecedented attacks require unprecedented measures.  When Abu Ghraib first broke there was outrage
around the world, including in America. 
The contrasting attitude toward Guantanamo Bay could not be
starker.  Sarah Palin in her speech at
the Republican National Convention mocked Obama for wanting to read terrorists
their rights.  How do we explain these
contradictions?  I believe it is the
embarrassing pictures.  I would like to
turn to another point in the standard narrative of the War on Terror, that it
is impossible to negotiate with these Islamofascists.  What does it mean to say you cannot talk to
someone?  You are saying they are
irrational.  What does that mean for
Islamic terrorist leaders?  Did you know
that the President of Iran, in 2006, wrote a letter to President Bush, calling
the acts of Sept 11 horrendous and asked the President how he could align his
Christian beliefs with his policies. 
This letter is easily accessible through Google.  At this point you may have questions about
me.  Am I an apologist for
terrorism?  We often wonder how people
could cheer in the streets at the collapsing of the Twin Towers, but we never
wonder at the cheering and laughter when Jay Leno opens his show with a joke
about the bombing of Baghdad.  I firmly
believe that, with the exception of a small few, all those people would be
weeping if they saw the loss of human life. 
According to a Gallup poll, Muslims and Americans are equally likely to
reject attacks on innocent civilians. 
Those who do support these attacks do so for political, not religious
reasons.  Presenting Islam as ‘the other'
in American life is false. 

Love: 
[. . . ]  The Geneva Conventions
once described the high moral ground of U.S. policy, now they are used to mock
us.  Methods of war change, the common
humanity of those fighting those wars never change.  All humans are created in the image of God,
even terrorists.  My eyes were open to
the challenges around the War on Terror last October.  As a moral issue, torture is fairly new on
the evangelical agenda.  It is worth
noting that according to Dr. David Gushee, the evangelical left and center
seems to be coalescing around a rejection of torture while the right remains in
favor.  I would argue that the lack of
protest stems from a misunderstanding of human rights.  In a real sense the Christian mission is the
parent of the human rights movement. 
There are several Christian traditions that directly influence this
movement.  Sadly the theological foundations
for human rights have not been adequately taught from our evangelical pulpits
and institutions.  The Bible teaches that
perfect love casts out fear, but in the War on Terror it seems the reverse is
also true, perfect fear casts out love. 
Many argue, surely we must prize national security above all else.  But can't we do unto others as we would have
them do to us and collect reliable
information to keep us safe?  The
Military manual believes so.  It must be
emphasized that this manual was not written by pacifists or boy scouts.  The military believes we can provide for
national security without torture and so should Christians. So how does
standing up for victims of torture help heal the rift in the Muslim, Christian
worlds?  God has raised up Evangelicals
of Human rights to be a prophetic voice for justice.  It enables me to identify myself as a Christian.  The aroma of justice gives me the ability to
stand as a Christian in opposition to my perceived Christian nation. 

Kahn: 
I have been asked to share my reflections on the Common Word Conference
at Yale University.  Prominent religious
leaders from around the world came together to discuss the question, "What are
the commonalities between our religions?" 
The conference was prompted by the document "A Common Word Between Us
and You" written by over 30 prominent Muslim leaders highlighting the parallels
between Muslim and Christian thought. 
The title for the document itself comes from the Koran, which states, "Come
people of the scriptures to a common word." 
The conference was an exciting representation of the dynamic beliefs
that can occur among so many faith leaders. 
We were able to finally ask real
questions because of the bonds of trust that were being formed among us.  The best part was that people gave honest
answers to honest questions and meaningful dialogue really did begin to occur.  We recognize that we have differences and
that we are adherents of distinct traditions, but while holding to our
differences we can find common teachings within our faiths that allow us to
come together around shared goals. This was by far the highlight of this summer's
historic event.  I look forward to future
moments such as this. 

Saperstein:  The whole issue of fear and the desire for
security has come up a lot.  As
Christians I think one of the causes for this that has been mentioned, but not
emphasized, is that we do not have a well developed theology of suffering in
American Christianity.  We find ourselves
in consequence easier to inflict suffering on others than to accept it on
ourselves.  But really it is a
fundamental part of the Christian identity to be willing to accept suffering on
ourselves.  We've gotten that
backwards.  We really need to view torture
as a temptation.  It is a discipline of
soul to resist something that feels good, to do something to protect ourselves
because we feel vulnerable.  Jesus was
tempted and yet he resisted the temptation to grasp hold of power and said no,
this is not what God calls us to.  The
notion of the fear of God is called the beginning of wisdom.  To fear God, it is said, is to hate evil.  The consequences of fearing God has to do
with an alignment of soul.  It is to say,
"I tremble more at the thought of what could be done to another person than I
do to what could be done to myself." 
This is the fear of God that must leaven us to resist torture.  Jesus says the mouth speaks out of that which
is in our hearts.  As we are inside, so
we speak and act, so we need to attend to who we are inside first.  And this takes courage, more courage perhaps
than to look down the barrel of a gun rather than look fully at ourselves
before God.  There are dividends that are
immediately born when we are willing to have a humbleness of heart and when we
are willing and unafraid to say that we were wrong.