I had the privilege of working with Reuven Firestone, Professor of Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College this spring in Pakistan with Intersections International. How many Jewish Rabbi’s do you know who hang out in Pakistan working to build peace and understanding? Rabbi Firestone is a mensch.

Rabbi Firestone published this article on Intersections website today, regarding the Israel/Palestine conflict in Gaza. It’s a good word. Perfect Storm

We are experiencing the perfect storm for violence between Jews and Muslims in Israel/Palestine. It’s the convergence of certain factors in religion, which when combined with the particular political impasse there cause many religious Muslims and Jews to see the conflict as religious, existential and life-threatening. This encourages a high tolerance for brutality in the name of religion, which then heightens the perception of impending destruction – which in turn encourages increased brutality.

Religions function like complex organisms. The cells of their bodies are the believers, tied together through the arteries of communities and sinews of shared ritual. Their muscles are movements of common cause, their brain a complex neural mix of theologies and counter-theologies, and their heart the center of moral vision. Like all organisms, religions seek homeostasis. Left to themselves, they pursue positive relations with their environments; they seek a state of peace.

Religions contain within them different vectors of religious thought and action. When undisturbed, the dominant vectors strive for meaning and balance with nature by providing for the physical needs of the body and the spiritual needs of the soul. With these needs met, believers care for the full environment in which they live. They act out the religious imperative by feeding the hungry and serving the needy both within and outside of the community of believers. This in turn radiates the expectation that humanity and nature can live together in harmony. In other words, religions are equipped and are eager to expend great spiritual, physical and material effort to bring real peace to all humankind.

But religions can also feel threatened. When the threat is perceived as serious, they react by promoting a different set of vectors that also convey authentic religious thought and action. These vectors support defensive actions, such as lashing out against perceived enemies through invective and verbal attack. When the threat is considered life-threatening, religions can unleash all their resources against it. History has shown how religious communities that feel threatened can engage in unthinkable brutality.

But feelings are not always an accurate assessment of reality. Sometimes an organism misperceives a threat and then endangers itself by reacting foolishly. Sometimes, in fact, an organism can err by aggravating a real but non-lethal hazard into a fatal deathtrap.

This is what we see happening these past weeks in Israel/Palestine. The essential conflict there is one over competing expressions of nationalism, neither of which accepts the legitimacy of the other. Nationalism exists in the world of politics where all things are negotiable. But the conflict has morphed over the years into one that is increasingly defined as religious, existential and absolute. This unfortunate development has infiltrated the political discourse on both sides even among those who are not religious. It leaves virtually no room for negotiation.

For the sake of their own survival, both sides must reconsider how they define their grievances. Classifying the conflict as existential makes it absolute, provoking and threatening horrible destruction. Re-evaluating the meaning of the conflict can move it toward something that is resolvable.

The political, social, cultural and counter-cultural leaders on both sides need to reconsider the narratives that they have created. They need to bring their communities back to a less threatening discourse. That requires re-summoning the traditional vectors of religious thought common to both Judaism and Islam which seek homeostasis and value dynamic relations with the Other. Such a move can bring the discussion around to enable positive problem-solving.

The confluence of events in this perfect storm will eventually pass. It will then be up to those on the ground to make the necessary repairs in order to stay afloat. That will require giving up certain dogmatic absolutes and accepting the reality that life requires negotiation.

Reuven Firestone is Professor of Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and Senior Fellow at the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC. His books include Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam, and Holy War in Judaism: The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea.

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Building Bridges of Faith with Pakistan is a 30-minute television documentary produced by for Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries with Intersections International. The program will air on ABC7 Chicago, December 29, 2013.

Come with me to Pakistan and watch this compelling eyewitness documentary on the testimonies of key Pakistani and American religious leaders, who met in Islamabad and Lahore to explore faith-based dialogue, policy change on both sides, and building bridges of understanding and respect between our two countries.

For those outside the Chicago market or for those who miss the broadcast, you may view the full program at www.gcbm.org or www.frakesproductions.com following the broadcast.

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This is an excerpt from a new documentary from Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries which will air on Sunday, December 29 at 11:00 a.m. on ABC7 Chicago.

Professor Sabir Hussain from Edwards College Peshawar, Pakistan, engaged in inter-faith dialogue and peace-making long before a group of American scholars and theologians visited Pakistan in April 2013. The US-Pakistan Interreligious Consortium (UPIC), helped Hussain to know that he is not alone in his efforts to build bridges.

Facilitated by Intersections International, and in collaboration with the International Islamic University in Islamabad (IIU) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the visit was part of the
US-Pakistan Interreligious Consortium (UPIC), an effort to cooperatively set an action agenda toward policy change on both sides and building bridges of understanding and respect between Pakistan and the United States.

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Facilitated by Intersections International, and in collaboration with the International Islamic University in Islamabad (IIU) and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), UPIC addressed these issues by creating an interreligious consortium consisting of key leaders of Pakistani and American religious organizations.

The Objectives of UPIC are to

1. Create personal and institutional relationships between delegates’ communities and organizations.

2. Develop delegates’ capacity to substantively advance peace in their communities.

3. Facilitate collaboration on initiatives addressing issues of mutual concern—these issues will be decided by the delegates and likely involve intercultural understanding, peace and security, education, youth, women’s rights, US-Pakistan relations or other areas.

4. Influence policymakers on both sides to improve US-Pakistan relations and advance delegates’ collaborative initiatives and goals at the national and state levels.

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As part of the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project, Intersections International has brought together a delegation of creative artists, for a trip to meet with Iraqi refugees and various humanitarian agencies. We’ve created the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project Blog (www.intersectionsinternational.org/iraqivoices) to share our daily experiences with you. We will post video clips, audio interview files, photographs and reflections. You will also find complete biographies about the other artists as well as the history of the project to date. Please subscribe, check in daily and share your own reflections with us.

The Iraqi Voices Amplification project will lift up the stories of Iraqi refugees who have been forced to leave their homes and country as a result of the current “Global War on Terror.” The Iraqi refugee crisis is one of the most underreported humanitarian crises in recent history.

An estimated 5 million Iraqis have been displaced from their homes, many living as illegal migrants abroad, unable to work or access health care and other social services.
Intersections International reached out to us and we have all formed a group of story-tellers, dancers, musicians, journalists, playwrights and photographers to gain a more complete understanding of this crisis and then help tell the story. Once we return to New York we’ll craft a multi-media presentation about our experience. We hope you’ll join us for the journey. Sign up for the Intersections newsletter to get updates as we travel and about this project.

You can do even more with us on the trip. To help offset the cost of our travel, room and board you can donate to Intersections International. For donations of $50 or more, we’ll send you a postcard from our trip. For donations of $100 or more, we’ll also give you a shout-out on the blog as a project “Amplifier!”  To support the work of Intersections International and the Iraqi Voices Amplification Project go to:

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5515/t/4928/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=772

P.S. Remember,to join us on the web as we travel through Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. We will be posting audio and video updates along with daily summaries to our blog.

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