Peace Churches Host Dialogue With Iranian President and 100 Religious Leaders
from Connie
This event seems to have been missed in the corporate US media.
Meeting Is Third in a Series Seeking to the Use the Common Ground of Faith to Address Political Tensions
NEW YORK [SEPTEMBER 26] — More than 100 religious leaders today participated in an hour-long, interfaith encounter with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Church Center for the United Nations. The gathering was organized by the Mennonite Central Committee and endorsed by the American Friends Service Committee, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Mennonite Church USA, the Mennonite Church Canada and the Church of the Brethren General Board. Other endorsers included Sojourners/Call to Renewal, Pax Christi USA, the World Council of Churches Commission of Churches on International Affairs, and the World Conference of Religions for Peace. The meeting also included Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and others.
This is the third in a series of conversations focused on establishing a dialogue between people of faith in the United States and the people and government of Iran. The discussions began with the Iranian President’s visit to the U.N. in September of last year when 43 U.S. religious leaders met with him at his hotel. In February, 13 American religious leaders visited Iran where they met with a variety of governmental, academic and religious leaders.
This ongoing dialogue emerges out of the concerns of religious leaders in the United States that the escalating political and economic confrontation between the U.S. and Iran could lead to war. They have called on the governments of Iran and the United States to establish direct, face-to-face diplomatic negotiations as one part of an effort to create a path to peace. Known as “peace churches� for their historic witness to nonviolence, Mennonites and Quakers have long been at the forefront of international movements for peace and reconciliation.
“You make peace with those with whom you disagree, not your allies,” said Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee who traveled to Iran with the February delegation. “Dialogue is not a reward or validation; it is a means to begin the process of reconciliation and pave the way for future constructive relationships.”
Joe Volk, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, added: “When other venues have been closed, leaders of faith communities serve by demonstrating that alternatives to heated rhetoric and political isolation exist and may prevent war.”