The time has come

The events of this last week have been shocking to everyone around the world. The reactions have ranged from revenge to pacifism. The president of the United States will have to manage carefully and prudently the balance between effective counter measures to deal with a real short-term physical threat and longer term accords to deal with the complexity of this issue. No matter how hard they try, he and his advisers will misunderstand some aspects, and their actions will in turn be misunderstood by others.

Historically, we have to construct new ways to deal proactively with global issues of intense fanaticism. The development of international terrorism has made it abundantly clear that the institutional viewpoint of the last 50 years is not adequate.

Before the creation of the United Nations, all problems over the millennia were framed and reacted to in military terms. Over the last decades we have sought to deal with conflicts and potential conflicts in political, judicial and increasingly economic terms. It is as though Marx has had a subtle victory in convincing the world that everything is based on the material. While most organized and internationally recognized states can respond to the logic of the common benefits of this institutionalism to promote order, if not peace, terrorism is a wild card that is beyond its reach.

Terrorism has many faces and many backers. It is not an enemy to be dealt with easily or quickly. However, in the post-communist world all terrorists groups contain a crucial, if twisted, religious element. Our existing institutions have dealt poorly with ideology in general, and not at all with religious idealism. It is time to recognize that this critical part of the human perspective must be put on the table to achieve real and lasting peace.

It is time to take up a proposal made by the founder of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace in January of 2000, that the United Nations be expanded to include a second assembly composed of representatives of all of the world's religions. We must initiate more dialogue between religions of all types, and recognize their authority is just as real as any political state.

We are now in an era in which the conflicts of the last ten years (Kuwait, Iraq, Yugoslavia, terrorism, etc.) can be framed in a religious confrontation between the "West" (i.e. Christian) and Islamic cultures. This should never be. Which side can a Father (Allah/God) take when brothers are fighting? There are progressive and regressive elements in both religious spheres. The great western powers will never control Islam, only create more resentment. And Islamic terror will never "teach" the "American Satan" anything but justification for increased attacks and calls for annihilation of the threat.

We used to talk of the ideological conflicts of the 60's and 70's as a competition for the hearts and minds of the people. Multiply that by 10 and you have the current situation. As long as we are distant from the "other" in two different worlds, this gap cannot be healed. Each side will see their fallen as martyrs and intensify the struggle. Such a conflict would make the Cold War look like a picnic.

It is time for religions to be respected and charged publicly with the responsibility that they already possess to raise people up. This would not be a short road to peace, as it takes tremendous effort and patience to achieve even tiny steps in this arena. But the is the proactive, realistic and very tough road to mutual respect, dialogue, and eventually peace on a more substantial basis. Not simply the absence of conflict, but true cooperation.

Peace is one of our highest values, and can only be achieved through the completion of all of our other values combined. The creators and guardians of all of our values are the world's religions, individually and collectively. They must be part of the process of conflict resolution and opening up the road to peace.

When we consider the level of resistance this proposal alone will doubtlessly encounter among conservative and reactionary religious groups, and their readiness to condemn and attack each other over it, can we doubt that it is the correct path? Without resolving this underlying conflict, we will never eradicate other forms of conflict.

William Cook (IRFF News letter subscriber)