War in Iraq underscores bigger 'clash,' speakers say
4/10/2003
NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.
By Joretta Purdue*
K.
James Davies (left), chaplain at the University of Puget Sound, and
Susan Henry-Crowe, chaplain at Emory University, take part in a panel
discussion during the "Servant Leadership Symposium" sponsored by the
United Methodist Higher Education Foundation and in Washington. The
panel discussed how the immediate conflict in the Middle East is
affecting the United Methodist schools they serve and the larger effort
of working in a multicultural setting. A UMNS photo Jay Mallin. Photo
number 03-135, Accompanies UMNS #209, 4/10/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Akbar
Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University, speaks on Islam
and Christianity during the "Servant Leader Symposium" sponsored by the
United Methodist Higher Education Foundation in Washington. Akbar cited
Islam's traditional regard for Christianity, beginning with the Prophet
Mohammad's respect for Jesus, quoted in the Koran. A UMNS photo Jay
Mallin. Photo number 03-137, Accompanies UMNS #209, 4/10/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
George
McGovern tells participants in a "Servant Leader Symposium" in
Washington that the U.S.-led war against Iraq is representative of a
larger struggle, a clash of civilizations. McGovern, a , former
senator from South Dakota, 1972 presidential candidate and history
professor, was highly critical of the current US war against Iraq. The
symposium was sponsored by the United Methodist Higher Education
Foundation. A UMNS photo Jay Mallin. Photo number 03-134, Accompanies
UMNS #209, 4/10/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Retired
Bishop James K. Matthews speaks to the "Servant Leader Symposium" in
Washington, sponsored by the United Methodist Higher Education
Foundation. Matthews and his wife Eunice (seated at center) were honored
for their servant leadership as part of the symposium. A UMNS photo
Jay Mallin. Photo number 03-136, Accompanies UMNS #209, 4/10/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The current war against Iraq is
not so much a clash of cultures as a conflict between the United States
and the people of the rest of the world, said former presidential
candidate George McGovern.
The former South Dakota senator, 1972
Democratic presidential nominee and history professor said the U.S.-led
war is also in conflict with the United Nations, not to mention the
Sermon on the Mount and positions taken by U.S. leaders throughout
history.
McGovern was among the speakers during an April 4-5
event honoring the servant leadership of United Methodist Bishop James
K. and Eunice Mathews. The celebration included a symposium focusing on
the "Clash of Civilizations: The Challenge to Our Institutions of Higher
Learning." The United Methodist Higher Education Foundation and the
Kerr Foundation sponsored the event.
McGovern, a United
Methodist, said he doesn't think the clash will stop when Iraq
surrenders. "I think other countries are on the list," he said, citing
comments by administration officials. Since McGovern spoke April 5,
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said that materials are
continuing to enter Iraq from Syria and asserted that they will be
stopped.
At the symposium, McGovern, a Democrat, criticized
President Bush, a Republican and fellow United Methodist, for
squandering the good will much of the world previously felt toward the
people of the United States. McGovern remarked that the president has
claimed to be "a uniter, not a divider," but said Bush "has united the
world against the United States."
Though the president makes
references to feeling guided by God, McGovern said that God "sent an
entirely different message to the pope," the head of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, leading rabbis and others.
McGovern himself is a former Methodist supply pastor and the son of a
Wesleyan Methodist minister.
The toughest of Bush's "sideline
warriors" have never been near a battle, said McGovern, a decorated
bomber pilot in World War II. The best thing Bush could do is keep
American troops out of an unjust war, he said.
"I don't see the
slightest evidence" of a link between Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and
the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, McGovern said. Though
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden reportedly don't like
each other, the U.S. government has said evidence exists that Iraq has
provided training support to Islamic terrorist organizations. Al-Qaida
is believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Besides
McGovern's remarks, participants at the symposium heard a panel of five
college chaplains discuss how the conflict in the Middle East is
affecting the United Methodist schools they serve and the larger effort
of working in multicultural, multifaith settings.
College
students' culture is one of anxiety, said Stewart Jackson of Birmingham
(Ala.)-Southern College. "Sept. 11 just heightened that." The anxiety
stems from "experiencing yourself under threat," he said, noting that
this is particularly true for international students. He also sees
anxiety among staff and faculty.
"If you continue to relate only to people like yourself, your anxiety only will increase," he said.
Relationships
provide an antidote to anxiety, he said. For example, "service
learning" projects enable students to form relationships while
experiencing the world beyond Western thinking, he said. Such experience
is important, he said, because anxiety retards faith development,
increases polarity between people, and blocks imagination and critical
thinking.
The Rev. Lynn Pries at North Central College, near
Chicago, has led students in service projects to other countries as well
as to the impoverished Appalachia region of the United States. A
student described one such project as "a spiritual growth program using
hammers and saws."
The Rev. K. James Davis of the University of
Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., spoke of the value of being in ministry on
a college campus, working with students of all faiths from a standpoint
of one's own tradition. Last year, the students held a day of
remembrance service for the Sept. 11 attacks, and each person read a
prayer from a faith other than his or her own.
Before the war in
Iraq, students put together a contingency plan for the outbreak of
hostilities, Davis said. Vigils were held, affirming their connectedness
to all humanity, he said. Their prayers were for the Iraqi people as
well as U.S. soldiers and people in the United States.
The Rev.
Susan Henry-Crowe, dean of the chapel and religious life at Atlanta's
Emory University - at 12,000 students the largest of the campuses
represented on the panel - said the program she heads does not work for
common ground but for understanding and mutual respect among the 30
religious groups on campus. Great diversity exists within those groups,
she added.
She had 10 Jewish and Muslim student leaders to her
house for dinner recently and asked each to tell the stories of their
grandparents, who were from all over the world. They couldn't discuss
the war, but they could talk about their grandparents' lives, she
explained.
The Rev. Don Fortenberry, chaplain at Millsaps College
in Jackson, Miss., for 28 years, said students at his school are
expressing their opposition to the war on street corners for the first
time since the civil rights movement.
The two-day "Clash of
Civilizations" event took its name from a book by Samuel Huntington, a
political scientist at Harvard, who theorizes that the age of conflicts
between nation-states is ending and the world has moved into a time of
conflict between cultures, civilizations and religions.
The Rev.
Shaun Casey, who teaches Christian ethics at Wesley Theological
Seminary in Washington, outlined Huntington's thesis, which includes a
rebuke to the people who think the world is moving toward unity.
Huntington says the balance of power is shifting; the West's influence
is declining, while Islam is exploding.
Casey offered several
lessons for seminaries and divinity schools to draw: recover "public
service as Christian vocation"; provide a safe place for people,
including politicians, to discuss honestly faith and values; train
clergy and teachers about the role of faith and public policy in a
democracy; and offer "inter-civilization" education.
"Muslims in
America today feel surrounded and embattled," he observed. Seminaries
need to offer renewed study of Islam. "We need to know how to be good
neighbors."
He also advised theological schools to deal with war
as a moral issue, noting that the "just war" theory can help structure
public debate; to expand the interfaith dialogue; to come to grips with
increasing pluralism of religions in the United States; and to
"eradicate global poverty." He said the gap between the fed and the
unfed is growing.
Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at
American University, said that Jesus is important to Islam because he
symbolizes compassion, humility and peace. Ahmed spoke during a
gathering of Christian scholars and education supporters hosted by Betty
Bumpers, wife of former Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, as part of the
two-day celebration.
A clash between West and East has been under
way for the past thousand years, Ahmed said, using the Crusades as an
example of that ongoing conflict.
The Muslim world has its
problems, the professor noted, citing a growing gap between rich and
poor, an often-corrupt ruling elite, widespread illiteracy and denial of
women's rights as guaranteed by Islam. The Muslim world also feels its
honor and dignity are at stake, he said.
Ahmed grew up in
Pakistan and attended Catholic schools there. Fifty years ago, relations
between Islam and Christianity were good, he recalled. "Churches are
being attacked (now) because of the perception of Christianity on a
crusade against Islam," he noted.
He urged his listeners to read
about Islam; be actively involved in interfaith dialogue, which he
termed the "only thing that can stop Osama bin Laden"; and speak up to
say the conflict in Iraq is not a war against Islam.
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*Purdue is United Methodist News Service's Washington news director.