By Linda Bloom*
2:30 PM EST Jan. 25, 2010 | NEW YORK (UMNS)

As concerns flare over attempted terrorist attacks against the West, a United Methodist pastor is in Indonesia this week for an interfaith dialogue aimed at encouraging cooperation between the United States and Muslim-led countries.

The Rev. Bud Heckman, director of external relations for the New York-based Religions for Peace, is among 20 American religious and civic leaders participating in the Jan. 25-27 dialogue in Jakarta with Indonesian and Southeast Asian counterparts. The event was arranged through the U.S. government.

Religions for Peace, led by Secretary General William Vendley, is facilitating the event and Pradeep Ramamurthy, senior director for global engagement at the White House, is head of the U.S. delegation.

A new audio tape was released Jan. 24 on the Arabic-language news Web site Al-Jazeera, allegedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The tape praised the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound plane, according to the New York Times, and warned of future attacks.

“Cooperation between people of different faiths builds social cohesion,” Heckman said before leaving on the trip. “The more we can foster religious cooperation, the better we will understand one another and the less likely it is that there will be people willing to commit acts of violence over religious differences.”

While these differences are real, he said, “We shouldn't be daunted by the size of the task of building understanding between people of different faiths and of addressing the social inequities that are at the heart of terrorists' motivations.”

Follow-up to Cairo speech

Called “Building Collaborative Communities: Enhancing Cooperation among People of Different Faiths,” the dialogue follows President Obama’s June speech on the topic in Cairo, Egypt, Heckman said. That speech emphasized improving U.S. relations with Muslim communities around the world in ways that foster mutual respect and common action.

Participants in Jakarta will share ideas and strategies on dealing with issues such as poverty, education, climate change and good governance. They are expected to announce a plan of action during a Jan. 27 press conference.

The dialogue in Indonesia, which is both the world’s largest Muslim country and a multireligious society, also will inaugurate a regional interfaith working group in Southeast Asia to help build new partnerships between faith and civic communities. Similar working groups in other regions of the world are expected to begin later this year and in 2011.

White House connection

Heckman is a member of the Inter-religious Cooperation Task Force of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Over the past six months, his group and other task forces have contributed to a comprehensive report on initiatives for religious cooperation that will be presented to President Obama in early February.

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He believes that governments and faith-based groups can creatively work together on issues of shared interest to achieve a common good.

Under President Bush, the U.S. government became more explicit about developing faith-based partnerships by creating a White House-level office for such interaction, Heckman pointed out. That direction is being broadened under President Obama, he said, noting “the current administration has a deep respect for the … quality of contributions made by religious communities.”

Such partnerships also can bring insight to why some people are willing to perform terrorist acts.

“When you look more closely, religion is often being manipulated as a conspiring cause, when the real factors are the underlying frustrations and perceptions individuals have of social inequities—West to East, rich to poor,” he said.

More information about the dialogue in Indonesia is available at http://religionsforpeace.org/news/press/building-collaborative.html.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

Video

President Obama’s June 4 speech in Cairo, Egypt

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Resources

Religions for Peace

White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Interdenominational Cooperation Fund