Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan says Christians must help
people understand the suffering of "the other."
Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS |
Lutheran Bishop Highlights Christian Role in Mideast Peace
By Chris Herlinger
Feb. 12, 2007
New York -- A prominent advocate for Middle East peace and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories says Christians must play an essential role in the ongoing tasks of peace, justice and reconciliation in the region.
“We have to know how to understand the suffering of the other,” the Rt. Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, said recently in a meeting with Church World Service national staff in New York City.
His meeting - coming at the end of a two-week visit to the United States and just months after he had welcomed leaders from historically African American denominations on a delegation visit to the Middle East organized by CWS - reiterated themes he and other Christian leaders have long been making, including the need for such leaders to take a clear and unequivocal stance for peace, justice and reconciliation.
Recalling a recent meeting of regional religious leaders, Younan, 56, said a prominent Israeli rabbi told him, “ ‘I can’t understand why the Palestinians are suffering. I said, ‘That’s the problem.’” He added: “Here comes our role (as religious leaders): helping others understand the suffering of ‘the other.’”
He added that just as Israelis need to understand the experience of Palestinian suffering - “they have to see that” -- Palestinians cannot be blind to the historical reality of Jewish oppression. “Some Palestinians say: ‘We’re suffering more than Jews in the Holocaust.’ Well, that’s unacceptable,” Younan said. “Suffering is suffering. Pain is pain.”
Younan and others place special emphasis on the need for Middle East religious leaders to speak out on issues of peace, justice and reconciliation made because, he said, the region remains avowedly religious; even secular Christians, Jews and Muslims “listen to what religious leaders say.”
He said Christians are often the “initiators and bridge-builders” in both inter-religious dialogues in the region and discussions between moderate and radical Palestinians. That role, Younan said, is one that should be cherished - though it is not always easy, as religion has been abused to defend politically-inspired injustices.
While that prompts some to say that religious figures should have no role in determining the future of the Middle East, Younan disagrees, pointing to the work of religious leaders in South Africa during the struggle to end apartheid as a model for others working for a permanent solution to the problems of the Middle East.
Younan also pointed out that the amount of input faith leaders have with international players in the peace process--like the United States--varies according to who occupies the top foreign affairs office. He said former Secretary of State Colin Powell would “meet with heads of churches” when visiting Jerusalem, but that Powell’s successor at the state department, Condoleezza Rice, “does not.”
Bishop Munib Younan hosted a CWS-sponsored delegation of leaders from America's historically Black churches last November in Jerusalem. Pictured here with the Rev. George T. Brooks Sr. of the National Baptist Convention of America.
Photo: Lesley Crosson/CWS |
On the issue of the recent controversy surrounding reaction to former President Jimmy Carter’s book on the Middle East, Younan said the former president “has put his finger on a wound” and that Christian churches “should invest in what Carters says and not back down.” He suggested that Carter, rather than being labeled “anti-semitic” by some, should be seen as an ally for the hope that an end to the Israeli occupation will benefit not just Palestinians but Israelis, as well.
“We want to liberate the Israelis first and the Palestinians second,” Younan said, stating what he believes to be the root problem in the region. “You can’t rule another nation forever,” he said of the continued Israeli occupation.
Prior to his meetings with CWS staff on Jan. 30, Younan spoke at a variety of venues, including Muhlenberg College; Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia; Yale University; the Progressive National Baptist Convention meeting in Houston; the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) offices in Chicago; and the ELCA Global Mission Festival in Winter Park, Fla..
While in New York, Bishop Younan also met with staff of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA and the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.
For information about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, see: www.holyland-lutherans.org/
Chris Herlinger is a communications officer for Church World Service