Can Interfaith Dialogue Help The Middle-East Peace Process?

By Anthony Zeitouni

Recently, I read a short piece of news in Arabic that the Emir of Qatar has officially approved the establishment of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) as a “private institution for public benefit”, known in America as a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). This pushed me to ask: can interfaith dialogue be fruitful in the troubled Middle East? What could this center add to the landscape? Does the region need interfaith dialogue or religious reform? Can DICID become a public forum of interfaith dialogue?

Western societies make interfaith dialogue a lively and continuous public debate. For example, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio in San Francisco, California, USA initiated a young adult multi-religious group. Peace and justice support networks of the Mennonite church have their own programs. What is still missing in the Middle East is that interfaith dialogue is broken up and scattered.  Meanwhile, behind closed doors, high level religious leaders discuss while people on the streets suffer from the extremist views of lower-level preachers.

By his decree, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, outlines the mission and the goals of DICID, which is to “support and promote the culture of interfaith dialogue, and peaceful coexistence between the followers of religions, activating religious values to address issues and problems of concern to Humanity”.

Can DICID address the current crucial challenges in the Middle East such as the raise of radical Islam and fundamentalism, intolerance towards Arab Christians and the discrimination against Jews including Arabs of the Jewish faith?

How can the culture of interfaith dialogue in Middle East be supported and promoted?  This could be accomplished by first reversing the widespread culture of hate and nullification among religions, and second, by building strong and viable foundations of interfaith dialogue. Practically, by organizing numerous Interfaith events such as conferences, visits, mutual prayers, camps, youth dialogues, student activities….etc. This will lead to a culture of peace, not just among the Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but eastern and indigenous religions as well.

To support and promote a peaceful coexistence between the believers of various religions in the Middle East means facing the challenges of radical Islam and fundamentalism that is currently promoted and practiced by many groups in Arab countries. The main foundation of peaceful coexistence is tolerance. Real tolerance is what is missing, especially in Middle East. By its activities DICID should contribute in creating a peaceful coexistence through tolerance as a spiritual virtue.

Activating religious values to address issues and problems of concern to humanity is one of the most important challenges of our era. The issues that face humankind are endless: Hunger, wars, diseases, and do not end with the terror that affects everyone on the planet. DICID must support people in developing a deeper understanding of world problems. DICID must discuss ways to put religion in service to humanity. For example, the Mennonite Disaster Service provides both immediate and long-term responses to hurricanes, floods. Also Bread for the World is a direct faithful response to the hunger. People must explore and activate their religious values to more enthusiastically and efficiently contribute to solve Human problems.

Sometimes interfaith dialogue tends to be an ideological discussion between clerics and other religious elite.  It consequently fails to be a practical activity that leads to concrete results from which the public can benefit. For example an extra-curricular activity about Jerusalem can allow the students to benefit from the role of three Abrahamic religions in the holy city of Jerusalem. Only public interfaith dialogue can reveal the mutual values between religions such as compassion, love, justice, respect and mutual understanding.

Additionally, DICID should deal with two crucial challenges: the confusing of the Jewish religion with the state of Israel and the discrimination against the Arab Christians, which has deteriorated recently due to the influence of Islamic fundamentalists. Qatar is uniquely positioned to deal with these two challenges, first because it has a clear-talk with Israel, and second because it fostered decent relations with Arab Christians, in particular by creating a climate of respect toward the hundred thousand Christians living in Qatar by allowing them to practice their faith in a church near Doha.  This church is the first ever built after Islam’s arrival in the 7th century. That eases a strained relationship and creates a platform of understanding and respect between the Muslims of Qatar and the Christian minority.

The Middle East, an enormous area where religion plays an essential role in the daily life, is eager for committed workers with the mission of filling the gap in understanding among different religious believers.

Editor’s Note: Anthony Zeitouni (anthonygaz@gmail.com ) is a Washington-based analyst, working in conflict resolution. He focuses on reform, good governance, human rights, minorities and interfaith dialogue in the Middle East. Zeitouni has published in Search for Common Ground and with Middle East Times. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon. His web site is www.anthonyzeitouni.com