Read the full article by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, on the Washington Post Blogs.
“Religious difference can be part of the path to peace, however, and the holiness of Jerusalem to Judaism, Christianity and Islam can be a way to achieve a spiritual as well as a political accommodation on Jerusalem in a genuine peace process. Marc Gopin presents this idea so effectively in his classic work, Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East.
Gopin points out that what actually works in regard to resolving conflict is working through significant difference: ‘It is a fundamental belief, call it a principle of faith, of those who practice peacemaking or conflict resolution that humans can better resolve conflict with aid from others, as well as with the help of various processes of self-awareness and healing.
Collaboration, self-awareness and healing are the skills need to make peace; these are skills that are not part of the ‘Mr. Fix it’ model of American entrepreneurship, especially when applied to foreign policy.”
© Marc Gopin
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