Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem Munib Younan: “Time to lead and heal with faith and courage”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land is one of the member churches of Global Ministries partner, the Middle East Council of Churches.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land is one of the member churches of Global Ministries partner, the Middle East Council of Churches.
By Bishop Dr. Munib Younan
“For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment. `You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” (Galatians 5:13-15)
In the midst of the recent turmoil, St. Paul reminds us that God has created us to live in community, all equally valued children yet wondrously diverse in culture and traditions. We condemn the defamation of all religious symbols, prophets and holy writings because it only provokes offence and builds walls of hatred between East and West. We also condemn all violent acts that threaten others as intolerable and unacceptable.
Are we really losing our civility to such a degree that we are incapable of rational discourse and can only resort to violence and desecration?
As the renowned Palestinian American Professor Edward Said wrote: “No culture or civilisation exists by itself; none is made up of things like individuality and enlightenment that are completely exclusive to it; and none exists without the basic human attributes of community, love, value for life and all the others.”
Today, in our increasingly globalised world, different cultures and religious traditions are coming into contact with one another faster than we can learn to understand them. This crisis illustrates how vital it is that we also learn to understand one another. The European world needs to understand that religion is still at the heart of identity and values for both religious and secular people in the Middle East. The Muslim world needs to learn how to live in a global, pluralistic world while remaining true to religious values.
