TAPPAN, NY: Dr. Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church in California and President-elect Barack Obama’s controversial choice to give the invocation at his inauguration, gave a speech at the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s 20th anniversary event on Dec. 23, 2008. His inclusion in the agenda came as a surprise to many, given the often-conservative tone of his religious and political messages.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is an organization run and funded solely by American Muslims, and which believes that Muslims in America can have a positive and reformist voice in national and international discourse. In the interest of promoting greater dialogue and better understanding, MPAC believes that all Americans – from different political, religious and racial backgrounds – urgently require an all-inclusive national platform from which they can listen to and speak with each other.
The organization invited Pastor Rick Warren to speak so that Muslim Americans could hear his views face-to-face and make up their own minds about the Evangelical preacher’s world views, specifically regarding Muslims and the so-called “war on terror .
Most people present at the sold-out MPAC banquet, including myself, had a very favorable first impression of Pastor Warren, who came across as authentic, open to dialogue and likeable.
His message to the Muslim community was clearly one of inclusion, harmony and joining hands for the greater good. He suggested that global issues like war and conflict, pandemic diseases, illiteracy, corruption and the environment can only be seriously tackled if the majority of the world’s vast population, including the 3 billion plus Christians and Muslims, start to work together to eradicate these enormous problems.
Warren also talked about the increasing rudeness and rancor of public life in the United States, and urged greater civility and willingness to work with people across the spectrum of opinion. He said, “We can disagree without being disagreeable. He also made a point of saying that Al-Qaeda is no more representative of Islam than the Ku Klux Klan is of Christianity.
When Melissa Etheridge and I performed our song, Ring the Bells, he was at the front table rocking along with 800 Muslim Americans and invited speakers to the song’s message of peace and change. It’s not every night in America that you’ll get to see an evangelical preacher, a lesbian rock star and a Sufi rocker compare notes on peace and humanity.
As Warren said, “even if we don’t see eye-to-eye, we can walk hand-in-hand .
When we were seated together at the MPAC banquet, Warren asked me if I had any advice for him regarding his talk at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. I said to him, “Pastor Rick, the world needs to hear you speak about peace, dignity and social justice for all people.
I also added that since his book “A Purpose Driven Life speaks to me and my wife powerfully as a social and spiritual work book, perhaps he could also find inspiring verses from the Quran which represent common ground with his Christian teachings.
But this type of message must extend beyond inauguration speeches to the Obama administration’s actions, beginning in the early days of its term.
The most immediate concern for the new administration should be to earn its place as an honest broker for peace in the Middle East.
Following upon that, the administration needs to focus seriously on addressing the genuine grievances of the Muslim world. Muslims demand respect, dignity and social justice just like any other world community.
They have been hurt by the violent fringe amongst them who have hijacked Islam but also by the insensitive and incompetent way the Bush administration has dealt with the attacks of 9/11.
I feel that an honest appraisal of the term “war on terror , and related US strategy, needs to be made urgently. You can’t wage violence upon violence and expect peace to be the result. Bloodstains can’t be washed by blood. The administration needs to see how it can enhance damaged Muslim-Western relations and explore new ways to open doors towards greater transnational dialogue, including the use of art and culture. Multi-faceted, effective dialogue is a crucial element for ensuring national security and global peace.
Barack Obama’s presidency provides a critical window of opportunity for all of us to venture beyond our carefully constructed comfort zones and walk in the other’s shoes. In doing so we might just transcend our fears, and perhaps even discover unlikely new friends and allies.
Salman Ahmad is a Pakistani musician and UN goodwill ambassador for peace and AIDS awareness. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.
