July 1996, pgs. 64, 105

Christianity in the Middle East

Crusaders’ Heirs Honor Peace Promoters

by Rev. L. Humphrey Walz

Amidst Medieval pageantry replete with lordly capes, sounding trumpets and shining swords in Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, the Papal Order of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem conferred their Order of Merit upon a Muslim, a Jew and a Protestant. Carlo Cardinal Furno, the Order’s global head, flew from Rome to preside over the April 21 presentation of the award for distinguished contributions to peace in the Holy Land of three faiths.

The Muslim honored was social scientist Asad Husain, president of the liberal arts American Islamic College in Chicago. With a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Minnesota, several germane books to his credit and teaching experience at King Abdul-Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as on American faculties, his current responsibilities include directing the Summer Institute of Islamic Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.

His citation read, in part:

Harmony among diverse peoples and religions has been a lifelong endeavor…Asad Husain was born in Patna, Bihar, India…In 1969, he was appointed to the Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims in the USA and Canada. Also that year, he became Professor of Political Science at Northeastern Illinois University.

In 1975 he was invited by King Abdul- Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to found the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs. In the last 20 years, this institute has come to be one of the most highly respected academic institutes in the Muslim world and has very close relations with the Vatican. In 1987, Dr. Husain was elected President of the American Islamic College, the first liberal arts college of the Muslim community in the United States. From this position he has continued his extensive interfaith activities.

Dr. Husain was among the founding organizers of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. He was a member of the Islamic Host Committee which designed interfaith programs for the 1993 Parliament. He was selected from among the Muslim Community to serve as one of the Presidents of the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions.

Dr. Husain has assisted the Archdiocese in its interfaith activities. He served as one of the judges of the Interfaith Awards during the Sesquicentennial of the Archdiocese. He is also one of the founding participants in the Jewish/Muslim Dialogue of Chicago.

The others honored for “keeping peaceful dialogue alive among the three great monotheisms of the world” were Rabbi Mordecai Simon, executive vice-president emeritus of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, and the Rev. Stanley L. Davis, Jr., a United Church of Christ minister and executive director of the Northern Illinois Region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

A media alert the previous week had noted that the honorees had been selected for demonstrating, among other things, that discussing “religious differences and similarities can bring enriched experience to millions.”

The ceremonies were also a milestone in the historic transformation of the Order from militaristic to benevolent. French Duke Godfrey de Bouillon, its founder in 1199, had led a contingent of German Crusaders to help wrest the magnificently fortified city of Jerusalem from its “schismatic” Eastern Orthodox Christians, “unbelieving” Jews and dominant Muslim “infidels.” Their brilliant siege was savagely gory, but ultimately brought the city under Rome-dominated Western Christian control for a few decades.

The Knights’ initial assignment was to guard the site of Christ’s burial and resurrection as designated by Emperor Constantine’s pious archeology-minded mother, Helena, in the 4th century. Their task was originally conceived in strictly military terms. However, within a couple of hundred years their educational enterprises were spreading the gospel of peace in the Mediterranean basin, France, Spain and Poland.

In 1888 they became the first international order to receive women into membership. In 1995 they issued their “call to prayer for peace and justice in Jerusalem, where priceless treasures of spiritual history are found for Christian, Muslim and Jewish believers…” To this they appended the comment that “if there can be peace in Jerusalem, there can be peace in neighborhoods and communities around the world.”

Their Order of Merit was created in 1949 to honor distinguished non-Catholics. The 1996 event honoring a representative of each of the three monotheisms was added deliberately to encourage inclusive mutual recognition and cooperative peacemaking.

American Friends Join Middle East Council of Churches Emergency Appeal for Victims in Lebanon

The Middle East Council of Churches has raised $287,000 for immediate relief assistance to some hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced by the massive Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon. The American Friends Service Committee has established a channel for further gifts through Lebanon Aid Fund, 59 E. Van Buren, #1400, Chicago, IL 60605. Its appeal includes the following disturbing facts:

“Hundreds are seriously injured, thousands of buildings damaged or destroyed, nearly one-half million have fled their homes. Attacks against power stations, and a naval blockade of all ports up to and including Beirut harbor have brought further hardship.

“In the aftermath of the tragedy of April 18, when more than 90 civilian refugees were killed inside a United Nations peacekeepers’ compound, the government of Israel said that it would accept an immediate cease-fire if Syria and Lebanon promise to restrain Hezbollah guerrilla fighters from firing on Israeli positions.

“However, even with an immediate cease-fire, the nearly 500,000 terrified citizens of southern Lebanon are not likely to return to their villages soon. When they do, once again they will face the need to rebuild their homes and lives.”

Presbyterian Proposals on Jerusalem

When the annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA, meets from June 29 to July 6 in Albuquerque, it will debate a resolution that has been submitted for advance study on “The Peace of Jerusalem.” Its 10 paragraphs are supplementary to the 1995 Assembly resolution on "The Status of Jerusalem: Crisis for Christians, Muslims and Jews.” We believe that the following excerpts will be of special interest to our readers:

The 208th General Assembly (1996)…

• Calls upon Israel to: a) regard closure of Jerusalem, or other West Bank areas, and of Gaza, only as a temporary, emergency measure, not to be used as a form of collective punishment; b) refrain from both expanding existing settlements and building new settlements in Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank, and in Gaza....
  
• Calls for shared political expression in Jerusalem by both Israeli and Palestinian entities as…the preferred way both to secure freedom of religious observance for Jews, Christians and Muslims, and to assure that all peoples will have full access to the essential cultural, economic, educational, medical and other services that Jerusalem provides....
  
• Recognizes the continuing challenges facing Palestinian and Israeli leaders, especially as they try to meet the often-contradictory concerns of groups within their societies, and urges them to act out of concern for the greatest good of all their people.
  
• Calls upon the U.S. government to be proactive in the efforts to secure the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, and not merely stand by as the political, economic and military power of Israel continues to establish ‘facts on the ground’ that pre-empt the final status of Jerusalem....”

Chicagoans for Justice in Jerusalem

On June 6, the 29th anniversary of Israel’s takeover of East Jerusalem and adjacent territories, JACC (The Jerusalem Action Committee of Chicago) led a “Demonstration for Peace in Jerusalem” at the traffic-heavy intersection of Wacker Drive and Wabash, a portion of which the mayor had recently renamed “Jerusalem 3000 Way.”

Religious co-sponsors of the event were the (Quaker) American Friends Service Committee and the Muslim Student Association (University of Chicago chapter). Other co-sponsors were Amnesty International (U. of C. chapter), Arab-American Community Center, Arab Culture Club (U. of C. chapter), Networking for Democracy, Palestine Aid Society, Union of Palestinian Women’s Association and the Eighth Day Center for Justice.

Handbills explained the rally as in protest against:

“Israeli policy. 29 years ago, on June 6, 1967, Israel conquered East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Those 29 years have been characterized by vast confiscations of Palestinian land, the building of Jewish-only settlements, the destruction of Palestinian homes and property, and discriminatory practices on a massive scale. Since March of 1993, Jerusalem has been closed off from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and only those Palestinians who have been issued permits from the Israeli government can enter the city. These policies continue today, unaffected by the ‘peace process.’

“U.S. policy. Despite occasional rhetoric, the U.S. has supported these Israeli policies with vast financial, military and diplomatic aid.

“Chicago policy. Chicago’s Mayor Daley has given his public support to ‘Jerusalem 3000,’ the year-long Israeli ‘celebration’ of the 3000th anniversary of the biblical conquest of Jerusalem by King David. ‘Jerusalem 3000’ is widely perceived as a propaganda effort of the Israeli government to cement international recognition of its annexation of East Jerusalem. In a public event, the City of Chicago renamed part of Wacker drive ‘Jerusalem 3000 Way.’ The mayor, two aldermen, the Israeli Consul General, and Jewish community leaders all spoke at the event, which was organized by local Jewish organizations. While the speeches and resolutions referred again and again to the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, not one mention of the Palestinian claim to the city was made. Despite repeated phone calls and letters, the Mayor’s office has refused to discuss the issue. This constitutes a rebuff not only to the many Arab-Americans of Chicago, but to all who favor a vision of Jerusalem shared equally between the two peoples.”