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Tuesday, 24 February, 2009 1:30 PM
Religious Leaders Key To Peace
in Middle East
Expert
Says There Will Be No Peace Accord Unless Religious Leaders Are
Part of the Process
Photo
credit: www.langdonstreetpress.com
"The
Thirteenth Apostle"
With the
results of the recent elections in Israel still murky, a new US
Secretary of State, a new cease fire agreement and a renewed emphasis
on the peace process, Arkady Povzikov, author of The Thirteenth
Apostle, Langdon Street Press (www.arkadybooks.com),
believes the prospects for an accord are still mired in the same
old problem.
“No peace accord
will work, regardless of who signs it, if the religious leaders
of the region aren’t included in the process,” Povzikov
said. “Political leaders may make policy, but the religious
leaders hold the hearts and minds of the people. Palestinian political
leaders struggle to keep their more militant factions dormant during
cease fires, because their religious leaders are busy stoking the
fire.”
In regions so dramatically
divided along religious lines, it logically follows that it’s
religious leaders – not diplomats – would be the most
effective brokers of peace, Povzikov added. However, those who practice
other religions have their own lists of how the world would be a
perfect place if the other religions would fall in line behind theirs.
“The sad irony is
that Christians tend to think that if only Islam would shed its
more radical elements and gravitate to a more moderate position,
perhaps the major problems of the world could be solved. In the
meantime, the more radical elements of Islam won’t stop until
the world sees their view. It becomes a game of ‘my God is
better than your God,’ and no one wins.”
Povzikov said that the
radical elements of each religion make up a relatively insignificant
population, and these elements are not traditionally respected by
the mainstream of each culture.
“Think of it like
this: Islam is to Islamic extremists as Christianity is to the Ku
Klux Klan,” Povzikov said. “No mainstream Christian family
believes in lynchings and racism the same way that no mainstream
Islamic family believes in terrorism and destruction. So, if we
believe the same things in our own cultures, why can’t we work
together to solve our global problems? Everybody thinks their religion
is the One,” Povzikov said. “But if the religions of the
world would agree to tackle serious world problems together, you
could bring millions of hearts, hands and minds together to find
a solution.”
At the end of the day,
Povzikov believes that any lasting peace must include the participation
of religious leaders.
“Any true campaign
for peace in many of the troubled regions of the world must include
a seat at the table for religious leaders, but it cannot be a stage
for them to spout the same old demagoguery and hatred,” Povzikov
said. “We must remember that it is only the extremists who
advocate violence, and that the millions of followers of Islam and
other non-Christian religions favor peaceful coexistence to violence
and chaos. If we can gather leaders from both the spiritual and
political elements of these countries, we may have the first real
chance for peace that these regions have seen in a thousand years.”
About Arkady Povzikov
Povzikov was born in
Leningrad in the former Soviet Union. After studying economics,
he immigrated to Canada in 1973. After graduating from high school
and the Industrial College he served in the Soviet Army. In1987
Arkady began writing his first novel Goodbye to the Nevsky, a fiction
based novel that told the story of his own unique experiences in
life, and it was published in 1991. Arkady’s second novel The
Purpose was published in 2005. His third and most recent novel The
Thirteenth Apostle was published in May 2008 through Langdon
Street Press.
Source:
News and Experts
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