By Lloyd and Edna Mackey

VISITING a cluster of sites sacred to Christendom was high on the agenda, a few weeks ago, for 19 American and Canadian faith-based journalists, guests of the Jordan Tourism Board.

Among the sites highpointing both New and Old Testament events were:

1. Umm Qais, the place where it is believed Jesus cast demons from a deranged man and directed them into a nearby herd of swine, which immediately plummeted over a cliff to group suicide, probably in the nearby Sea of Galilee.
2. Mt. Nebo, where Moses is believed to have viewed the land west beyond the Jordan River. According to biblical records, that land had been promised to the desert-wandering Israelites. Moses died at Nebo, and the task of actually leading the people across the Jordan and into Jericho, fell to Joshua. The present day town of Jericho is clearly visible from the Moses Memorial at Nebo.
3. Bethany Beyond the Jordan, just north of the Jordan's outlet into the Dead Sea. This site is commonly recognized as the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. At one time, it was a backwater to the Jordan and, for hundreds of years, was a favourite baptizing site for Christians of various stripes from the area. In recent years, irrigation and climatic conditions have shrunken the Jordan to one-third of its size and the backwater is as dry as a bone. But the site contains the ancient steps to the water used by the baptismal candidates, and the ruins of three different churches from various eras.

And, while Christians are very much in the minority in Jordan, which is considered 95 per cent Muslim, their history, relating to Roman, Byzantine, Orthodox and, more recently, Catholic, Presbyterian and evangelical influences, helps to shape the pilgrim's view of the antiquities in such places as Petra.

Indeed, ask the average North American -- Christian or otherwise -- about Jordan, and Petra will be the name that jumps to recognition. For the past 60 years, evangelical Christians have learned about the place through such communications as Petra, Rose Red City of the Dead, produced by the iconic Moody Bible Institute. And those less tied in to the evangelical culture learned of the place because it was the backdrop for the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

But it was left to mid-and-high-ranking leaders to help us trace the complex relationships between Jordan and its neighbours, and the role that its religious communities play in monitoring and, to an extent, brokering, the quest toward Middle East peace.

Prince El-Hassan, uncle to the present Jordanian king, held a 90 minute briefing with our group. A good summary of that briefing -- put together by one of our tour colleagues, Jack Haberer, editor of Presbyterian Outlook -- is available at that magazine's website.

But it was left to Jordanian Senator Akel Biltaji to concisely detail the history of the region, from the Jordanian viewpoint, including a sympathetic portrayal of the emergence of Israel-Jordanian relations from deep tension during the early years of the emergence of the State of Israel in 1948, through to the establishing of a peace treaty in the early '70s, that has held well. From that peace, he says, trade and diplomatic relationships between the two nations have built from cautious tolerance to healthy trade and cross-border activity.

Continue article >>

Also evident in the senator's presentation was the way in which his nation -- more accurately, his king's kingdom -- has dealt with massive refugee issues through the years, earlier on, the Palestinians who could not be accommodated in the West Bank and, more recently, Iraqis fleeing the war time tension in that nation, to Jordan's immediate east.

With respect to the Palestinians, he noted that a fair segment, perhaps even a majority, of Jordan's current 5.2 million population claim Palestinian heritage.

Biltaji's portfolio, during the years of his senate appointment, has been mainly to do with tourism, heritage and culture.

And, endemic to the Jordanian peace-making quest is the work of such groups as the Jordanian Inter-Faith Coexistence Research Centre, whose director, Father Nabil Haddad, answered a range of journalists' questions about Islam-Christian relations in Jordan. As the title indicates, co-existence, not proselytizing, is the accepted norm.

The structure of the tour was such that the journalists received a clearer picture about ways in which the Abrahamic faiths work together in Jordan and among its neighbours, than where the potential tensions tend to cause things to fly apart.

Indeed, if there was any message that we were meant to receive, it was that the help most appreciated from Christians, in the world of Islam, it is to let Muslims, in effect, "put Jesus in their hearts" on terms that will fit their culture. That seems to be why, even among evangelical Christians, there is an increasing emphasis, in many Muslim-dominated countries, to let these things work themselves out, with relatively less emphasis than might have been the case in earlier years, on inducting Jesus-oriented Muslims into specifically Christian churches.

We did hear reports about a Baptist school in Amman, the Jordanian capital, where over 1,000 students are enrolled. As well, one of our colleagues talked with someone who is involved in a satellite ministry that helps to communicate indirectly to Muslims about Jesus.

But overshadowing the whole process, in the prince's presentation, was the task of keeping the "hate industry" at bay. And, by that, he meant the agendas of people who build on hatred of other parts of society to achieve dominance or mastery by their own group. He suggested that the "hate" elements are found at the fringes of all religious groups.

And he included, in his tasking, the struggle against radical Islamist influences that are seemingly bent on the destruction of not only moderate Islam, but of western society.

In his interview with Haberer, the Prince suggested Israeli leaders sometimes complain that they are surrounded by enemies. His response is to remind them that Jordan is surrounded by "friends" which, he implied, can be just as treacherous.

In assisting the group to understand Middle East Christianity, especially in the Jordanian context, our JTB tour leader, Christine Moore, paraphrased a Bedouin-descended Christian, Issam Ghattas, owner of the first Christian bookstore in the Middle East.

He told a former JTB colleague that "Christianity, in Rome, became an institution. When it spread throughout Europe, it became a culture. When it went to America, it became a business. But, here in the Middle East, it is still about relationship."

October 15/2009