By Lloyd Mackey

OUR RECENT Jordan experience has triggered some observations about the ways in which Christians are expected to communicate among ourselves and with other faith groups.

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Several weeks ago, I quoted from a news analysis about Mennonite efforts in Israel/Palestine, to bring greater understanding on both sides of the fence. The report was of interest in Ottawa, because it was being circulated to the dozen or so MPs who have Mennonite church or cultural connections.

The analysis was written by Dexter Van Zile, a Christian media analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

At the time I quoted from Van Zile's paper, and also got some comments from Esther Epp-Tiessen, peace ministries co-ordinator for Mennonite Central Committee, Canada.

Today, I want to comment on the impression Van Zile leaves, that the practice of Mennonite or Anabaptist pacifism is somehow less courageous than active participation in the national defence arms-taking that is a part of what most nations throughout the world do from time to time.

One of the quotes in his report went like this:

The inability of Mennonite peace activists to take seriously Muslim and Arab hostility toward Israel and Jews is no accident, but a consequence of Anabaptist theology, namely its utopian reliance on non-resistance as a response to evil. Because Anabaptist theology regards non-resistance as the sine qua non of the Christian faith, it leaves its adherents without a credible response to fascist and totalitarian movements that periodically arise in human history.

This failing helps explain why significant numbers of Mennonites served in World War II and ultimately left the faith tradition for good. Non-resistance did not make any sense in the face of Nazism, just as it makes no sense in the face of terror attacks by groups such as Hamas and Hizballah motivated by hatred for Jews and a desire to destroy Israel. Mennonites in the United States may have had the privilege not to take Nazism seriously during World War II, and they may enjoy circumstances in North America that allow them to regar Islamism as a benign movement, but they have no right to expect Jews who are the target of Islamist hostility to do the same.

I don't deny Van Zile's right and, indeed, obligation to advocate for the kind of militarism that is still required to maintain security in an increasingly global context.

But militarism is not the only pathway. Peacemaking, true, is sometimes practiced with Pollyanna-ish naivete. But there is a time and place for peacemakers to work alongside those who must bear arms to maintain security. Our national objective in Afghanistan is built, for example, on the three pillars of defence, diplomacy and development.

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The continuing collaboration, among people whose skill sets and enthusiasms are in one or another of the three d's, is part of what, in the final analysis, will bring success for both Canada and Afghanistan, in that arena.

Further, the ability for people of a range of faith groups to collaborate and work together in any of the world's hot spots -- or at least to recognize each other's contributions, and try not to unnecessarily duplicate them -- can grow out of the same things that will ultimately make the three d's work in Afghanistan.

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The other point I would like to make comes out of a July/August article in the Presbyterian Record by Joseph McLelland, professor emeritus at McGill University and Presbyterian College, Montreal.

His piece, entitled 'Jesus in Islam,' provides, in simplified form, some of the thinking which is going into current practice, by some Christian groups, to encourage and help grow an already present Jesus awareness in Islam.

In presenting his thesis, McLelland notes:

A first principle in studying the faith of other people is not to compare our best with their worst. Both of us have blind spots and evil doings -- if we blame Islam for holy wars, we must remember we Christians invented the idea, as well as burning heretics and witches in Christ's name. (Do you feel responsible for Christian extremists like the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Jones and Jonestown, polygamists in Bountiful, BC, or the televangelists who demonize everything un-American?) So we must try to see Islam in light of its noble truths about God and humans. If you think that "Allah" is a different and warlike deity, remember this is simply the Arabic word matching the Jewish "El," who is often angry if not belligerent, in our Old Testament. But the Qur'an, like the New Testament, glorifies God as a Lord of mercy, justice and peace. Its ninety-nine beautiful names for God express a positive and uplifting theology.

These observations are an obvious departure from my usual comments about what is happening around Ottawa. But they are spawned by things that I cannot help but see when I learn certain things about the way Canada and the Christian gospel, in their separate and occasionally conjoined ways, bring their perspectives to the global scene.

I recognize, as much as any journalist, Christian or otherwise, that getting the whole picture all in one place is next to impossible. But I can't help but try to nudge those believers who think that they have the whole picture in their corner, to keep their eyes wide open.

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Lloyd Mackey is a member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and author of Stephen Harper: The Case for Collaborative Governance (ECW Press, 2006), More Faithful Than We Think: Stories and Insights on Canadian Leaders Doing Politics Christianly (BayRidge Books, 2005) and Like Father, Like Son: Ernest Manning and Preston Manning (ECW Press, 1997). Lloyd can be reached at lmackey@canadianchristianity.com.

October 15/2009