“Not every problem in Iraq is religious but every enduring solution requires a religious accommodation,” explained Multinational Force-Iraq Command Chaplain Hoyt of the signature event he’s most proud of: the Iraq Inter-Religious Conference.
This council brought together leading clerics for Sunni, Shi’i, Christian, and Yezdi on a national level for a dialogue on reconciliation.
The point was to interrupt this cycle of violence that was spinning out of control and destroying the fabric of Iraq along religious lines. This was an attempt to engage at the clergy level. The conflict in Iraq is religious. It’s criminal, mercenary, and Al Qaeda as well. It has an unmistakable religious quotient to it that when you don’t deal with it, it escalates out of control. That is exactly what happened in 2006.
It took sixteen months, but the first meeting took place in June 2007 with the approval of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. The conference was the broadest representation of religious leaders (by sect and geography) held in Iraq in thirty-seven years. After intense discussions, the leaders signed a final statement denouncing violence and terrorism and demonstrating support for democratic principles and the Iraqi Constitution. They pledged to actively work to reduce violence as well as to protect and restore holy religious sites. Most importantly, the accord was the first religious document publicly renouncing Al Qaeda by name and declaring the spread of arms and unauthorized weapons as criminal acts.
Canon Andrew White was the central figure of the effort. Appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Anglican Bishop for Baghdad in 1998, he is the best known Western minister in the Middle East. Although threatened and beaten near death, Canon White survived the Saddam Hussein regime. He founded the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle-East.
“Because of White’s tenacity in Iraq, he became the best connected Western cleric in the Middle East. The guy’s contacts were amazing. There isn’t any head of state in the Middle East that he doesn’t know. He is known and accepted by the senior religious leaders at the highest levels,” Hoyt said.
Andrew was saying all along this was a religious problem. If you don’t address the religious malfeasance that’s going on there, it’s just going to get worse.
The Iraq Inter-Religious Conference was a key to reducing violence that took place in the months following the meeting.
Father, you smile when humanity seeks to live in peace.
“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)