Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW) just accepted a proposal I drafted to make a priority in the scant two months before the election educating the general public about the Iraq war, the Bush foreign policy and peaceful alternatives. The plan is to issue accessible one-page fact sheets with graphics and footnotes every week. We plan to distribute the fact sheets by tabling, and door-to-door canvassing. We hope to involve the SNOW neighborhood groups and FOR chapters. WE NEED YOUR IDEAS ABOUT WHAT ISSUES TO ADDRESS, YOUR HELP IN DRAFTING AND DISTRIBUTING THE FACT SHEETS. I remember a parallel effort by the Freeze Campaign in 1984. As troubling as the presidential campaign is becoming with each candidate vying to be the most militaristic, it provides a teachable moment for us to get out our message that a much more just and peaceful future is not only desirable but necessary. Hope you can dispatch any sense of despair you are feeling and embrace this opportunity to meet your neighbors and share your concerns.

We hope to launch an energetic and joyful campaign to counter military marketing in the schools. The number of military recruiter visits varies widely by high school and tends to be concentrated on high schools with large numbers of students without the resources to go to college. We have ordered multiple copies of two videos which you can use in your high school and churches, "Military Myths," a half hour program in which young veterans expose the falsehoods in military marketing. They talk about the difficulty in going to college via the military; the sexism, racism and homophobia in the military and the fact that many of the skills learned in the military are not applicable to the civilian sector. The other video, "GI Lies" is a short expose by FOX News of the high pressure and untruthful tactics recruiters use to make their quotas. We are planning a training for conscientious objector advisors and several counter-recruiting sessions at the Northwest Social Forum in the middle of October. In Seattle we are hoping to organize with other groups and high school students an "Opt Out Day" in early October where students would sign the opt out form indicating they do not want their contact information communicated by the school district to the military recruiters.

Come and cry, rejoice and rededicate with us! This will be the last WWFOR-wide gathering for Ruth and me as your organizers. We hope you can share it with us! Wishing you much love, laughter and good work in the months ahead.

On the first day you might have seen young people in small groups asking questions of whoever they met at Green Lake, practicing their listening skills. The next day you would have been moved as they envisioned the world they want, and impressed as they registered voters in the University District. In the following four weeks they interviewed a wide variety of activists, including Vietnam Vets for Peace, an Israeli refusnik, a venerable activist from Spanish Civil War days, members of Justice Works and four activists who have been recently to Iraq. They viewed videos of and had deep discussions on important historical nonviolent movements. They were trained in nonviolence and awareness of racism and structural inequality. They were apprehensive and ended up enjoying making speeches, writing press releases, facilitating meetings and doing street theater -Billionaires for Bush. In one morning they wrote a survey and a leaflet, and used it that afternoon to interview 165 people at Westlake. The following morning they compiled the findings into pie charts and a brief report and that afternoon shared their results with staff in Congressman Jim McDermott and Senator Patty Murray's offices. They planned and very successfully carried out a public film showing followed by discussion they led with 50 people attending. They concluded that "you let us play enough and be serious enough too." "The amount of supervision was perfect - not too much, not too little." "The program was excellent."

While WWFOR staff, Sara Rinehart, Ruth and Mike Yarrow, and Marcia Mullins, WWFOR Area Committee Co-Chair, led the program, other WWFOR members including Katie and Lisa Kauffman, Sarah Augustine, Shulamit Decktor, Laura Raymond, Christie and Ryan Schmid, Bert Sacks, and Gerri Haynes presented exciting sessions. The Abe Keller Peace Fund again generously contributed the funds to give the trainees a stipend for their 20-hour week. To all of you who helped make another year of Peace Activist Trainees a real success, our thanks!

In 1964, midway through my alternative to military service working for the Friends Peace Committee in Philadelphia, PA., I used all my vacation time and spent 6 weeks with the effort to gain voting rights for African Americans in Mississippi. In addition to being inspired by the Southern Civil Rights Movement, I had been making presentations about nonviolence and thought I better see if I could walk the talk. For me the Mississippi Summer Project was a mix of terrifying and exhilarating. I was forced to face the possibility of death; in fact my first night in Mississippi Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner were brutally killed by the KKK. That night I was sharing a bed with another volunteer in the front room of Shield's family house in Ruleville, listening to the crunch of tires on the gravel street as whites with high powered rifles in the racks of their pickup trucks drove back and forth through the black neighborhood. At one point we heard a bang and hit the floor on either side of the bed. It was Mr. Shield locking his car for the night.

Gradually we overcame our awkwardness with our hosts and gradually after a number of visits people became ready to sign the unofficial Freedom Registration Form or to go down to the courthouse and attempt to register to vote. That summer I witnessed many acts of awesome courage. The experience liberated me from many of my petty fears.

Now, flash forward to August 2004. On our drive south from Memphis through the Mississippi delta the land was as flat as forty years ago but no rifles in the pickup trucks rear windows and not large groups of blacks hoeing the cotton fields for 30 cents an hour. Instead plantation owners use herbicides to control the weeds. Sprouting instead in the cotton fields were huge signs announcing casinos. Further south some of the cotton fields have been diked and filled with water to raise catfish or grow rice but still no evidence of farm labor.

Another surprise was a sign as we entered Ruleville announcing it as "The Home of Fannie Lou Hamer." Mrs. Hamer was fired and evicted from her home on a neighboring plantation when she tried to register to vote. When whites controlled Ruleville she would have been the last person to be so recognized. In 1964 when I arrived, scared to death, under her pecan tree she welcomed me with a smile that communicated an acceptance way beyond racism. She became a wise and articulate spokesperson for racial justice. At the Democrat Convention that fall in Atlantic City her testimony to the credentials committee, as the Mississippi Freedom Democrat Party challenged the regular segregated party, caused a major challenge to the racial status quo. When the 49 member delegation was offered two seats, Mrs. Hamer said, "We have not come all this way for no two seats." Another change has been the election of African-American officials, from zero in the county in 1964 to 66 today including 6 mayors, a congressman and three state legislators.

The reception we received was overwhelmingly warm and solicitous, the planning superb. We were welcomed by the mayor of Indianola, a prominent lawyer, and the president of the Sunflower County Black Historical Society, who was a high school student in 1964. We visited a wonderful innovative educational program in one of the small communities, the small isolated abandoned jail in Drew where many of us had spent sleepless nights worried that some hateful person might do us in and the brand new historical markers commemorating fire bombings of a school, a store and a house of those involved in the movement. Probably most moving was the visit to the store in Money where 14 year old Emmett Till supposedly said, "Bye, Baby" to the white clerk whose husband and friend brutally beat him that night and dumped his body in the river in the 1950s. We met their congressman, Bennie Thompson, who has a wonderful sense of justice and voted against the war resolution. Everyone who talked to us was appreciative of our role in the changes that allowed them to be successful in politics or the private sector. People said, "Come back and don't stay in a motel! Stay at our home." These people are so free from intimidation; so competent, so joyous I am sorry we live so far away.

The twin tragedies in the Mississippi delta are the evaporation of jobs and the inability of the white community to adapt to racial justice. Job loss from technological developments in agriculture and outsourcing of factory work has left a very high level of unemployment and a pool of hopeless youth in most small towns who are lured by drugs. Although I had little communication with whites, I got the impression that they have stayed in their segregated neighborhoods, still exercise economic power and have resegregated schools by creating their own private academies. I am sad that the blight of racism keeps people from enjoying each other's magnificence.

On our way home we spent a day at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. It is built around the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was murdered.

You travel through many of the major campaigns of that nonviolent movement with video clips, sculptures and documents. If you sit down on a front seat in Rosa Park's bus, a voice tells you ever more emphatically to move to the back. I loved watching African American kids refuse to move back - exercising their civil disobedience muscles. Towards the end you come out to the balcony where Martin was shot. Our loss by violence struck me like a blow. At the end of the museum pathway is a small exhibit about Gandhi contributed by the Indian community of Memphis. It includes this quote, which summarized one of my feelings from the weekend.

As we were leaving I asked a young African American staff member to recommend places to find good southern barbeque. He knew the Gandhi quote by heart.

When WWFOR's Organizers Mike and Ruth Yarrow retire on December 31, we want a new full-time Organizer to be on the job and ready to carry on. We are actively seeking a highly skilled full-time Organizer who can begin December 1, so the new Organizer can learn from the Yarrows during December.

The new staff person will organize, coordinate and serve FOR members and chapters throughout Western Washington to promote effective grassroots efforts for peace and social justice consistent with FOR values and priorities. The person will also manage WWFOR's Seattle office on Phinney Ridge (NW of Woodland Park), recruit and supervise volunteers, and provide administrative support for WWFOR's organizational needs.

The full-time job's annual salary is $24,600 plus $3,600 toward health care. Benefits include generous vacation and holiday leave and working with really nice people on meaningful, soul-satisfying activities.

Please spread the word to interested individuals and to organizations that include or could reach suitable applicants. This is a genuinely open-minded search, and we want to reach out widely.

Questions about the WWFOR or the job? Please contact the WWFOR office.

"Homelessness is a kind of domestic 'slow motion' war. We live in a time that needs Tent Cities, not as permanent solutions to homelessness, but as necessary immediate solutions to the uncertainties and threats that can assail anyone who finds themselves broke and stuck without shelter. The numbers of disenfranchised citizens multiply, the very ranks of the discarded are increasingly the destination of able and willing working people, men and women who in any other normal economic climate would be employed, housed, and living normal lives of work, school, family, and community. There is truly nothing quite like homelessness to disrupt a healthy routine. And there is nothing like homelessness to make whatever problems one might have - physical problems, mental health problems, you name it - a whole lot worse. In fact, homelessness can actually precipitate depression, panic, anxiety, inconceivable amounts of stress, hopelessness; it can result in people losing work and make it damned difficult to find employment, even in slightly better economic times - and we are all aware that for too many citizens these are difficult economic times indeed.

"Millions of homeless citizens and the many more millions of profoundly impoverished Americans who still have shelter of some kind present our nation, our states, our county, and yes our city with an urgent and deepening social crisis that calls for the critical attention, moral skill, informed political creativity, and ethical commitment of our elected officials at all levels of government. This is too big to be left to the churches and NGOs and non-profits. Such a necessary response from government will only come if we citizens commit ourselves to becoming an informed, ethically committed, and truly activist-oriented electorate. Politicians - from the best and brightest to the worst and dimmest - must be constantly reminded of their duty to those least among us. Other forces and corporate interests compete for an elected official's attention. Therefore we must be active citizens, aware, informed, and committed to keeping our elected officials on track. ...

Undoing Racism in the criminal justice system as experienced by African-Americans. That's the mission of Seattle and Lake Stevens-based JusticeWorks! JW coordinator Lea Zengage was a presenter at Seabeck 2003, and now JW has become an FOR affiliate. More at justiceworks.info

Ongoing Wednesdays, noon - 1 p.m., NW corner of Sylvester Park, corner of Legion & Capitol Way, Olympia, Peace Vigil, come for all or part of the hour to sustain Olympia *FOR’s* persistent (every week for over 24 years) witness for peace and nonviolence; bring signs or use ours; info Glen 360-491-9093

Ongoing Thursdays; 5 - 6 p.m., near the Westlake Park arch at 4th and Pine, downtown Seattle; Peace Vigil and leafleting by Women in Black, a group in the tradition of the women who vigil weekly in Israel / Palestine, info 206-208-9715

Ongoing Fridays, 4 - 5 p.m., in front of the Bellingham Federal Building; join Bellingham *FOR* members and others in the Whatcom Peace Vigil followed by open discussion at Port of Subs, 5:15 - 6:15 p.m., info 360-738-9205

Ongoing Fridays, 4:30 - 6 p.m., south end of Percival Landing, 4th & Water, Olympia; Please join Olympia *FOR* in this very friendly peace vigil for all or part of this time. Signs provided or bring your own. info 360-491-9093

Ongoing Saturdays, noon - 1 p.m., along Pearl St. at Locust, along Washington Park in front of library in Centralia; Vigil with focus on Peace and on Education by Fire Mountain *FOR*; info June Butler, 360-748-9658 or Larry Kerschner 360-291-3946

Fri Sept 3, 7 p.m., Wesley Terrace, lower level, 816 S. 216th, Des Moines; South King County *FOR* meeting, info Mark 206-243-9238 or Mary Emma 206-870-2005

Sat Sept 4, 3 p.m., & subsequent 1st Saturdays, Keystone Cong. Ch., 5019 Keystone Pl. N, Seattle; meeting of Interfaith Network of Concern for the People of Iraq working for peace in Iraq; info Rich Gamble 206-632-6021

Thurs Sept 9, 8 p.m., at Nalanda West, 3902 Woodland Park Ave N, Seattle; Poetry as Practice, A Night of Poetry & Translation with Sam Hamill, founder of Poets Against the War, and other Northwest poets. . Sam will read from his latest book, The Poetry of Zen. Benefits Buddhist Peace Fellowship, suggested $10

Fri Sept 10, 7 pm, at First A.M.E. Church, 1522 14th Ave., Seattle; Cornel West "Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism" Reading & Book Signing. Part of the UW Diversity Book Talk Series, Free tickets available at U Book Stores

Sat Sept 11, 1 p.m., Olympia library hosts a panel of Evergreen professors and others on democracy and citizenship, info Sara Pete 360-352-0595

Sun Sept 12, 2 p.m., at United Methodist Church, Centralia; Fire Mountain (Centralia-Chehalis area) *FOR* meeting, Current concerns include de-militarization, globalized economy, Decade of Nonviolence. info June 360-748-9658 or Larry 360-291-3946

Sun Sept 12, 5:15 p.m. business mtg, 6 potluck, 7 program, at the Friends Center, 2508 S. 39th St, Tacoma; Tacoma *FOR* program, Joanne Dufour will speak on "UN Update" and US Military Bases around the world; info Sharon 253-396-1275 or Al 253-272-9572

Weds Sept 15, at AFSC, 814 NE 40th, workshop on countering Military Recruitment in schools by Howard Welch, info AFSC 206-632-0500

Fri Sept 17, 7 p.m., at the Longview United Methodist Church, 2851-30th Ave., Longview; Cowlitz County Longview/Kelso area *FOR* will have a round table discussion entitled "Rebuilding A Responsible Foreign Policy Towards Iraq." Everyone is invited! info Janey 360-423-7338

Sun Sept 19, 5 p.m. potluck, 6 p.m. announcements, 6:30 - 8 p.m. program, at Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, 225 N 70th near Greenwood, Seattle; Seattle *FOR* meeting, "Keep Space for Peace" a program by Bob Beveridge with video presentation and discussion; Free, an offering will be taken. info 206-789-5565

Weds Sept 22, 7 pm, at Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle; The Arab American Community Coalition and the ACLU Present "Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties" by Robert Greenwald. How civil liberties have been curtailed since 9/11. Free, $5 donations welcome. Reception follows. info ACLU 206-624-2184, AACC 206-634-9001

Thurs Sept 23, 7 p.m., in Tumwater; Death Penalty Abolition committee of Olympia *FOR* meeting. info and directions Chuck or Rozanne 360-705-8520

Thurs Sept 30, Presidential Debate viewing 6 p.m., speakers 8 p.m., in Schneebeck Concert Hall, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma; Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, Medea Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange, and Norman Solomon, co-author of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, The Presidential Election, 2004 And Beyond: What's At Stake. No charge for admission, donations requested

Fri Oct 1, 7 p.m., Wesley Terrace, lower level, 816 S. 216th, Des Moines; South King County *FOR* meeting, info Mark 206-243-9238 or Mary Emma 206-870-2005

Sat Oct 2, 3 p.m., & subsequent 1st Saturdays, Keystone Cong. Ch., 5019 Keystone Pl. N, Seattle; meeting of Interfaith Network of Concern for the People of Iraq working for peace in Iraq; info Rich Gamble 206-632-6021

Sun Oct 10, 5:15 p.m. business mtg, 6 potluck, 7 program, at the Friends Center, 2508 S. 39th St, Tacoma; Tacoma *FOR* program, Len Moore will discuss "Worm casting" projects and organic gardening hints; info Sharon 253-396-1275 or Al 253-272-9572

Sun Oct 10, 2 p.m., at Centralia Library; Fire Mountain (Centralia-Chehalis area) *FOR* meeting, Current concerns include de-militarization, globalized economy, Decade of Nonviolence. info June 360-748-9658 or Larry 360-291-3946

Sun Oct 17, 5 p.m. potluck, 6 p.m. announcements, 6:30 - 8 p.m. program, Woodland Park Presbyt. Ch., 225 N 70th near Greenwood, Seattle; Seattle *FOR* meeting, "Nonviolent Communication: Building Peace One Conversation at a Time," with Moreah Vestan; Free, an offering will be taken. info 206-789-5565

Fri Oct 22, 7 p.m., at the Longview United Methodist Church, 2851-30th Ave., Longview; Cowlitz County Longview/Kelso area *FOR* presents Liz Rivera-Goldstein from Port Townsend speaking about draft counseling in the likely event that a draft is reinstated after the elections, and applying for Conscientious Objector status. another lecture will be given at 3 p.m. for students at Lower Columbia College; info Janey 360-423-7338

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The article below was not included in the print version of Pacific Call

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's speech at the Plenary Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches at the Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Aug 3, 2004

Theme: "Dialogue The Key To Unity Of
Multireligious, Multiethnic And Multicultural Societies"

Distinguished Guests,

It gives me great pleasure to be here today. You have honoured me by inviting me to address such an important gathering of leaders of the Christian faith. It is not merely an honour for me. It is also an honour for my country, that you have chosen Malaysia as the venue for the meeting of your plenary commission. The fact that you are gathered here in a Muslim country gives me great hope that together we can fight the perception that religions are at war, and that civilizations are colliding. Your mere presence in Malaysia is a powerful statement against calls to war. It is a powerful statement against the rhetoric of hate and distrust that is so prevalent in the world today.

I also welcome you warmly to Malaysia because I believe it is important for the citizens of this country to realize that tolerance of other religions goes beyond mere coexistence. It also means engaging with one another, creating and sustaining an open dialogue and building a permanent bridge of cooperation through mutual participation. I come here not just as the Prime Minister of the host country, but as a Muslim who wants to initiate a dialogue with his Christian friends. So that we are able to talk in a world in which it seems increasingly difficult to do so.

By now, those who are guests in Malaysia would have been told by your Malaysian friends about the uniqueness of our country. About multiculturalism and diversity flourishing in this land of many cultures, languages and religions. You would have been told that our strength as a nation comes from our differences. Our diversity does not divide us - it unites us and brings us together. I do not want to claim that there are no problems among the different ethnic and religious communities in Malaysia. I do not want to claim that there are no latent tensions and frustrations. There are still very many things that we need to work on. But if the world ever needed a lesson in diversity and making it work, I am confident that Malaysia can be a showcase.

Ladies and gentlemen,

My country does not enjoy peace and harmony today by accident. Our founding fathers and mothers did not leave it to chance that Malaysia would become a calm oasis of many cultures and religions. What we enjoy today is not something that was created overnight. Malaysians have worked hard for our peace, harmony and prosperity. We have had to sacrifice and we have had to give-and-take. We have fought terrorism and extremism in all its forms. We have protected our many languages and religions so that our people are free to speak their mother tongues and profess the religions of their choice. Achieving all of this was not easy. At the time of independence, many outsiders viewed Malaysia and concluded that before long, we would descend into civil war. Not only did we avoid this fate, but we built a nation amidst all the challenges and difficulties faced by post-colonial states. The so-called burden of not having a homogenous country did not destroy us, - it brought the best out of all of us.

The most important virtue that it brought out in Malaysians was moderation. Moderation has always curbed extremism. It has guarded us from bigotry and hatred. It has allowed us to practice the true teachings of our respective religions. Whether it is Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism or any of the other faiths professed by Malaysians. None enjoins their followers to hate or hurt those who are of a different faith. By practicing moderation in our respective faiths in the presence of fellow citizens of other faiths, we stay true to the teachings of our religions.

As Prime Minister of Malaysia, I am not a leader of Muslims, but a Muslim leader of all Malaysians. Therefore, I have a responsibility not just to my fellow Muslims, but also to Malaysians who profess other religions as well. It is my duty to ensure that their rights are protected, that they are free to practice their faith, and that they are not persecuted because they are not from the dominant majority. It is my duty to spread the message of tolerance among all; especially to the Muslim majority. We have seen in other countries how majority groups can easily persecute minorities. We have seen how minorities are robbed of their faith, their livelihood and their dignity.

But promoting moderation is not easy. Many people practice their faith in absolutist terms. To them there is no compromise with others. They also misinterpret the very religion that they profess and claim that there is no such thing as moderation or accommodation, and that the teachings that they believe in must be implemented in a totalitarian way. They refuse to take into account the context of the modern world in which we live . They refuse to understand that so much of religious teaching is shaped by the context of the society in which it originated. For those who are rigid, dogmatic and absolutist, it does not matter whether you are in the tenth century or twenty-first century, you must live according to the literal teachings of your religion.

This is why I believe it is important to call for moderation in our respective religions. If we fail to do so, we risk having our religion hijacked by those who promote hatred and violence. We risk ceding ground to those who do not see the need to live in peace with other religions. We cannot allow our religions to be torn apart by extremist impulses and exclusivist doctrines. We must be committed in promoting the values of peace, tolerance and plurality.

The lines of conflict today between religions and civilizations are evident. In the eyes of many Muslims, events in the last three years seem to lend credence to the view that the Christian west is, once again, at war with the Muslim world. September 11th, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq and the war on terror have all taken religious undertones. A dangerous but dominant view is that this is a battle between good and evil. This view is dangerous, not just because it does not allow for any middle ground. It is dangerous because it exists on both sides of the divide. Fundamentalists on both sides hold equally rigid views, recasting this into a religious war, even if they do not explicitly say it is one.

It is fair to say that there is less trust and goodwill between Islam and Christianity than there was a few years ago. As individuals and organizations, we still coexist and cooperate, but the current global scenario has unfortunately burnt bigotry into the collective conscience of our respective communities. Many Muslims the world over feel that the war against terror is a war against Islam and no amount of reassurance from the west that it is not will convince them otherwise.

The reluctance of the west to recognize and address root causes of terrorism seems to confirm the view that Muslim grievances are not important. For example, the lack of progress in resolving the Palestinian issue continues to be a principal cause of hatred in the Muslim world towards those who have the power and influence to push the process along. Palestine has become a symbol for the Muslim world. Muslim terrorists may not have direct links to Palestine, but it has become a symbol for their cause. We cannot de-link Palestine from the war against terrorism.

I know that Muslims are responsible for a number of the terrorist acts committed today. I also know that they purport to do all these evil things in the name of Islam. But they are in the minority. They do not speak for Islam. They are misguided and their efforts are giving Islam a bad name. Because of their actions, and the reaction provoked by their efforts, the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful, moderate and tolerant of other faiths, feel as though they are the victims of a global campaign against Islam. I ask that you look beyond the sensational headlines and oversimplified categorizations, so that you can appreciate the real problems facing the Muslim world.

What we need more than ever today is a concerted effort to initiate inter-faith dialogue. We need to talk to one another openly about the issues that impact on all our lives. Let us go beyond arguing over differences in theology and religious practice. A meaningful dialogue will not be possible if we do not respect each other's freedom of worship. Islam enjoins pluralism and we are reminded of it in the quranic verse "to you your religion, to me my religion".

Let us set aside our religious differences and talk about the issues that affect all of us, whatever our faith. Injustices in the global financial and trading system, the threat to the environment, poverty and disease; these issues affect us whether or not we are Muslims, Christians, Buddhists or Hindus.

We must see beyond narrow parochialism. For far too long, the various religious communities of the world have lived apart, and these divisions have been sustained because of a narrow outlook that sees religious identity in exclusive terms. Yet, what does it mean to be a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu or a Buddhist today?. Does it mean belonging to an exclusive group?. Does it mean belonging to a community that is entirely self-dependent and cut-off from others?

We must remind ourselves that all the major religious-civilization systems of the world have been engaged in meaningful and practical dialogue for centuries. Islamic civilization would not have developed as it did without sustained contact with the Judaeo-Christian west, and with south Asian, southeast Asian and Chinese civilizations. Likewise Christian civilization developed in contact with Islam and with the cultures of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Interaction and between Christianity and Islam has remained porous, fluid and flexible. It has allowed for the entry of new ideas, philosophies, arts and technologies that enabled both to benefit. Our shared collective past has not been free of conflict. We know that the rise and spread of Christianity and Islam - as with other religions - has been accompanied by war and conflict.

However, it would be wrong to say that the historical relationship between Christianity and Islam was based solely on antagonism. Contrary to those who claim that Islam has 'bloody borders' with Christianity, it was in communities that served as the contact points or interfaces between Islam and Christianity that we saw the emergence of societies that were cosmopolitan, diverse, eclectic and constantly evolving. It was in these shared territories that both Muslims and Christians were at their most open, pluralistic and tolerant: witness the cultural vitality and dynamism of Cordoba and Moghul India.

History teaches us that working together has made our civilizations richer and more tolerant. This spirit of cooperation between our religions must once again illuminate the world. For millions in the world today there is little to look forward to. Poverty, natural disasters, war and conflict affect too many . There are solutions to many of the problems that humankind faces today. But sometimes the solutions are not forthcoming because we refuse to build an international consensus that can generate the political will for change.

This is where inter-faith dialogue comes in. There are values common to our faiths. Peace, friendship, cooperation. In Islam, there is the quranic verse, "o mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other, not that ye may despise one another". Similarly, there is also the biblical passage "they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". These are the common values we have, that if we hold on to these principles, we hope to god, that this world would be more peaceful in future.

Let us be true to the teachings of our faith and find solutions to the world's problems through our shared values. The Palestinian issue or the conflict in Iraq are not just Muslim grievances. These problems are of universal concern. The Palestinian problem is a problem of fundamental human rights and dignity. The Iraqi problem is a problem of securing peace and nation-building. In Malaysia, these problems have received widespread support from people of all faiths - Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and others. We are thankful that the catholic and Anglican churches stood up against the decision to invade Iraq and saw the issue in universal terms. Similarly, globalization that benefits the rich and not the poor is a global concern with no regard for the religion of those who are marginalized.

With all these problems surrounding us, religion must be a beacon of hope. Religion must bring out the best in us and not the worst. War and acts of terror must not be fought in the name of religion. Religion must guide us towards conflict resolution, towards peace, towards a more just and equitable world order.

I wish you well in our activities over these few days. I hope that you let Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia; this time, this place, however imperfect or contradictory, speak to you against the backdrop of a world very much in need of the peace which makes justice possible and the justice which makes peace real. With all its challenges and opportunities it has been our home, and has spoken to us. I hope you enjoy the hospitality of Malaysia.

As you go about your deliberations, I ask you to join me in calling upon all people of faith and all people of good will to unite and work together for the sake of peace and justice. We cannot stand before a compassionate god while there is so much we have left undone because we are disunited. There is so much we could do, having received one another, to receive others.