The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks provide
an important moment for all of us to reflect on life’s most precious things and what we hold in our hearts about family, friends, neighbors, our wider communities, strangers, and those with whom we disagree about what’s most important for the world and how to bring it about. This sacred occasion also provides a good incentive for thinking about what it means to be called by Christ as peacemakers.
In this podcast, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists Charles Randall Paul, Liz Shropshire, and James Faulconer reflect upon today’s world a decade past September 2001, as well as the nature of peace itself and what it means to be “at peace.” The discussion then turns to the history of Mormon prophetic discourse as it calls, with varying vigor, church members to be peacemakers, as well as to some of the key scriptural passages, stories, and theological notions that inspire the panelists’ own peacebuilding work.
We trust that you will find this a thoughtful and important discussion at this solemn and reflective moment in time, and we encourage you to join in the conversation in the comments section below.
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Please check out (and donate if so moved!) these two peace building foundations run by two of this episodes’ panelists:
The Shropshire Music Foundation–Teaching Children Peace Through Music
The Foundation for Religious Diplomacy
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Other Mormon-led peacebuilding and humanitarian foundations, and LDS peacemakers, to learn about and support:
Joan Betros. Joan heads up F.U.T.U.R.E. (Families United Toward Universal Respect), which uses the model of Relief Society to get women to connect, support, and help each other in Iraq.
Chad Ford. Chad runs the Intercultural Peacebuilding Certificate program at BYU-Hawaii, and he is also involved with the Arbinger Institute and Peace Players International, which uses basketball and other sports to bring together children and adults from both sides of divided communities together. Chad is helping podcast panelist Charles Randall Paul put on a goodwill match next year in Salt Lake City between the Iranian women’s soccer team and an American equivalent.
Peggy Rogers. Peggy founded and runs the Zambia Scholarship Fund, which provides stipends for teachers and scholarships for Zambian students to attend high school and college and learn to become teachers themselves.
Cecile Pelous. Cecile went to India to help Mother Teresa and ended up starting an orphanage that she still runs in Nepal. Cecile gave up her life as a fashion designer in Paris to go to India, and she is who inspired panelist Liz Shropshire to start looking for a way she could help children affected by war.
Warner Woodworth works tirelessly to bring money and expertise from church members who have it to aid new entrepreneurs in establishing sustainable businesses in South and Central America.
Daniel Peterson runs the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative (METI), which opens important dialogues with Muslims by producing bi-lingual classical Islamic texts that have not previously been translated.
Bill Jackson directs the Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation (formerly the Deseret Foundation), which has operations in Africa, the Philippines, and South and Central America that bring doctors and supplies to train local doctors in procedures that cure and heal thousands.
The Brent and Bonnie Jean Beesley Foundation works to establish elementary schools in rural India.
We invite Mormon Matters listeners to write about other LDS-led peacemaking and humanitarian organizations that we can add to this list.
Comments 16
The woman, Peggy Rogers, who runs Zambia Scholarship Fund http://www.zambiascholarshipfund.org/, is LDS.
Thanks, Sterling! Just added her above!
What struck me more than the content of the discussion was the humility of the participants and their respect for each others views. If there could be similar dialogue and more exemplary conduct among our fellow travellers (ourselves included) there would be a greater presence of peace throughout our lands.
Lack of peace is often the result of not listening to divergent views and not seeking to understand another’s needs. Generally as a species we share similar needs but express them in a language and context that we are not familiar with or are too ego centred to try to understand. Standing still, putting our perceptions/interpretations to one side and stepping into another’s mindset can be truly liberating and free and a prerequisite to peaceful relationships.Knowing that we are all connected spiritually is certainly a step towards establishing peace, but we are also connected to the earth -we are all made of the same cosmic dust. If we could identify with this realisation, knowing that we are in relationship to the earth’s resources rather than just seeing it from a utilitarian perspective, we we would me more willing to treat the earth with respect and reverence, we would seek less for acquisition, we would seek more to be frugal, and would be more willing to share with each other and thus lead happier and peaceful lives.Wonderful podcast; a great treat to have such articulate, thoughtful and sincere panellists.
Loved this podcast! Thanks to all the panelists for sitting down together to do this. I guess I’d just like to throw in a little plug here for an interfaith youth organization my wife and I our involved with. It’s called iMagine and we participate in peace-promoting events throughout the Phoenix valley and service opportunities. We’re not quite as big as some of the other groups here but we do our part to promote peace through mutual understanding. www.imaginearizona.org
We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing
for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to
the fabrication of gods of stone and steel — ships, planes, missiles,
fortifications — and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When
threatened, we become anti-enemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man
in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s
counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching:
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven”
(Matthew 5:44-45).
http://www.nauvoo.com/library/kimball-false.html
My apologies! Reed Russell posted the following in response to Todd’s query, and in an effort to edit its format a bit, I accidentally deleted it! Ugh! THANK YOU Reed for posting this quotation and link to the entire President Kimball talk!We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel — ships, planes, missiles, fortifications — and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan’s counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45)
http://www.nauvoo.com/library/kimball-false.html
This podcast was hard to listen to. Usually a broad theological concept or a specific set of historical events was covered. In this case it seems like we wandered around a foggy middle ground. I guess I am not familiar much with the facts that link Mormonism to peacemaking to put all this together. I do remember reading a little bit about Mormon pacifism in one of Quinn’s books that happened mid-twentieth century or so. I guess I need to do some research.
I think the podcast did highlight the disagreement that we are likely to find on war, the death penalty, dealing with poverty, etc. I think you can use Mormon doctrine and Christian theology to argue in many directions on these things. The scriptures don’t seem conclusive to me. For example, the guidance from the intstitutional church on lifting the poor is to help them help themselves. This usually comes down to giving as little as possible (I’m not saying I disagree with this, by the way). Whereas many Christian charities are very much focused on giving.
I think we have the perspective that if we just give people the gospel, they will eventually learn to heal themselves from poverty and war. Maybe it is not a far comparison, but I think I have seens numbers that show that the ELCA (Lutheran Church), Catholic Charities, etc. have donated far more money than the Mormon church. And I think this holds whether you look at it per capita or as a percentage of total income. Mormons just don’t believe that throwing money at the impoverished solves their problems. In fact, I would say that fundamentally we believe it makes things worse.
I would be very interested to know more about how the church interacts with other faiths. My impression has been that we have tried on several occassions, but back out after a while. We want to get along, but we also don’t want to be ecumenical. We want to be different. We want to belong to the broader Christian community without melting away into it.
Another good Mormon related foundation seeking to better the world and help those in need is the Liahona Children’s Foundation.
http://www.liahonachildren.org/
http://bycommonconsent.com/2011/01/27/approaching-zion-solving-the-problem-of-malnutrition/
Also good are two Dialogue Articles by the founder of the Foundation:
https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dialogue_V35N04_105.pdf
https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Dialogue_V36N01_47.pdf
I would
argue that the main stumbling blocks for Mormons in serving as peacemakers are
beliefs about the end of the world. In LDS seminary, I was taught that Christ
would return to intervene on the side of Israel during a thermonuclear war
which would likely engulf most of the world. What other way to explain the apocalyptic
imagery in the scriptures? Thus, a violent, unpleasant future is inevitable and
perhaps even desirable as it will culminate in Christ’s return. Any efforts
towards peace-making would ultimately be pointless, and only serve to frustrate
the unfolding of God’s plan. Perhaps this might be an interesting topic for a
future podcast?
Thanks for the post and thank you for the tips on these two organizations. I have re-posted your encouragement to give on my blog where I try and get others involved in philanthropy. Thanks again for the great post.
Barett
I savored this podcast. Some time after 9/11 I decided to give forgiveness a try. I earnestly asked God to forgive those who had caused so much grief to so many. I asked him to bless their families with the things that they needed and to let a spirit of peace find us all. I immediately had a sweet, tender feeling come over me and all sense of revenge melted away from my mind. Your podcast brought that all back. Thank you.
I got up in fast and testimony meeting last Sunday and affirmed my belief in the Savior’s commandment to love our enemies and challenged my brothers and sisters in the ward to seek the balm of forgiveness as we commemorate 9/11. Living in Idaho where a lot of members conflate nationalism and loving the flag with loving God I felt a little uneasy saying such a thing openly. A bit later a dear sister stood up and said how glad she was that we’re a church that teaches forgiveness. At least there are two 9/11 heretics in my ward!
Kevin, thank you so much for your comments. I have also experienced the unique peace that comes when we pray for our “enemies”. I have long thought that if we would pray for those contemplating terrorism (not that they would be successful, but that they would have a change of heart and be blessed with what they truly need) that the whole world would change– both us and them.
Thanks for your testimony and courage to share it!
I certainly don’t feel qualified top say what the church’s position is on this issue right now, or how and when people in Salt Lake try to intervene. There is a difference between humanitarian aid and development although the line between those two things is very blurry. I looked at Schropshire website and really enjoyed seeing what they were doing, mostly because it appeared they were helping kids in a way that empowered them in their lives. In many cases humanitarian aid dehumanizes, one only has to go to their local department of social services to see how this works. As far as the ways to be peace makers as a church? I think you have to take what you know and and from where you are in your life and try to do something good every day for someone. Whether that’s a friend, a family member or a stranger. On the macro level I think we need social safety nets because individual actions will never be enough to cover the basic needs of people in a large scale society.
I’ve used audio products from The Monroe Institute for over twenty years as tools to help me relax. Through the use of special audio signals combined with music or guided imagery exercises their CDs promote synchronous electrical activity in the brain typical of deep meditative states. I was delighted when, with a nod to the anniversary of 9/11, they recently posted a free audio file devoted to forgiveness created by Peter Russell: http://www.monroeinstitute.org/forgiveness/ If you don’t feel like forgiving anyone at the very least you’ll experience half an hour of deep relaxation.
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From Liz Shropshire about needs for those so moved to step up with donations during this Christmas season. I’m in!
This year has been harder than any other before. We were robbed both in Uganda and Kosovo, our old vehicles needed major repairs, and the price of almost everything went through the roof in both Uganda and Kosovo.
The programs are going better than ever before. We helped so many children this year and have more local volunteers in each country than ever before.
Can you help?
Here are some quotes from the children and volunteers, all from this year:
UGANDA:
• Today there is no more war but people find it hard to continue living peacefully. It is very hard. Some people, they are [former child soldiers] they lose their understanding. So their brains are not working well. So with this music, they are trying to cooperate with the others.
• SMF has changed my life so much. SMF is very important for the war-affected children to forget their memory of the war, so many of them now involve themselves in music, which makes them relax and forget about their problems.
NORTHERN IRELAND:
• I’m really passionate to help with this music program because I’ve grown up in violence, in war, in riots my whole life and I think that seeing the kids from both sides of the community come together and work with music could help them to build as people, to build relationships, and to make them stronger.
• Children’s Survey Last July: Did the music program change your feelings, thoughts or ideas about Catholics or Protestants?
Yes, because I have made best friends!
Yes, because they are very nice
Yes, because it made me more confident
KOSOVO:
• This program has changed my life and changed the way I feel and changed the way I think. I was able to overcome fear and gain self-esteem. I have gained love for others, which I didn’t have before I joined SMF. I feel important because I know how much the world needs me. I have a reason and I have a mission to help the world, and with this I value myself more.
If you can’t help, I understand. But thank you all so much for everything you have done over the many years we have been reaching out to these children.
Here’s the link to make a donation by paypal:http://www.shropshirefoundation.org/donate/
Or you can mail a donation to our regular address:
Shropshire Music Foundation
1123 Torreon Drive E.
Litchfield Park, AZ 85340