 Larry Bethune |
Obama’s June 4 speech at Cairo University in Egypt ended with a statement that Christianity, Judaism and Islam all teach that God desires for the world to live in peace.
“There’s one rule that lies at the heart of every religion — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us,” the president said in his widely reported speech. “This truth transcends nations and peoples — a belief that isn’t new; that isn’t black or white or brown; that isn’t Christian or Muslim or Jew.”
Obama quoted verses from the Quran and Talmud similar to the New Testament’s passage, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
“The people of the world can live together in peace,” Obama said. “We know that is God’s vision. Now that must be our work here on Earth.”
On June 9 the Dallas Morning News asked panelists for its Texas Faith blog to consider whether it is really possible for the lion to lie down with the lamb.
Larry Bethune, senior pastor of University Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, said the Bible sees peace not only as possible but the responsibility of people of faith.
“The biblical concept of peace is more than the absence of war, but a positive and holistic vision of harmony and good relationship which reaches from individual inner peace to peace within families, peace between nations, and even peace between humanity and the environment,” Bethune said. “Such peace is not a forced ‘power over’ domination which inevitably leads to further conflict, but a mutual ‘power with’ which is based on justice.”
 George Mason |
“We normally mean by the word realistic what is normally the case,” he said. “But what if what is real is what calls us beyond the normal to something more?”
Mason said the Christian’s hope for peace ultimately lies in “the rule of God’s reign, the normal condition of life in God’s kingdom where freedom and justice coincide.”
“This kingdom is God’s promise to the world,” Mason said, “that it is coming, that God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and that Christ is the Prince of Peace whose work in the world is bring that future to pass.”
Bethune agreed the ultimate vision for peace will finally be accomplished by God, but he said Christians are compelled to live by it now and work for it in the meantime.
“Making peace is much harder than making war because it requires nonviolence, mutuality, respect for individual diversity, and an unselfish vision which recognizes that the individual cannot be whole until everyone is whole,” Bethune said. “In other words, peace requires our transcending the usual ‘us versus them’ thinking to recognize we are all ‘us.'”
Mason said the fact that humans live in a world of recurring conflict and violence does not undermine the hope for peace, but rather underlines that peace is not a solely a human achievement and requires divine agency.
“Human agents of peace bear witness to that coming peace and make it more believable by their efforts, but they cannot achieve it apart from God’s gift,” Mason said. “Since God’s gifts do not disregard human freedom, our work is to make the world hospitable for God’s peace to take root and flourish.”
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous related ABP story:
Obama, in speech to world’s Muslims, touts religious freedom, cooperation (6/4)