Building Bridges

June 19 - Beirut

We continued in our examination of the complex life in Lebanon with a site visit to the Evangelical Court in Beirut. Coming under the jurisdiction of the civil court, it deals with the matters of marriage/divorce, inheritance and in some cases child custody. With the Western mind set of separation of church and state, it is difficult to fully comprehend this paradigm, but could be likened to the Western form of "family court." However, because of the mandates of Shari'a Law in Islam, a Muslim Court system was established to deal with these matters. To accomodate the Christian and Catholic/Orthodox populations, courts were established to deal with similar matters from their religous perspective.

Earlier in the day we discussed the efforts of reforming Islam from within and the growing influence of Islam in America and Europe. Through various cases studies, the fears of the West were laid bare. One case of interest was the national row caused by the public comments of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams about including elements Shari'a Law in English law. The comments were misconstrued by the media, exploiting the national fears, and creating a furor. Americans share similar fears and have also been exploited by the media.

Thought: More than any other people, Christians have been called to overcome our fears through love. John wrote "perfect love casts out all fears" (I John 4:18). Jesus told us to love our enemies (Matthew 5: 44). Somehow, loving our enemies reduces our fears and enables us to dialogue with with better understanding. I must confess this is often easier said, than done.

grace, rtm