We’ll speak about it… Now.
I’ve always thought that those little “coexist” bumper stickers that people have on their cars are idealistic at best and blatantly deceptive at worst. The concept of contrasting worldviews living in harmony was, to me, almost impossible. How could it be possible for people groups who believe fundamentally different things about theology, moral codes and systems of practice live together, work together and, indeed, coexist for an extended period of time?
My entire attitude shifted within 24 hours of landing in Israel.
I was blown away by the sheer proximity of religious holy sites to each other in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Al-Aqsa Mosque are all within roughly one square kilometer of each other — and they have been for nearly 2 millennia. The Old City stands in contrast to the common “zero-sum-game” notion of religion (that is, only one can exist, while all others must crumble). Certainly, this does not mean that Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all objectively true, but it does show that people with fundamental differences can celebrate crucial elements of their identity without coming into conflict with each other. Moreover, they can be in an ongoing, respectful dialogue about their differences without throwing rationality to the winds — I think this was evidenced powerfully as a van blasting the call to prayer drove down a narrow street past the birthplace of Mary.
Kailash, Milton and I laughed about the fact that our room in Jerusalem was pretty much the beginning of a really bad joke: “A Muslim, a Hindu and a Christian all travel to Jerusalem…” But I think that this demonstrated the same phenomenon as the situation on Temple Mount. Over the course of the four nights that we spent in Israel, the three of us had countless conversations about the intersection and differences of our three respective religions. We never shouted, never argued, never even got upset. We coexisted. But more than that, we debated, we conversed and we each of us walked away with a more nuanced worldview.
