{"id":32580,"date":"2017-03-23T13:56:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T17:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=32580"},"modified":"2017-03-23T14:33:06","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T18:33:06","slug":"syrian-lebanese-pastor-interfaith-peacebuilder-still-hope-new-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/syrian-lebanese-pastor-interfaith-peacebuilder-still-hope-new-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian-Lebanese pastor and interfaith peacebuilder still has ‘hope for new Syria’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riad Jarjour is a Syrian-Lebanese scholar, pastor and peacebuilder whose work has focused on Muslim-Christian relationships since the 1970s. On March 15 and 16, he visited Eastern Mennonite University to lead a chapel presentation, lunch conversation and public forum about his work.<\/p>\n

His visit was hosted by Mennonite Central Committee. He was welcomed with special pleasure by EMU\u2019s Center for Interfaith Engagement<\/a> and by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a>.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cRiad has played a significant role in identifying Syrians and Lebanese participants to attend the Summer Peacebuilding Institute,<\/a> as well as participants for the annual Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience<\/a> program (STAR) trainings in Beirut,\u201d said Daryl Byler<\/a>, CJP executive director.<\/p>\n

While Jarjour has been a peacebuilder and interfaith ambassador for decades, he has recently expanded into humanitarian and development work since the start of the Syrian Civil War.<\/p>\n

In his lunch presentation, Jarjour recounted his brother\u2019s farm in the Syrian countryside, where seasonal workers \u2013 Muslims from nearby towns \u2013 would come for employment. They became friends on that farm, Jarjour explains. However, after the Islamic State seized the area, they offered workers ten times the salary they could make farming.<\/p>\n

In spite of a six-year war that has uprooted millions of Syrians and nearly destroyed entire cities, Jarjour has not lost hope for \u201ca new Syria.\u201d He was encouraged by a recent interfaith assembly of Syrian youth and anti-extremist activists, hosted by Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD), an organization he founded in 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of young people don\u2019t believe in war anymore,\u201d says Jarjour.<\/p>\n

“Syria has seen a collapse of values, materials, human dignity, and respect,\u201d he says, but \u201cISIS is not Islam \u2026 I want to live in peace with my Muslim friends there. I do not want to isolate myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

FDCD, headquartered in Beirut, offers workshops, conferences and dialogue sessions about approaching conflict nonviolently. Their programming includes psychosocial support programs for Syrian children, workshops for collaborative infrastructure repair, conferences for women countering extremism and distribution of humanitarian aid supplies.<\/p>\n

The organization is based upon the work of the World Council of Churches\u2019 Urban Rural Mission program.<\/p>\n

Jarjour, who was educated at the Near East School of Theology (Beirut) and McCormick Theological Seminary (Chicago, Illinois), held several positions in the Middle East Council of Churches, a regional associate of WCC, early in his career. One trip to the Philippines to live among and learn from slum residents and poor fishermen focused his attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back very enthusiastic for grassroots organizing,\u201d he says. He served as general secretary of the Middle East Council from 1994 to 2003. In 1995, he founded the non-government organization \u201cArab Group for Christian Muslim Dialogue\u201d out of a gathering of Muslim and Christian intellectuals, scholars, and social servants. This organization has convened various dialogue activities addressing peaceful religious coexistence, including youth summer camps and international seminars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riad Jarjour is a Syrian-Lebanese scholar, pastor and peacebuilder whose work has focused on Muslim-Christian relationships since the 1970s. On March 15 and 16, he visited Eastern Mennonite University to ... read more about Syrian-Lebanese pastor and interfaith peacebuilder still has ‘hope for new Syria’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,5589,13679,12503,409,17562,5595,14145,265,12537,12499],"tags":[10545,6795],"feature":[17425,17241],"class_list":["post-32580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applied-social-sciences","category-bible-and-religion","category-center-for-interfaith-engagement","category-cjp","category-chapel","category-digest","category-history","category-peacebuilding-and-development","category-seminary","category-star","category-spi","tag-daryl-byler","tag-diversity","feature-featured-seminary","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nSyrian-Lebanese pastor and interfaith peacebuilder still has 'hope for new Syria' - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/syrian-lebanese-pastor-interfaith-peacebuilder-still-hope-new-syria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Syrian-Lebanese pastor and interfaith peacebuilder still has 'hope for new Syria' - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Riad Jarjour is a Syrian-Lebanese scholar, pastor and peacebuilder whose work has focused on Muslim-Christian relationships since the 1970s. 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