[antimedia] Maybe Some Glimmer of Hope

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I don't know whether we should hold our cooperate breaths,,,
But there may yet be some glimmer of Hope????
Please read this article from Jerry Falwell's son Jonathon.
 

FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and 
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com 
 
From: Jonathan Falwell
Date:  July 10, 2007
 
A Significant Meeting Between Muslims and Christians
 
On Monday, July 2, I attended what I can only pray may become a historic
meeting.  Several weeks ago, I received a call about attending a meeting at
the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C.  I was told that this meeting would
be hosted by the Ambassador from Egypt and might be attended by
representatives of other Arab nations, as well as by 10-15 pastors,
evangelists and Christian media representatives.  
 
My interest stirred, I agreed to attend the meeting even though I was not
quite sure of its purpose.  I asked Dr. Ron Godwin, Liberty University’s
Executive Vice President to attend with me.  When we arrived at the Embassy,
we were greeted by Evangelist Benny Hinn and introduced to several other
pastors, evangelists, Christian TV producers and representatives of
Christian organizations.  Among them were Gordon Robertson of the 700 Club,
Paul Crouch Jr. of Trinity Broadcasting Network, Christian lobbyist Ralph
Reed, Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, Vernon
Brewer of WorldHelp and several others. 
 
Within a period of no more than 10 minutes, the Ambassadors from Algeria,
Morocco, Libya, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq, Bahrain, and the Ambassador from the
Arab League of Nations all arrived.  I now realized that this meeting was
far more than a social gathering.  Soon thereafter, we sat down at a large
table, Evangelicals all on one side and Arab representatives on the other,
about 24 of us, for lunch.
 
The Egyptian Ambassador began the meeting by graciously saying that we
should not worry about diplomacy at this meeting.  He went on to emphasize
that we should have an open, honest conversation about what is necessary for
bridges to be built between Islam and American Christians.  At that moment,
I realized that the meeting might, indeed, offer far greater potential than
I had imagined.  
 
Over the course of several hours, a great deal of candid conversation took
place.  Conversation, on the Americans’ part that just might begin to crack
open the doors to religious freedom in nations where it is now practically
forbidden.  
 
One of the Ambassadors mentioned that American Christians seemed to always
favor Israel in all situations, even when Israel was wrong.  He asked if it
might be possible that Christians become more “balanced” in our support of
Israel.  
 
The answer to this question came from the former head of the Christian
Coalition, Ralph Reed.  Ralph said that we, as Christians, do take our
support of Israel very seriously.  Ralph went on to say that our support of
Israel comes from our belief in the Scriptures and that this rendered our
support for Israel largely nonnegotiable.  However, with that understood,
Ralph went on to say that we would also love to build far more positive
relationships with Arab nations.
 
We told the ambassadors that we loved the Arab people no more, but certainly
no less, than the Israelis.  We shared the Scriptural truth that God loves
the entire world and sent His Son to die for all, regardless of their
nationality.  Thus, we stated that our love for Arabs was just as important
a priority to us as is our love for Israel. 
 
The conversation then turned to the perception among American Christians of
the Arab world.  I shared that as Christians, we are strongly pro-life.  And
 that while the vast majority of Christians in America speak out against the
horrors of abortion, we never condone or tolerate violence against those who
disagree with us on this issue.  I went on to say that there is a very small
minority in the pro-life community who do resort to violence, and that when
they do, the rest of us strongly and publicly condemn their actions.  We
make it known that we do not support any such violence and we do everything
possible to stop it.
 
I then told the Ambassadors that, likewise, they should strongly condemn the
violent actions of their radicals as well.  I shared that this would amount
to a huge step towards changing perceptions of Muslims in our country. 
While I may never know if these words will be heeded, I do know they heard
these words loud and clear.
 
We went on to discuss humanitarian and educational assistance.  We told them
that, as Christians, we welcome the opportunity to work with them to offer
humanitarian aid in their countries.  And, while we take the Great
Commission very seriously, we understand that humanitarian aid only offered
with proselytizing strings attached generates great distrust.
 
We also offered Liberty University to bring fully accredited, American
education to their countries through our Distance Learning Program.  We
shared how that any student in their countries could receive a fully
accredited American university degree online.  We also offered to allow
students from their country to attend LU in our resident program. 
Throughout this portion of the discussion, we made it clear that LU was a
Christian institution and that the only kind of education the world’s
largest evangelical Christian university would ever offer would be
Christ-centered without apologies.
 
As the meeting neared its end, one of the Ambassadors shared what may be one
of the most promising statements made during the entire two hours.  He said
that we must understand that Americans have always been accepting of other
religions and faiths because that is how we were founded.   He went on to
say that their nations did not come from the same background.  And, in what
could be a glimmer of hope for the freedom to worship in the Arab world, he
said that we must understand that they are trying to head in that direction
as well.  He said that he knows it has been a slow process, but they truly
desire to make the acceptance of other religions a reality in their
respective nations.
 
We all agreed that this would not be the last meeting.  We promised that
this dialogue would continue, that we were willing to visit their countries,
meet their people, and attempt to continue the conversation to build a more
peaceful future for our children and theirs.  And then, we closed the
meeting in prayer, in Jesus’ name!  
 
This truly was an historic meeting.
 
 
 
 
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