by Charles Notess

JUNE 2008

Reviews From Three Readers Of A 2007 Draft of This Book

Professor James W. Fowler, a writer of many books on ethics and religious faith wrote the following after scanning an early web-version of my book, which he called a "vital project". "First I was struck by your having paid some attention to my Faithful Change, and connected it to a larger body of literature that frames our present bitter world conflicts. Then I read much further, with growing excitement, about the perspectives you draw into the frame in which you work." Fowler continued: "... (You) quote the works of others (always with references), and make their salient points part of a larger and powerful effort to understand why we are in great difficulty as a human community. And then you share what tools and resources of faith can we try to marshal in the effort to try to close the evolutionary and developmental gap. I found it thrilling to think with you."

Arthur Orth, a retired United Church of Christ Minister, has written the following to the leader of a local men's discussion group. "I would like to take some time to discuss what Charles Notess has been writing about and why. I truly believe that he is on the right wave length and moving in the right direction. I really appreciate his insights."

Dr. Hugh Sanborn, Editor of The Prophetic Call - Celebrating Community, Earth, Justice, and Peace reviewed the last two chapters of my book. He wrote: " ... Notess presents the reader with a gold mine of topics and resources relevant to the complexity of peacemaking. As one reads (his book), it becomes clear that Notess reads widely and has the unique ability to synthesize and elaborate on carefully selected data and information, presenting numerous threads of the complex fabric formed by interrelated systems, including those of various cultures, religions, economies and governments. Note the array of topics that Notess convincingly weaves into his peacemaking fabric: justice systems, reconciliation, human development, governance systems, communication systems, scales of commitment, conflict resolution, nonviolent action, change agents, social capital, education, the psychology of fear, global corporations, reinterpretation of scriptures, and compassion to name a few. There is no doubt that, in Notess’ understanding, progress in peacemaking entails constructive change and development in all spheres of human endeavors, individual, communal, national and worldwide."

The Contents of this E-book were last updated 6-10-08.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

To go directly to a particular Chapter, click on the following.

Chapter 1- PSYCHO-SOCIAL AND MORAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 2- A FOUNDATION FOR VIEWING RELIGION AND GOVERNANCE AS SOCIETAL INSTITUTIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD
Chapter 3- TRUE RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
Chapter 4- MORE EFFECTIVE PEACEMAKING
Chapter 5- PEACEMAKING AND CONCLUSIONS (Includes Spiral Dynamics in Section H)
Epilogue
Bibliography
Appendix 1
Appendix 2

CHAPTER 1 - PSYCHO-SOCIAL AND MORAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION - A
VARIATIONS IN CHARACTER AND GENERAL TRENDS IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - B
THREE TYPES OF CHARACTER FOUND IN MODERN SOCIETIES - C
HARDWIRING OF THE BRAIN BEFORE AGE 3 - D
EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT - BECOMING INDEPENDENT - E
KEY STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENTS - F
DIFFERENT STYLES OF THINKING - G
BUILDING WALLS PROVIDES SECURITY AGAINST DOUBT AND DIVERSITY - H
THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY - I
THE IMPORTANCE OF RELEVANT STORIES - J
LEARNING TO TAKE THE PERSPECTIVE OF OTHERS - K
LEARNING HOW TO BE MORAL - L
MORAL DEVELOPMENT IS A PROCESS THAT INCLUDES SEVERAL LEVELS OF PERSPECTIVE TAKING - M
FROM SUBJECTIVE INVISIBLE SELF TO OBJECTIVE VISIBLE SELF - N
GLOBALIZATION OF COMMUNICATION - O
EIGHT LEVELS OF PERSPECTIVE TAKING - P
PERSPECTIVE-TAKING IS ESSENTIAL TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS - Q
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS - R
CONCLUSIONS - S

CHAPTER 2 - A FOUNDATION FOR VIEWING RELIGION AND GOVERNANCE AS INSTITUTIONS IN A CHANGING WORLD

INTRODUCTION - A
DISCUSSIONS SOMETIMES END IN POLARIZATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS - B
UNCONSCIOUS NEEDS -C
PERSONAL IDENTITY CRISES -D
SOCIETAL TRANSITION CRISES -E
THE BOOMER GENERATION - F
VARIATIONS IN BELIEFS, DOGMAS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF REALITY - G
IMAGES OF GOD - TRANSCENDENT, WITHIN EACH OF US, AND/OR IN HEAVEN- H
INTRODUCTION TO ASPECTS OF SPIRITUALITY - I
YOUTH AT THE TURN OF THIS MILLENNIUM - J
APPROACHES TO DIVERSITY AND CRITICAL THINKING AMONG THE THREE ABRAHAMIC FAITHS - K
JEWISH APPROACHES TO CRITICAL THINKING AND THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS - L
CHRISTIAN APPROACHES TO CRITICAL THINKING AND THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS - M
APPROACHES OF ISLAM TO CRITICAL THINKING AND THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS - N
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT DIFFERENT USES OF CRITICAL THINKING - O

CHAPTER 3 - TRUE RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

INTRODUCTION - A
BASIC VALUES OF MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS - B
DIVERSITY - C
EFFECTS OF ASSIMILATION ON IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA - D
INTERACTIONS AMONG POLITICAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS - E
A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNANCE - F
OBSTACLES TO INCREASING THE SIZE OF COMMUNITIES - G
DIFFERENCES IN APPROACHES TO RELIGION BY MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS H
EXTREMISTS AND CAUSES OF MILITANCY- I
FUNDAMENTALISM IS A WORD OF MANY MEANINGS - J
WHY DO THEY HATE US? - K
IMPORTANT CULTURAL DIFFERENCES - HONOR, GUILT, AND SHAME - L
IS THERE HOPE OF INCREASING TOLERANCE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES? - M
THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES THAT DESCRIBE HOW OTHERS LIVE - N
STORIES AND TRADITIONS NEED UPDATING AND REINTERPRETATION - O
ADAPTING SACRED STORIES TO SOCIO-CULTURAL CHANGE - P
WHOSE STORIES SHOULD A PERSON BELIEVE? - Q
CHANGES RESULTING FROM INCREASES IN DIVERSITY - R
ORGANIZING THE FOREGOING INTO SYSTEMS USEFUL FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT - S
CONCLUSIONS - T

CHAPTER 4 - MORE EFFECTIVE PEACEMAKING

INTRODUCTION - A
PEACEMAKING, RECONCILIATION, AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM - B
EXAMPLES OF INCREASING THE SCALE OF JUSTICE SYSTEMS - C
EFFECTIVE AND FAIR SYSTEMS OF JUSTICE ARE ESSENTIAL BUILDING BLOCKS TOWARD PEACE - D
INCREASING SCALES OF GOVERNANCE CREATE NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR SYSTEMS OF JUSTICE - E
CHANGING INFORMATION CONTEXTS - COMMUNICATION NOW PENETRATES EVERYWHERE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS - F
AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - INTERCOMMUNITY COMPETITION AND CONFLICT - G
INSTITUTIONS AND INCREASING SCALES OF COMMITMENT - H
CONFLICT RESOLUTION - I
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL NONVIOLENT ACTIONS LED BY CHARISMATIC PEOPLE WITH HOLISTIC WORLDVIEWS - J
PEACEMAKING OFTEN ENTAILS CULTURAL CHANGE - K
STRENGTHENING SOCIAL CAPITAL - L
HOW YOUTH ARE EDUCATED IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION - M
THE INTERNET CAN HELP DIALOGUE AND LEARNING RELATED TO PEACEMAKING - N
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR - O
ALTRUISM AND PEACEMAKING - P
CONCLUSIONS - Q
RECENT BOOKS, POSTINGS, AND CHAPTERS THAT ARE HELPFUL - R

CHAPTER 5 - PEACEMAKING AND CONCLUSIONS.

INTRODUCTION - A
IDEAS ON PEACEMAKING GENERATED BY MARC GOPIN AND R. SCOTT APPLEBY - B
THE AMERICAN EMPIRE AND GLOBAL CORPORATIONS - C
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHURCH - D
SPIRITUALITY IN PERSONS AND IN INSTITUTIONS - E
RELIGIOUS SAYINGS RELATED TO PEACEMAKING F
WORKING FOR PEACE - G
RELATING THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE COMPLEX OF SYSTEMS IN WHICH WE ALL ARE EMBEDDED - H (Includes Spiral Dynamics in Section H.)
COMPONENTS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR BUILDING MUTUAL TRUST AND PEACE IN A DIVERSE INTERCONNECTED WORLD - I
BROADENING THE EDUCATION OF OUR YOUNG AND BRIDLING COMPETITION - J
CONCLUSIONS - K

BIBLIOGRAPHY

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX 1 - OUTLINE ON PEACEMAKING FROM RAUF'S BOOK - WHAT'S RIGHT WITH ISLAM

APPENDIX 2 - A CHECKLIST FOR CONSIDERATION OF INTERRELATIONS AMONG MAJOR COMPONENTS OF SOCIETAL SYSTEMS

NOTES

© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2004-08. "Fair use" encouraged.

I wish to thank my dear wife Marguerite, for her encouragement and patience while I was consumed by the reading and writing that have gone into this book.

I am grateful to Professors: Charles Kimball, Jeanne Curran, James W, Fowler, Hugh Sanborn, and James Whitehurst, and friends, Arthur R. Orth, Mary Wolfe, Mary Jane Ward, and Carol Wilson, for their encouragement in this effort.

Thanks also to my adult students in classes at two Senior Centers and other locations in Northern Colorado.

This Preface includes a summary of chapters in my E-book, a link to Background of the Author, and a link to an INDEX. A three-page summary is accessible at: Peacemaking Is Not Simple.

Why have the worldviews, ideologies, and beliefs of persons in political and religious groups and other communities of common interest become so polarized that persons at one extreme cannot listen to persons at the other extreme? For example, we find Republicans who cannot communicate with Democrats, and persons in conservative and progressive religious groups who seldom discuss their differences with the aim of learning and appreciating the causes of their disagreement. Some of the extremists use the language of sneaky and/or false innuendoes to belittle leaders on the other side mainly for political purposes. Yet, there are many examples of tolerant interactions among Republicans and Democrats, and among Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

One finds similar polarizations within groups, such as Christian denominations and Muslim sects.

This E-book contains five chapters that explore the causes of polarization, how to reduce polarization and a discussion of peacemaking. It is an interdisciplinary study aiming to broaden conceptual frameworks to help persons with diverse backgrounds understand and appreciate some of their main areas of disagreement.

Adults vary in the extent to which they can broaden their perspectives (worldviews) in this ever more complex world of ours. Many mature adults become "saturated" at levels of perspective taking that others passed through when they were young adults. Education and stories about diverse others can help broaden perspectives, but sharing experiences with others from different ethnic, religious, and career backgrounds is equally important. I present background information on Christian and Muslim responsibilities for contributing to the good life. I examine the effects of tribal commitments to governance, justice, and culture in general, and how the tribal ways differ from those of people with global commitments.

By sharing experiences, people can work together to broaden perspectives, learn about diverse personal stories, and synergize their thinking to create a more peaceful world. To reduce polarization and expand tolerance, it is necessary to change interpretations of those particular old traditions and commitments that lead people to close their minds to new and different ideas and interpretations. This must be done in ways that remain consistent with universal human values such as compassion, caring, education, justice, and honesty.

I include information from the Bible and Qur'an on peacemaking. I also discuss relevant work by R. Scott Appleby, Karen Armstrong, Noam Chomsky, James Fowler, Ken Gergen, Marc Gopin, John Spong, Emmanuel Todd, Walter Wink, and others. I present a checklist that can be used to guide constructive intervention in the complex of systems that make up Western societies. It can help show how humans manage their identities and their commitments to communities within the complex of interacting religious, political, and economic systems in which we all are embedded. I present examples of reconciliation and peacemaking and refer to some aids that can lead to constructive and creative group discussions about peacemaking. Some of these are: scenarios, information technology, spiral dynamics, and learning-based approaches to institutional change.

At the present time our world seems to be suffering from a clash of perspectives. Yet, throughout history there have been many examples of tolerant interactions among persons with different perspectives such as Republicans and Democrats, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. For example, for a few centuries around the year 1000 a.d., in Spain, there were cooperative interactions and mutual appreciation among followers of the three Abrahamic faiths in the fields of literature, poetry and other arts, as well as in government, commerce and the sciences. Similarly, before the breakup of Yugoslavia, there were some Muslim, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic college students who maintained cross-ethnic friendships in Sarajevo, until threats by exclusivists forced them to cut those ties of friendship.

This E-book is a helpful guide and resource for people in peace groups and others interested in cultural anthropology, political sciense, current affairs, religion, and nonviolent ways to settle differences. Printed copies of my book are now available from Xlibris.com, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, the Colorado State University bookstore, and the Boulder Book Store. The book has five chapters and has the title: Countering Polarization - A Key to Peacemaking. I continue to expand this E-book beyond the printed version which went to the publisher in early January, 2008. To order my printed book click on Countering Polarization.

I have used portions of the content herein as bases for leading short classes for retirees at Senior Centers in Ft. Collins and Loveland, Colorado, and a talk in the Estes Park Library.

A. INTRODUCTION

This first chapter summarizes a set of interdisciplinary ideas organized to expand perspectives and conceptual frameworks to help readers understand the complex processes of human development, polarization, and reconciliation that are discussed in subsequent chapters herein. It examines the causes of different responses to societal and cultural change, and to narrow, closed minded perspectives, I discuss the following topics: different character types, early brain development, hardwiring in our brains, psychosocial and moral stages of human development, the function of commitments to communities of different scales, stories of persons in communities overcoming challenges, saturation in mental frameworks among some people living in complex and changing societies, and learning how to take the perspectives of others, including the perspectives of societal institutions.

I start with the topic of human character types and principles of human development, in general, since different paths of human development, psycho-social, moral, and faith development, contribute to important perspectival differences. These differences set the stage for political and religious demagogues to polarize a population.

Since 500 years before the time of Christ, philosophers have written about different character types. The following summarizes a good example that appeared in the Newsweek magazine of 5-31-04, p. 53. Jonathan Alter wrote: "Thucydides thought the people of Athens were becoming "arrogant and contemptuous"".(1) The ruling class, a few centuries before the birth of Christ, viewed "reckless audacity" as "courage", and "prudent hesitation" as being "cowardly". Moderation was seen as unmanly, and examining all sides of a problem was viewed as an inability to act.

Does this sound familiar? Was it heard in reference to the Presidential election of 2004? Where are those of Thucydides stature today? How are they restricted, today, from publishing and speaking out through our mass media? To what extent would the majority of our general public comprehend a modern Thucydides?

NOTE: I have added letters to section titles to more easily identify them in the absence of page numbers.

B. VARIATIONS IN CHARACTER AND GENERAL TRENDS IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Many public school teachers have known students that need clear and well-enforced boundaries and guidelines to maintain good classroom behavior and learning practices. Some have a low tolerance for ambiguity and change. They seem to prefer certainty and respond well to clear literal definitions. Yet there are other students who are imaginative, creative, and explore outside the boundaries in responsible ways that do not disturb the classroom situation. They are innovators, creative and progressive and desire the freedom to innovate. When I taught introductory classes in college, I had students who covered the range from literalists to creative approaches.

In addition to persons at the two foregoing extremes, there are many who fall in a middle range between these two extremes. Many of those in the middle are progressive in some areas of their lives and follow traditions in other areas. Examples are: 1) A person who is a business entrepreneur, who votes for conservatives, yet follows a more progressive approach to religious worldviews and practices. 2) On the other hand there are followers of traditional religious beliefs who might work in the social services area and vote for progressive policies dealing with social services and health-care.

C. THREE TYPES OF CHARACTER FOUND IN MODERN SOCIETIES

In times of rapid socio-cultural change, there is a tendency for many persons to simplify their lives by regressing to follow more simple and traditional worldviews. Sociologists have classified responses to uncertainty in ways that differ slightly from those of developmental psychologists, such as Piaget, Erikson, and James Fowler. David Riesman, in his classic book The Lonely Crowd defined three responses to change. (He called them character types.) They are: tradition-directed, inner-directed and other-directed persons. His typology helps relate ideas about the self to how persons respond to their places within the social structure of their society.

We seem to be living in a time of very rapid change, largely resulting from competition among computer-related industries, auto manufacturers, neocolonialism, globalization, and the like. We must keep in mind that communities following time-tested ethnic and religious traditions face the stresses of change, and that many of these communities nowadays are heterogeneous, and not homogeneous as they were in earlier, more tribal times. The diversity provides people with a variety of skills, talents, and experiences that help some of these communities endure the stresses of change.

Tradition-directed responders follow community traditions and norms. Such persons believe that they know what is true and who is right. This type of response predominated in pre-industrial times, in what some identify as pre-modern societies. Most people, in those times, and still today, lived in rural areas, in small villages, or in ethnic or occupational enclaves found in the crowded parts of cities. In most of these cases, their lives took place within the farm, village or enclave. They were truly parochial, though the advent of television has influenced some to broaden their horizons a bit.

Inner-directed responders follow internalized basic and/or universal values and develop sets of personal goals. Use of the word "personal" reflects the idea that individualism has become fairly widespread in the West by the twentieth century. To a large part, individualism began to spread after the Enlightenment and Protestant Reformation, when persons were taught to be responsible actors and managers of their own lives. Social settings in the West usually had more freedom and had more open status systems (allowing upward mobility) than those in third world societies. This period was the start of the modern age wherein the scientific method of research and explanation along with commerce began to foster innovation. Inner-directed responders were better able to navigate through a world that began to have more than one dominant view of Reality.

Other-directed responders are those between the foregoing two extremes. Persons relying on such styles of response learn to organize their responses to a changing world by following role models and leaders. Many children fall into this category as they explore building their personal identities. Commercial interests have tapped into this identity-managing emphasis to exploit the teenage market and more recently, the pre-teen market.

It is important to realize that many persons no longer follow only one of the three responses in all areas of their lives. They might be tradition followers in child-rearing, other-directed in selecting clothing styles, and inner-directed in entertainment preferences. Each generation now develops different ways of responding according to changes in their situational contexts. Consider, as an example, the Baby Boomer generation.

Wade Clark Roof in his book: A Generation of Seekers described a situational context facing the Boomer generation (roughly those born in the late 1940’s and in the 1950’s).(2) He wrote, on page 42, "Advertising played a big part in shaping their expectations from an early age. Advertising serves not only to sell products, but to promote consumption as a way of life". It also provides jobs to counter the decrease in farming work. I believe that this has affected Boomers from all three character types, at least in some areas of their lives.

It was easier when one's life was similar to that of one's parents. By learning how one's parents reacted and the values that were seen as implicit in their actions, one learned much, even before leaving home to start one's own family. Some creative persons found themselves restricted in such communities. It was hard to be different. It is easier nowadays in that respect, for inner-directed persons living in pluralistic societies today. There are enough varied communities so that one can usually find one to their liking. On the other hand, the latter have to choose life-styles and careers from a greater selection of possibilities and that can be stressful. Their commitments are more often split between parents, nuclear family, church, college, profession, and their group of friends. Today, especially for victims of racial and/or ethnic discrimination, it often is more difficult to find role models with a range of backgrounds and life-experiences.

I discuss, in subsequent chapters, the idea that in times of rapid change and uncertainty, many persons retreat to tradition-directed guidelines. This is exemplified today by the increases in conservative political movements, and polarized fundamentalist movements, both of which are found in America, the Middle East, in Israel, in South Asia, and in Africa.

Some discussion questions follow.

Are there limits to how inclusive and tolerant we humans can be? Can we all be globalists? How many of us need to belong to exclusive communities, and in what areas of our lives? Does being exclusive imply being intolerant? How complex are the belief systems to which we are committed? How can we divide up the tasks needed to keep our society democratic and free?

What is the minimum practical proportion of globally committed people we need for our nation to survive? What do you feel is the best mix of: small-exclusive communities, inclusive middle level ones, and global communities?

It would be helpful to have groups reading this book return to these questions as they complete discussing each chapter.

D. HARDWIRING OF THE BRAIN BEFORE AGE THREE

The following discusses stages of psycho-social and moral development that many persons pass through as they mature. I believe that it will be helpful to keep in mind that human beings are relational creatures and even while in the womb, they start a relationship with their mother, from hearing sounds from her voice and sensing her emotions. As a person passes through the stages of psycho-social and faith development, the mother as a caring other, is replaced or becomes supplemented, by a favorite teacher, a mentor, a friend, or a supervisor at work. Ultimately, for some people, the caring relationship evolves into an internalized image of a transcendent, immanent, and loving divinity. How this divinity is imagined, affects personality styles and perspectives that influence responses to change and uncertainty. In the following paragraphs, I discuss the idea of how a person's need for an ongoing relationship with a caring other becomes, what some now call hardwired into the baby's brain soon after birth.

As I see it, this hardwiring creates a desire or predisposition to seek and hold on to trustworthy relationships with caring others for the rest of our lives. Many persons feel that they are not whole if this desire for a relationship with a caring other is not satisfied. For those unfortunate children who lack a caring other, an alternative is to find support and protection in a gang - a small community that cares for those who pass the test to prove that they can be trusted to conform to the laws of the gang.

There is scientific support for this idea and support is also found in the sacred writings and practices by followers of Christianity (Luke 17:21, Romans 5:5, Romans 8: verses 9 and 10, and I Cor. 3:16). I especially like the talk about Love in 1 John Chapter 4. There are also verses for Islam.(3) See verse 30:30 of Asad's translation of the Qu'ran, entitled: The Message of the Qu'ran. See his note #27 referring to that verse, and also his note #139 for verse 7:172. Note #27 includes "the famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad: "Every child is born in this natural disposition".

See also Seyyed Hossein Nasr's reference to this idea in his book entitled: The Heart of Islam on pages 6 and 7 relative to the term "al fitrah". The Muslim word "al fitrah" points to a primordial knowledge deeply imbedded into our being. In my view, that implies that every child is born with an innate (hardwired) desire for a relationship with a caring other and ultimately - with God. Martin Buber, in his book I and Thou translated by Walter Kaufmann discusses a person's relationship with God at many places in that book. After working on my book Countering Polarization for several years, I found it much easier to gain some understanding of what Buber meant by relationships with God.

Bonding between baby and Mother is an important beginning for such relationships. An excellent television program, in June 2008, showed how bonding occurred between species, tigers and their keepers, who slept with them and cared for them in a New Zealand zoo. It is accessible at: Tiger Island. That video showed the power of love.

I agree with what Erik Erikson wrote in 1958, that "basic trust" in relating to another was "the first psychosocial trait and the fundament of all others". There is an aspect of mutuality in "basic trust". Without it "children die mentally". "They do not respond or learn". I believe that he was close to my idea of hardwiring. See page 118 in the paperback edition of his book, Young Man Luther.

I believe that recent research by Dr. Kathleen Kovner Kline of the Dartmouth Medical School supports my use of the term “hardwired” in relation to the ever-present quest for a relationship with a transcendent caring other. Kline was the principal investigator of the research and she is listed in my Bibliography.(4) Further support comes from the book: The Power of Empathy by Ciaramicoli and Ketcham, wherein Chapter 3, entitled: Wired for Empathy describes several inter-creature relationships that show empathy across species. On page 30 they mention empathy in the brain and the role of the amygdala and neocortex which raps over the primitive amygdala.

Research on the limbic system of the human brain, summarized by Daniel Goleman, et al in chapters 2 & 3 of their 2002 book Primal Leadership - Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, supports my idea that caring and nurturing mothers play an important role in hardwiring. See Section J in Chapter 5, herein, for a description of emotional intelligence. Mothers might be using emotional intelligence without knowing it as such.

The quest for a relationship with a caring other, in my view, is like a search to fill a hole in one's soul. In many lonely and bored adolescents, this need leads, in some cases, to their joining a neighborhood gang or another group of seemingly compatible teens. Such loneliness is especially found in Western societies that value independence, freedom for the individual, and self-sufficiency. Carried to extremes in highly competitive societies many persons feel alone and are at a loss for how to become involved in what Scott Peck called “genuine communities".(5) In genuine or authentic communities, the community members know each other, respect each other's differences, and can reach compromises on issues that divide and polarize pseudo communities. I provide more detail in Section I of this Chapter.

Some readers might have problems with the following paragraph. If this is the case, I ask them to wait until they read the next two sections of this book.

Ultimately, the two quests are: (1) for a relationship with a caring other, and (2) to expand one's perspectives, to a level based upon a relationship with an ultimate caring other that is associated with a global or ultimate perspective.

Many humans have trouble relating to a perspective unless it is attached to a person. Therefore to relate to an ultimate perspective, they internalize some image of God. This image becomes internalized within the individual's psyche, in much the same way that memories of a mother, dear friend, or mentor become internalized.

A child who is raised by loving and nurturing parents is more likely to believe in a loving God. On the other hand, a child who is raised by overly strict, punitive parents who do not listen to the child's concerns, are more likely to believe in a strict punitive and often remote image of God. In either case, the internalized image of a parent exists even after the parent has passed on. In the latter case, the child of authoritarian parents might be more easily brainwashed to relate to an authoritarian leader.

Elaine Pagels in her 2003 book, Beyond Belief – The Secret Gospel of Thomas discussed the differences in opinion between Saints John and Thomas.(6) On page 46 she wrote that "… everyone … receives an innate capacity to know God." This, in my view, supports the idea of a hardwired quest for a Caring Other.

The idea of hardwiring has important implications for a pluralistic approach to religion and politics, so sorely needed in today's world. I believe that that idea provides a common basis for viewing God. Consider that experiences during early childhood, for children in all religions, vary greatly between the following two extremes.

1) somewhat isolated, paternalistic-authoritarian upbringing wherein the children are taught to respect and follow traditions and seldom have opportunities to mix with other children from different ethno-religious backgrounds.

2) the other extreme of parents who give their children freedom to mix with diverse others and take advantage of the many educationable moments in their child's life to nurture, explain, educate, and guide their child to choose from a set of more universal values. In both of the foregoing extremes, parents can teach their children to become compassionate adults with a good set of values, learned by seeing how their parents act toward others. In the latter case however, the children will also learn how to relate to persons from diverse backgrounds.

Parents have such great opportunities to nurture their children. Yet, many parents or parent surrogates today lack the experience, time, and knowledge to provide good parenting for their children. Great harm is done to children whose parents are inconsistent in responses to their children's actions and therefore many of these children grow up to have a low tolerance for ambiguity.

As the child learns about the world around him: what is safe, what is good, and what is not safe, the child starts to build a worldview or perspective that guides his actions for his own good and for the good of those others whom he trusts. It is important to realize that relationships with trusted others help one expand what one can learn beyond what he can see and hear with his own eyes and ears. “Four eyes work better than two." The trusted others become a community which supports each member as they learn more about the world and as they spread their knowledge and information to others among their circle of friends.

An interesting question that arises is the following. Which is more important, broadening one's perspective or expanding relationships with people from diverse backgrounds? I believe that expanding relationships comes first. Broadening perspectives is a result of expanding relationships with diverse others.

In June 2008,m I found recent research that supplements my ideas about hardwiring in the foregoing. It is accessible from: Andrew Newberg, who has done much research on the brain and Spirituality. See his website at: Newberg.

I return to a discussion of how humans imagine God in Sections H and I of Chapter 2 herein.

E. EARLY STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT - BECOMING INDEPENDENT

As the child becomes less dependent on parental care, and develops a concept of SELF, new relationships with others, such as a favorite teacher, friend, or relative, tend to appear. Unfortunately, some children encounter inconsistent nurture and punishment and end up with deficiencies in this very important attachment or bonding to a care-giver. This can lead to attachment disorders that include distinctly antisocial personality traits.

The child becomes aware of itself as a separate individual around the age of six months. Then, as she develops further, she takes on increasing independence and responsibility, but mainly centered on her own self. The "terrible twos" are a period wherein the child begins to manage her own self and seeks competence, often saying: "Let me do it". As critical reasoning abilities develop a few years later, the child begins to use her own logical skills to analyze the pulls of relationship with others and begins to work at forming a coherent identity. In pre-modern societies, there often was a clearly marked transition from child to adult around age 14. In modern societies, the need for more schooling often postpones this transition through high school years. The rules and standards derived from consistent parental coaching become internalized to a degree depending on the quality of the child's relationship (trust and consistency) with her parents.

The following paragraphs focus on James Fowler's stages of faith development for adolescents and beyond.

Fowler defined FAITH in his book, Faithful Change as: helping one develop beliefs, values, and meanings that provide "coherence and direction” to one's life. It helps a person share "trust and loyalties with others" and provides a foundation for relationships in which they develop viewpoints and commitments in relation to "a larger frame of reference" than they could develop alone. Faith has "the quality of ultimacy in their lives" which I interpret as a viewpoint that comes from some form of transcendent authority figure.(7)

An example that clarifies the definition of faith is a story about a parent teaching a child to swim. The child is taught to relax and follow the motions demonstrated by the parent. The parent convinces the child that she or he will be there to hold the child up if he is about to go under. Key to the whole process of teaching a child to swim are many past experiences that built trust or faith in the child that the parent will be there if needed.

Thus faith grows from past experiences that build trust, a trust that the novice can rely upon his parent, teacher, or community, and eventually a loving relationship with God.

Stages 1-3 are described in Fowler’s book and will not be described in more detail herein.

Fowler described his Stage 4. (Adolescence and Beyond) as: "new cognitive abilities" increasing the possibility that maturing adolescents will take the perspectives of others and work with "diverse self-images".(6) They improve management of their identities by building upon beliefs and values. An important part of identity management is seeking acceptance by peers.

Stage 5. (Young Adult and Beyond) In this stage they develop an ability to take the perspective of a third person who views a discussion between two others. This is an important step that relies on "critical reflection upon one’s beliefs and values", relying upon what Fowler calls: "utilizing third person perspective-taking." Understanding "self and others as part of a social system," internalizing an authority figure, and assuming responsibility are, in part, the result of critical thinking.(8) These traits are important for choosing ideologies and life-styles, and responsibilities in one’s career. (I discuss perspective taking at length, in the second half of this chapter.)

Stage 6. (Early Mid-Life and Beyond) People have the experiences to face the paradoxes and polarities in their lives and they are aware of the different perspectives that are involved. Many have the background to appreciate "Symbols and story, metaphor and myth" as ways to express complex realities.

Stage 7. (Mid-Life and Beyond) “Beyond paradox and polarities“, persons in this stage work at forming a relationship with the ultimate power or God. They can be passionate, yet detached in giving loving care and are "devoted to overcoming division, oppression and violence." They respond effectively to an "in-breaking commonwealth of love and justice."(8)

In sum, faith development is like climbing a "spiral staircase" to relationships with ever-broader perspectives or ideas wherein at the top of the staircase one develops a relationship with the transcendent, ultimate power in the universe. Some call this power the process of creation, or God, while others call it The Force, or by some other name. The power of the ultimate transcendent Force is so great that mere humans cannot imagine all the aspects of this power. Therefore, many humans anthropomorphize the Force as a God, using humankind as a model for conceptualizing God. In other words, we create God in the image of a King, Emperor, or other powerful being.

F. KEY STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADOLESCENTS

A primary preoccupation among adolescents is concern about clarifying identities and relationships (primarily for interactions within peer groups and with the opposite sex), but also ethnic identities, and student/career orientations that are related to new roles and future roles. Some are confused about managing their new roles.

Adolescents work at: developing a more coherent identity and at being accepted by selected others outside the home. They get involved with critical reflection on their own values and beliefs. This is a point where open communication using constructive feedback is helpful, either with parents and/or other role models. The teens need opportunities for such feedback as they begin to manage their identities.

Authority is internalized in terms of how parents, teachers, and others expect the adolescent to act. There is a start at making explicit choices of ideologies, worldviews and lifestyles. As issues they face become more complex, some adolescents become aware of many paradoxes and polarities in life. Our societal bent toward commercialism distorts much of the information about personal needs, how one should vote, and other choices, making it more difficult to develop strong identities that support a well-rounded character.

In this adolescent stage, young men who grow up in rural settings with few career opportunities and/or authoritarian settings are easily molded into patriots for a cause. This is so especially if they are cut off from the more pluralistic interactions and the types of media one finds in a cosmopolitan society. Anthony Giddens, in his recent book Runaway World wrote: "The battleground of the twenty-first century will pit fundamentalism against cosmopolitan tolerance."(9)

Fowler in Faithful Change, describing (Stage #4 - Adolescence and Beyond), wrote: "Personality, both as style and as substance, becomes a conscious issue. ...During this stage youths develop attachments to beliefs, values, and elements of personal style that link them in conforming relations with the most significant others among their peers, family and other adults".(10)

In adolescence they begin to become aware of how others might see them. This makes peer pressure an important consideration. They become concerned with internalizing authority and integrating beliefs, values, and commitments that strengthen identity and self worth.

Carol Gilligan(11) commented on the fact that research by Kohlberg (her colleague at Harvard) was not complete. Kohlberg overlooked the effects of gender on moral choices. She discovered that women perceive and interpret the moral situations used in Kohlberg's research, in ways that differ fundamentally from the interpretations of most men. Women tend to emphasize concern for the rights of persons, including their own rights, and try to balance these "over against the claims of the welfare of groups of persons for whom they feel responsible".(12) Men, on the other hand, tend to emphasize duties and obligations, and they emphasize an image and self-expectation of an increasingly autonomous moral actor. Are some men made more duty bound by military service?

Fowler mentioned that "Persons may reach chronological and biological adulthood while remaining best defined by structural stages of faith that would most commonly be associated with early or middle childhood or adolescence." (p. 57 in Faithful Change) I believe that some adults become arrested in this way, though not in all areas of their life. Scott Peck wrote about arrested ego development.(13) In areas of their lives wherein the stresses from uncertainty are excessive, some adults respond in ways that are similar to those in earlier stages of development. Note: this similarity does not necessarily mean that a particular adult will be arrested or regress to earlier stages of development in all areas of his life.

G. DIFFERENT STYLES OF THINKING

The stages of human development include considerations of the styles of thinking that range from simplistic dualistic thinking (such as two polar realities: good versus evil, right versus wrong, etc.) to polyvalent/continuum thinking which realizes that there are more than the two extreme realities. The latter style implies that there are gray areas between the extremes of black and white). Dualistic thinking plays an important part in responses to uncertainty that I discuss in many parts of this book.

Learning about the worldviews of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences broadens one's perspectives and helps one detect differences in the gray areas.

H. BUILDING WALLS PROVIDES SECURITY AGAINST DOUBT AND DIVERSITY

Persons who are not skilled in critical and analytical thinking get into habits of thought - thinking in the way they did when they were in adolescent stages of development. And/or they are influenced by the simplistic analyses seen on television, heard on many talk-radio programs, or read in popular books. Many persons seem to close off aspects of a complex worldview from their perceptions. They do this as a defense mechanism for reducing dissonance in their mental frameworks. Yet, many children can comprehend the perceptual complexity of the story about "The Blind Men and The Elephant."

As habits of thought become associated with other internalized patterns of thought, they becoming more difficult to change. We sometimes build the equivalent of Berlin Walls in our minds to protect ourselves from the stresses induced by relationships with others who have different interpretations of what is real. This metaphor of a security wall, or the closing of one's mind, is essential to our comprehending what underlies polarization of political actions and what can lead to single-issue politics. I define single-issue tactics such as anti-abortion stances in Section L of this chapter.

Some persons, attracted by single-issue approaches to politics, might be involved in a career that includes critical thinking and analytical thought processes. Eventually as the person matures, they might face and try to resolve contradictions in thought patterns related to open-minded approaches in their career, and simple, clear, and closed-minded thoughts in the areas of religion and politics. However, it is not easy to reduce the cognitive dissonance between habituated patterns and work on the job. That is why some build the equivalent of a Berlin Wall and do not work through the stress of building coherence and integrity into their thinking patterns. When the dissonance involves patterns related to politics and religion, habits often run deep and are more difficult to change.

Fowler mentioned that a number of men become arrested in their growth in interpersonal relations at an earlier stage of development than they apply toward professional job and career relationships.(p.63) Other writers mention how people bounce back and forth between stages. Note that Fowler wrote that growth is arrested in a particular area of life, interpersonal relations. I believe that more research is needed before Fowler's statement can be replaced with more specific ones. (See Ken Gergen's ideas about saturation, to which I refer in Section P - Level 6, below.)

Fowler,(14) explored the utility of his stages-of-faith-development paradigm for helping understand and project changes that sometimes occur in modern constructions of reality and of consciousness as we enter the postmodern transition. (The Postmodern Era has been defined, in part, as a transitionary era that emphasizes the existence of diverse worldviews and concepts of reality, rather than one "correct or true" view, interpretation, or worldview.) Fowler explored similarities between: 1) the crises that an adolescent passes through as she progresses from one stage of development to a higher one and 2) the changes in constructions of reality that a civilization passes through as the context of the times moves from one era to the next. Harvey Cox wrote that Erik Erikson mentioned similar ideas decades earlier.(15) Cox also mentioned that Freud called the gathering of strength for the next move, "regression in service of the ego". It is interesting to read Cox's description of what he called the New Reformation. He seems to have been close to the mark as we look at where the Christian religion is now growing most rapidly, in the Southern continents and in China.

An interesting view of changes in the teaching of the philosophy of social science that is a result of postmodern ideas is: Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science: A Multicultural Approach, by Brian Fay. It is a very good book that discusses many of the ideas in my E-book from an academic perspective aimed at undergraduates and grad students.

I. THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY

As a result of increasing technological complexity in many careers, and a more geographically mobile population, many Americans have lost the benefits of living in authentic communities. In authentic communities, each member of the community is familiar with the personalities of many other members and accepts their uniqueness and differences, and their strengths and weaknesses. In authentic communities, compromise and consensus are feasible responses for resolving differences of opinion because community members hold many perspectives in common. The private automobile, television and other forms of in-house entertainment have helped isolate some persons from more pluralistic supportive communities, though at the same time television provides some stories that can broaden perspectives.

Our emphasis on personal freedom and individual responsibility, as we manage our own personal affairs and interrelationships, has not fit well with the regulating and controlling systems imposed by business and government in Western societies. These emphases also do not fit well when they are imposed upon tribal-based systems of justice found in patriarchal communities in many third-world societies. These controlling systems guide and manage major social institutions such as: the economy, the polity, education, justice, and to some extent, the family. By using the term "institution", I am not referring to an organization such as a hospital or school. I use the term, in a sociological sense, to denote the sets of moral standards, values, traditions, and norms (expected behavior) that guide the behavior of people in a community or society.

Achieving a balance between such control on the one hand and individual freedom on the other hand, is still problematic, in large part, because some persons can handle and/or demand much more personal freedom than others can handle. (I discuss the related concept of justice in Chapter 4.)

To summarize, feelings of uncertainty and powerlessness have led some individuals to weaken their commitments: to community, to employer, to maintaining balances in our ecosystems, and/or to the democratic process in general. In a context of uncertainty, some people make their worldviews more rigid and close out thoughts and worldviews that differ from their own. They build Berlin Walls around their views to reduce the stresses generated when they become aware of persons who seem happy while having other perspectives. In addition, I have seen some young people who appear not to fully appreciate the degree of commitment that is required to develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of particularly useful traditions, rituals, ceremonies, metaphors and symbols. In those Western societies that are experiencing rapid change, many young people prefer to be free to change careers and not to be restricted by committed relationships. They desire speedy acceptance and understanding in new settings. Yet, such freedom decreases the kinds of mutual support they could receive from commitment to authentic communities. This is a dilemma people face in times of rapid social, economic, and political change. Young Muslim men especially face such dilemmas and when unemployment is high, they become susceptible to being accepted into terrorist gangs. In American cities, the equivalent is street gangs.

Community spirit and mutual support plays an important role in supporting actions by community members that includes foregiveness. A book and film describe how foregiveness works on the psychology of humans in such a supportive community and helps them to work for peace. The book entitled The Power of Foregiveness by Kenneth Briggs includes chapters on religion, health, justice, science and repairing divided countries, such as Northern Ireland, and S. Africa.

J. THE IMPORTANCE OF RELEVANT STORIES

In a diverse pluralistic society it is much more difficult for adolescents to find relevant role models, in real life and in stories (biographies, drama, and ballads). In the period from 1960 to 2005, an increasing number of children have grown up experiencing parental neglect in two-worker and single-parent households. They read less and watch television more. The traditional extended family is broken. Commercialized consumerism further confuses the development of authentic selves in authentic communities. TV exploits the concerns of adolescents to capture their attention mainly to sell them the sponsor's products rather than to build their character. The acceptance provided by wearing stylish apparel is a very superficial and inauthentic form of acceptance.

In this context, an important need among our youth is to be captivated by stories that are useful for building integrity. They, and adults also, need to share experiences with people from diverse backgrounds so that they will learn how to relate to others and become more tolerant.

Today's youths are searching and confused like soccer players who find themselves involved in a lacrosse game. How does one extract the essential parts of the other's life story and the other's life context? Caring and nurturing parents help considerably in such situations, yet the proportions of two-worker and single-parent households are increasing.

Schools can help by exposing students to stories that focus on diverse contexts, so that students can learn how to abstract the essences from different contexts. The September 2005 issue of Teaching Tolerance, published by The Southern Poverty Law Center outlined a new curriculum, including ten standards-based lesson plans. Letters from teachers on pages 12-29 summarize how in-class discussions can broaden the perspectives and sensitivities of children. Their website leads to other examples and provides much useful information.(16)

Churches can also help by focusing more on present-day stories and stories from the recent past, stories to which young people can relate. I believe that for many young persons, continuing to focus on pre-modern stories in the Bible is not as helpful as reading and hearing stories based on similar values, value conflicts, and messages that are relevant to young people in modern and postmodern contexts. God is not dead. God, and/or the idea of God, can still inspire present-day writers to do as well as the thinkers, scribes, and monks did 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.

We need literature that helps one relate to pre-modern, modern and postmodern characters. Walter Truett Anderson,(17) used Riesman's 50-year old classic The Lonely Crowd to describe categories that might help youth navigate among different tradition-directed, inner-directed and other-directed social aspects of characters. (I summarized these three types of character in the third section of this chapter.) These three types are what sociologists call "ideal types". In the real world, most persons are not just one or the other of the three. They are mixes of all three depending on how they perceive the social context of their immediate situation. We need stories that include interactions among a variety of character types. We need to develop a few more clearly defined ideal types, and mixes of ideal types. They would help writers create dramatic stories that communicate better, an appreciation of the variety of characters and relate that to their responses to problematic situations.

A good illustration of the impacts that epic stories can have upon young people are the effects that C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia had on so many young readers. I believe that reading those exciting adventure stories of struggles between the forces of good and evil show how virtue can win out in the end. Such stories lay the groundwork in the readers' minds for development of their religious faith later in life.

Epics, starting with the Greek Iliad and Odyssey, depended upon language and writing to describe the past of a people and provide a basis for exploring their future. Each epic story takes place in a specific context, and the context expands as the experiences and history of a people expands over time. As the contexts change, new epics are needed to help the people expand their consciousness. Biblical epics describe how the Jewish people were pressured by the prophets to expand their consciousness as the Jewish nation went through historical stages of conquering and being conquered. Eventually, in the New Testament the epics expanded to a more universal epic that did not limit commitment to tribe or city, but to all others. In a world that is shrinking, in terms of travel time, and when information flows faster, it becomes increasingly necessary to broaden perspectives, and appreciate the perspectives of other people.

Bishop John Shelby Spong, in The Sins of Scripture, was able to look backward in time through the Bible stories from the much broader perspective of our postmodern era. He could see the sins that are described in Bible stories and epics about the actions of the Hebrew and later the Christian people. At the time, people with tribal loyalties and justice systems did not view their actions as sinful, but the later prophets did view the sinful acts and tried to point their sinfulness out as Nathan did with King David. By looking back in time we can get a basis for a glimpse into the future. This is what we have to do to see how a world with increasingly broad perspectives can be guided to overcome the sins of narrow perspectives.

Once we have a variety of well-written stories and a framework for selecting which stories are most helpful to guide particular youth, then the schools could teach how to abstract the essence from these stories. Then young people could search for role models and contexts that are best suited to their own skills, talents, and aspirations.

Sections N - Q in Chapter 3, herein, discuss the use of stories in more detail.

K. LEARNING TO TAKE THE PERSPECTIVES OF OTHERS

The remainder of Chapter 1 explores how "levels of perspective taking" (an idea that James Fowler and others developed from Kohlberg's and Selman's work on moral development) helps us understand how we maintain: 1) trust among members of a community, and 2) faith in governance of our nation. These ideas help point the way to building consensus in political, and religious/moral areas of our lives, in the context of commitments to interpersonal relationships and to communities. Communities are important as the place where: one can work at developing a self-concept, share experiences with others, and learn how to take the perspectives of others. Community stories about challenges overcome in the past are important to help one learn how to manage one's own life as he/she progresses through the stages of development and contributes to the communities to which one is committed.

New work in the area of learning to take the perspectives of others is summarized in some web postings under The Learning History Project, at MIT, Directed by George Roth. The URL's for this project are listed in the Bibliography under Roth‘s name.

L. LEARNING HOW TO BE MORAL

Research into how moral standards are internalized by children, as they pass through cognitive-developmental stages, is summarized by Manstead.(18) He distinguished between two types of discipline or training that a child receives from parents. Here, we focus on how the child internalizes a moral standard. One type of discipline is power-assertive discipline which "... enhances an external orientation in which the main focus is on fear of detection and punishment." For example, "if you take that child's toy, I will have to punish you". The only norm that might be internalized in this example is for the child to try not to get caught.

An alternative form of discipline, one that is less authoritarian, is exemplified by the statement: "If you take that child's toy, you will be breaking the school's rules." Such training helps the child remember the rules, but still doesn't directly foster the internalization of a moral norm.

A second approach to discipline or child training is wherein the "... adult and child arrive at a shared meaning... (which) later serves as the basis for the child's construction of a moral norm...".(19) For example, the adult might ask: "… where the child got the toy, whether the child found it, whether it belongs to another child, what it means to take a toy belonging to another child, and what the child thinks the other child feels. The idea here is that the adults speech builds on the child's response to each question and thereby has a better chance of creating a shared meaning of the situation." Such shared meanings help the child to take the perspective of the other and develop and internalize a moral norm that can be used by the child to regulate his behavior in the future.

The teaching of values in public schools is not a straight-forward process. Yet, it is essential that children growing up in diverse societies learn that there are alternative paths to a good society. Hopefully people will work together to develop effective approaches to bridge the gap.

Levels of perspective taking and moral development can be taught in school. See for example, a book by Reimer et al, listed in my Bibliography, and entitled Promoting Moral Growth. This book was written during the time when some teachers tried to teach Values Clarification in the public schools. Some parents opposed this effort, in part, because the teaching examples seemed to question and thus weaken particular values that those parents thought to be most important.

In the campaign for electing a President in November 2004, I remember encountering disagreements between the Republican and Democratic approach to ranking Universal Values. This problem is compounded when some groups select a particular value to focus upon as a basis for evaluating the worldviews of candidates in terms of voting behavior with the aim of seeking to win control in legislative bodies. This political tactic is called single-issue politics and contributes to extremes of polarization in legislative bodies, thus destroying the principles of consensus-building and compromise that are so essential for a working democracy. How can a democracy flourish in a complex globalizing world environment when legislators are elected on the basis of their views about a single issue such as abortion?

The foregoing points out that teaching of values in public schools is not a straight-forward process. Yet, it is essential that children growing up in diverse societies learn about values and that there is more than one mix of values that leads to a good society. Hopefully people will work together to develop effective approaches to teaching about values.

M. MORAL DEVELOPMENT IS A PROCESS THAT INCLUDES SEVERAL LEVELS OF PERSPECTIVE TAKING

Moral development is a life-long process that is, in part, dependent upon stages of cognitive development. But moral development also depends upon taking the perspective of other persons. Successively higher stages or levels of Perspective Taking are the key to understanding the value priorities of those at the higher stages of moral and faith development. Persons who exemplified use of higher levels of perspective taking are: Gandhi, Ghaffar Khan (described in Chapter 4), Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela.

Fowler wrote that as the child gradually progresses through the stages of development, "... taking of the perspectives of others widens to the point where persons best described by the Universalizing stage have completed that process of decentering from (concern for) self". (I added the bracketed term.)(20)

Selman used the term role-taking (closely related to perspective taking) to define four stages or levels of perspective taking.

Scott Peck described an example of a University President who "was simultaneously conscious of the self, conscious of the other, and conscious of the organization."(21) Habermas discussed stages of moral development in a broader context, and referred to Kohlberg, Selman and Gilligan's work.(22)

The following is a list of questions to keep in mind when considering levels of perspective taking that are presented in Section P of this chapter.

a. When considering levels of perspective taking listed in Section P below, consider how an "individual" in her contextual situation or environment relates to an "other" who has a very different context and environment (political, social and/or economic environment)?

b. Considering that it is stressful when persons get involved beyond the bounds of the communities to which they are committed, how much time and information is needed for the more stressful task of becoming involved with even one global concern? Relevant here is the classical Greek drama Antigone, written by Sophocles. The story presents the conflict between a person with commitments at a tribal level, symbolized by Antigone, and a person with commitments at a city level, symbolized by King Creon. This conflict is discussed by Harvey Cox.(23)

c. Do all people need clear limits and bounds for the communities to which they are committed?

d. The context of relationships in which a person is situated affects how she responds in negotiative processes. How does one's level of perspective taking affect negotiative processes?

I highly recommend reading Diana Eck's book Encountering God which talks about perspective taking from a different, but very helpful, point of view.

I discovered the work of Clare W. Graves after developing the early chapters of this E-book. In some ways his quest is similar to my idea of a hardwired quest for relationship with the Ultimate Caring Other, though his approach was quite different from mine. I discuss his system in Chapter 5, at the end of Section H. A good source of quotes from his writing is The Never Ending Quest. Quotes are accessible at: Graves.

N. FROM SUBJECTIVE INVISIBLE SELF TO OBJECTIVE VISIBLE SELF

It becomes easier to take the perspectives of other persons if we know 'where they are coming from', if we are familiar with them and have relations with them. Walter T. Anderson discussed the opening of the self to others(20) and summarized, work published by Robert Kegan of Harvard. Anderson wrote that the idea of "Self" becomes an object to be managed as one forms an identity. The self is presented to others to form an impression. The self is no longer merely something that is private and personal. In a way we mature by viewing "thoughts, ideas, and feelings that had previously been invisible" and were thought to be "inviolable realities". Once we view ourselves from the perspectives of others, we can "compare our ideas of self to other thoughts, ideas, and feelings that we might choose to have in their place..." In this way, we reorganize the self and our worldview in significant ways.(24)

O. GLOBALIZATION OF COMMUNICATION

Globalization of communication coupled with an increase in freedom to listen to global radio, television and/or the worldwide web is an important consideration that affects levels of perspective taking. Improved and expanded communication will expand perspectives in that part of the world population that is exposed to events and life experiences around the world. Many are concerned about the increases in exploitation as the globalization of corporations increases. I discuss this, referring to the work of Benjamin Barber in Chapter 5.

Discussions of diverse perspectives should include a reminder that the scale of one's perspective varies according to many considerations, such as: personal identity, career specialty (mechanic, nurse, physician, city planner, policeman, competitive athlete, CEO, president), mother, father, and so on. Career specialties or "roles" should be considered within a context of commitments. Contexts of commitments can vary in scale from that of a street gang to the global, multicultural scale of a United Nations representative.

One's perspectives will also vary depending upon past experiences of the beholder. Experience includes book knowledge as well as what one learns from interactions, shared experiences, and relationships with persons from other cultures. Throughout their lives persons continually develop a mental framework of ideas, beliefs, facts, vocabulary, and so on. In my case, when I read an analytical or theoretical book about different cultures, historical trends, and the like, I underline important concepts. As my mental framework or filing system changes and expands, I find that I had glossed over some important ideas upon first reading, because I lacked a way to relate them in my mental framework. Persons lacking sociological, political science, and historical frameworks, in many cases, quickly get bored with discussions that require a broad framework, unless they have one outlined for them by the speaker.

For example, consider an expert, knowledgeable about political history, world affairs, and political science, writing about democracy and foreign policy. Many readers will lack the depth of sociological, political, and historical details to comprehend some of the ideas about which he has written. Sometimes writers overlook the need to describe relationships among the components of perspectives, personal identity and commitments, the levels and breadth of experience and knowledge, relationships to other people, and the perspectives of these others. For example, how does a worldly person speak to and relate to a street gang member? What if the gang member is his son?

Another example is the following. David Ricardo's economic theory of comparative advantage leads one to believe that if there is free trade, that all will benefit from lower prices if each country produces those products which they can produce at lower costs than other potential competitors. This is a narrow argument that ignores the fact that to achieve a lower cost, a country in Central America or Asia might lower their relative cost by exploiting low skill employees who work at low wages. Evaluation of such policies according to broader perspectives that include human rights and concern about morality might lead to the conclusion that the workers are still exploited. Even if the low pay of workers is higher than the average wage in the developing country, one must also consider the aspirations of the workers in industrialized nations who are exposed via television to a high standard of living. If jobs move overseas, some workers in the industrialized nations will either lose their jobs, or have to work for lower pay. How does one balance the moral issues between the rich and poor nations? There are many such "externalities" that should be brought into these evaluations.

An important consideration related to mental frameworks is that humans can easily become enamored with power, which according to Lord Action tends to corrupt. Eventually, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." We must not forget that one way our young nation tried to counter this trend was by a system of checks and balances. Checks and balances are essential to help manage and integrate the many components of conceptual frameworks that get caught up in struggles for power.(25)

P. EIGHT LEVELS OF PERSPECTIVE TAKING

In the foregoing section, I mentioned the dependence of perspectives upon relationships. Perspectives are broadened as we establish relationships with people who have broader perspectives. We learn from how they see the world, and how they see us. We rely upon empathy to test our understanding of the other as we strengthen these relationships. Empathy is an innate trait that almost everyone uses to "understand and respond to the unique experiences of another." This quote comes from page 4 of the book: The Power of Empathy by Ciaramicoli and Ketcham. Their book describes many examples of the use of empathy.

I propose expanding the levels of perspective taking to eight tiers. The idea of levels of perspective taking is influenced by stages of cognitive development at the lower levels of perspective taking.

1. The first level of perspective taking occurs during "the terrible twos" when one becomes aware of one's self as a unique individual. This unique individual can react to events in his or her surroundings to satisfy personal needs such as hunger and building a trustworthy relationship with his or her caring other, (a mother, for example).

2. A second level is learning to take the perspective of another person, with whom one has a relationship. The self can influence the other person for three purposes:

a) One’s own gain,

b) Another's gain, and

c) Strengthening a trustworthy relationship between the other and self.

3. A third level is that of a third person who is watching the interaction of two other persons. An example is two siblings imagining how their mom might view their interaction. They might stop a quarrel between themselves to please their mother. Important to learning to take the perspective of others is the concept of "TRUST". Perspective taking, when coupled with sincere and authentic caring for the other, is an essential requirement for building trust among members of a family, a group outside the family, or a community.

4. A fourth level is that of the family which includes siblings, mom, and dad. An example would be action that serves to maintain the good image of the family within the community or neighborhood. Families took care of their preschool children and elderly members at home in the past. Nowadays, we have Day-Care centers, representative of new institutions developing around the need to serve a specific family concern of caring for preschool children or caring for a live-alone grandmother while the woman of the house is at work away from home. The concept of Honor that is emphasized in many Muslim societies today falls into this category. The honor of the family is sensitive to the social behavior of children, parents, and other extended family members. Honor is discussed in detail in Section L of my Chapter 3. In Section K of Chapter 3, I also answer the question: "Why Do They Hate Us?" Answers to this question involve several important differences in perspectives. For a detailed view see also Why Do People Hate America?, a book by Sardar and Davies, that was an international best seller.

A close circle of friends also functions at this level. An excellent example is the "Inklings", a group of literary friends at Oxford University in which C. S. Lewis was involved. Colin Duriez has written an article about the “Inklings” entitled: The Way of Friendship, wherein he wrote that friends provide "other vantage points" or perspectives "from which to view the world." "Each friend opens up reality in different ways." In such a group, "…the process of opening up reality was richly interactive, a constantly moving play of light." " Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth … each bringing out all that is best, wisest, or funniest in all the others." (from page 38 in Issue 88, Fall 2005 of Christian History and Biography)

5. The fifth level of perspective taking is one wherein the working of a community as a whole is of concern. For example: "What can I do to help the image of my high school, my church parish, my town?" I might help keep a good community team spirit and not bully the other community's ball team. I might help keep the grounds clean and attractive, and so on".

6. A sixth level is that in which people show concern for the well being of the nation or state and their institutions. An example would be a person who joins a voter registration effort and votes in all elections. NOTE: The writings of Walter Wink are relevant here and I discuss his topic, the spiritual aspects of institutions, later in this section.

Actions based upon this level of perspective taking go beyond contributing toward the building of mutual trust within the community. This next phase of trust development, I would call "FAITH" in one's nation. Patriotism falls in this level. For example, loyalty to one's city and concern about how newcomers and tourists view the city requires taking their perspective and the perspectives of city government officials.

In the Preface to Kenneth J. Gergen's, 1991 book, The Saturated Self - Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, Gergen discussed how communication and transportation technology have exposed us to a

"barrage of social stimulation that is relevant at this level of perspective-taking. Small and enduring communities, with a limited cast of significant others, are being replaced by a vast and ever-expanding array of significant others."

7. The seventh level is that of concern for our planet. Environmentalists often show this concern. The number of international organizations is increasing rapidly in this era of globalization. Institutions, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, develop as experience shows what works and what doesn't work at this level of concern.

I recently came across very relevant work in a book entitled: The Sins of Scripture by John Shelby Spong (2005). I found that he described the expansion of consciousness that was influenced by the teachings of Hosea, Amos, and the life of Jesus. On page 293, Spong wrote that God is the "ultimate consciousness in which our own consciousness participates and is a part." A few other short quotes from Spong follow.

From: page 294 (last line). God "was growing with the expanded consciousness of the people." From: page 296. "Tribal divisions come out of limited consciousness. A universal sense of what it means to be human is a gigantic step into something quite new, an expanded consciousness."

At this point, I believe that it is important to insert an important concern. That is that leaders of a global corporation do not necessarily function on the basis of a broad global perspective. Consider the kinds of tribal-scale perspectives one finds among leaders of Halliburton in its operations in Iraq and elsewhere, or consider those of the former Enron Corporation. I consider that their commitments were no different from those of a tribal chief or cleric who has his men kill because the tribe was dishonored by occupation of its land.

In our globalizing world with instant communication, systems of justice must expand to consider and control such sinful examples. This is a concern for President Bush who seems to realize that the World Court is striving in this direction and might put him on trial as Milosevic was put on trial. The Environmental Impact process for approval of large construction projects is one example of government trying to guarantee justice by reducing impacts on the environment. However there are many other areas where protection from impacts is desirable and necessary, but governments are unable to regulate the large corporations and/or local war lords.

Unfortunately, the old time religions did not consider global justice and impacts of global scale in clear and simple terms.

8. An eighth level is based upon the word "consciousness" as used by John Spong. It is similar in meaning to how I use the term "perspective". The term "Ultimate Consciousness" then, is equivalent to an eighth level of perspective taking, and as I see it, implies a relationship to the God within. Therefore this 8th level might also be called a "Godly Perspective". I discuss the topic of the God within in greater detail in Chapter 2, Section H, herein.

On page 290, Spong wrote: "The experience of Jesus meant ... that human life was not bounded and that God was not external. We human beings enter God and life simultaneously the moment we step beyond our fears and become free." ... "One cannot limit God to that sense of holiness we meet only inside the boundaries of tribal worship." That is idolatry. "Tribal divisions come out of limited consciousness."

Spong seems to be saying that some of those with perspectives expanded beyond tribal perspectives in this modern era are now global humans and no longer are there limits to their identities and perspectives, or as he says - consciousness, and security boundaries.

In the beginning of this Chapter, I provided an indication of the age at which a maturing child might advance from one level of cognitive development to the next higher one. However, when a person passes the age of about 15 years, his level of perspective taking can vary independent of his stage of cognitive development. Levels of perspective taking may differ among levels three or higher depending upon the situation. In times of a world war, one many might give highest priority to levels 4, 5, or 6. For example, if ones neighborhood got extensive bomb damage, level 5 might get top priority. Otherwise level 6 might get top priority. Level 4 might take precedence if an only son is the sole means of support for his family on the farm; in which case, as in World War II, the son got a deferment from military service.

In the foregoing, it is important to realize that some adults are primarily devoted and committed to their spouse and family, and at the same time, they are committed to their close-knit community at work, in their neighborhood, and/or religious community. Many have little experience or time for concerns focused at higher levels. If there is an ultimate consciousness it is likely to be simplified to a fatherly, anthropomorphic view of God. See Section H of Chapter 2 herein.

The following presents an example of how persons relate to organizations and take the perspective of an organization. When I worked with city government, I occasionally encountered citizens who thought that when they spoke to any city employee, be she a secretary in the personnel department, a clerk in the property-records section, or draftsman in the planning department, they would get their question answered. In some respects, they anthropomorphized the organization to be represented by the person to whom they were speaking and some would vent their rage at that person.(26)

Many citizens, when dealing with complex organizations, seemed to be unaware of how to find the staff person that was cognizant of the subject area wherein their concern should be relevant. I believe that such citizens had great difficulty in taking the perspective on level 5 or higher. I must admit that many times the city staff to whom they were speaking also could not take the perspective of the cognizant department. They lacked the information and/or experience to guide the person to the correct employee who could respond to the problem.

I believe that Walter Wink, in his book, The Powers That Be is close to the ideas that I have been discussing in the last two paragraphs. He discusses the spiritual side of institutions and large organizations, such as IBM and General Motors. I interpret what Wink wrote on page 25 about angels and principalities in the Bible, as indicating that people in biblical times anthropomorphized the unseen powers in powerful organizations, (the corporate culture or collective personality) calling them angels or demons. On page 5 he wrote: " ...the angel of an institution is "the bearer of that institution's divine vocation." "Corporations and governments are "creatures" whose sole purpose is to serve the general welfare. And when they refuse to do so, their spirituality becomes diseased. They become demonic."

Biblical writers did not use the sociological term - institution, or the corporate terms of Board of Directors and CEO's. However, Wink does relate these terms to the angels and demons one finds in the Old and New Testaments. In the Bible, angels were represented by good leaders and institutions, both of which placed high value on the Golden Rule. On the other hand the Roman leaders were examples of demons that were dominated by self-concern and what today we call the bottom line. My Chapter 2 continues discussions related to Walter Wink's ideas and those of Marcus Borg in Section I on Spirituality. In subsequent chapters, I bring in Emmanuel Todd's ideas of the stress and violence that throughout history seem to appear as culture transitions from pre-industrial patriarchal cultures within which one constructs one's personal identities and systems of belief, to post-industrial and information cultures. Such transitions were occurring in biblical times as nomads and agricultural people moved to cities to become traders and craftsmen. Jesus lived during such a transition and The Prophet Muhammad lived through a somewhat similar transition. Religious and political institutions were going through transitions that forced some people to reorder their commitments.

Q. PERSPECTIVE TAKING IS ESSENTIAL TO RESOLVE CONFLICTS

Consider how higher levels of perspective taking can help resolve conflicts between ethno-religious groups within a nation or a region of nations. Perspective taking implies learning enough about diverse others to realize that they are also human, and that these others have much in common with their potential oppressors. Higher levels of perspective taking enable persons to view the perspectives of the two opposing groups and work at mediating their differences by helping persons in the two groups appreciate each other's perspectives. This higher level of perspective taking also includes appreciating differences among the governing, religious, and judicial organizations. Higher levels of perspective taking enable people to have a more transcendent overview of the whole conflict and make it possible to build bridges that can overcome the differences without violating traditions that are held sacred by the various groups involved.

These higher levels of perspective taking are key elements in the idea of building "genuine communities" as defined by M. Scott Peck.(27) Stephen Carter, in his book Civility(28) touches on some of the same ideas that Scott Peck wrote about in his later books. Peck and Carter approach the topic from different perspectives (psychological and legal respectively).

Perspective taking is the subject of recent research summarized in a book edited by Malle, Bertram F. Malle and Sara D. Hodges, Sara D. Other Minds - How Humans Bridge the Divide Between Self and Others, published in 2005. Several of the chapters shed light on how perspective taking develops with age.

R. INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

When two people interact in a relationship, their relative positions in the social structure influence how they interact. For example, if a worker and his supervisor are discussing a problem, their working out a solution will probably be easier if they both went to the same high school and are both in the same social class. If the boss has a Ph.D. and years of technical experience, his view is likely to dominate the decision about how to solve the problem, whether or not he speaks out. Differences in educational background and experience make it more difficult to comprehend perspectives of the other. Similarly ethno-religious differences can complicate learning the perspectives of diverse others.

In general terms, the social status or position in the social structure of each person in a relationship influences how each views the other. Sometimes biases are built into a social structure and these slant expectations of job performance. On the other hand, if a person performs well, even though he or she has low status in the social structure because of race, gender, education, or a mix of the two, he/she may gain the respect of other work team members. Bias can be moderated when persons with opposing views share challenging experiences and overcome them together.

Civil rights legislation opened doors for Afro-Americans to dispel co-worker attitudes such as: Afro-Americans could not handle complex jobs. Afro-Americans who got advanced degrees or otherwise proved their capabilities helped to weaken social structure biases that were used to restrict the career advancement of Afro-Americans. Now, there are more working situations than before integration, wherein Afro-Americans are treated more often as equals and their social interactions with Whites occur on a more equal footing. Those workers, who have achieved high respect and status, provide role models that raise the hopes of others that they too have a better chance for advancing in their careers. However, we still have a long way to go to extend this opening of doors to a large majority of Afro-Americans and other people of color.

I recently encountered a book by Francis Hesselbein, et al. The ideas and human values that underlie that book are, in many ways, congruent to those that underlie my book. We both are concerned with helping people adapt to rapid socio-cultural change. Though the contexts differ, there is significant overlap.(29)

Some web postings that describe how "learning organizations" can adapt to change, and that summarize the classic work by Peter Senge on that topic are mentioned Section R in Chapter 4. In section L of that Chapter, I describe the concepts of social capital and creative communities that enable one to reorient traditional theories of economic development to emphasize strengthening institutions and networks. To facilitate development we need to guide communities that function on century-old traditions, to change from authoritarian, patriarchal, and hierarchical forms of governance, wherein trust is limited to the scale of kinship and small tribal networks and traditions. We need to help them change to forms wherein mutual trust is also based on commitment to pluralistic communities based upon a common profession, occupation, interest in art and/or music, and mixes of these areas of common interest. These are the sources of social capital that enable the creativity, economic development and civic involvement that are so essential for democratic forms of governance.

S. CONCLUSIONS

A number of important considerations related to one’s position in the social structure and membership in particular communities must be considered when developing programs to increase levels of perspective taking. Success in such endeavors depends upon involvement in coordinated programs of shared experiences and shared stories about situations wherein differences in background are proven to be helpful, and biases are proven to be untrue.

If half of the American population has inadequate experience and education in literacy, it is important for the electronic media to help fill the gap with dramatic presentations that have moral messages. Sadly the market mentality has brought some of our media down to the sub high school level. Many of those who should take the lead in regaining the quality of our educational institutions, primarily parents and governmental officials, appear to lack the commitment and courage to take this need by the horns. Symbols, Framing, and Memes (defined in Section I in the next chapter), such as "No Child Left Behind", pay off at election time, but they are not programs that take the bull by the horns and counteract excesses of the market mentality. Where are our cowboy spirits of old?

A. INTRODUCTION

This chapter examines characteristics of individuals and of societal institutions that are affected by conscious and unconscious needs, desires, and fears. Differences in these characteristics contribute toward the closing of minds, which in turn contribute to polarization. Sociologists define institutions as the norms (expected behaviors), values, traditions, practices, doctrines, stories, rituals, tools, and roles that guide human actions in the religious, political, economic, social, and other realms. Religious institutions throughout history have been the source of basic and universal values and mores that guide the actions of all human beings. In general, religion has been the institution that plays the most important role in teaching and providing learning experiences that develop moral behavior among individuals and in the community. However, religion cannot succeed without the care and nurture provided by family traditions rooted in that societal institution called - the family. I describe approaches to religious traditions, styles of worship, and variations in constructions of reality as providing the social context and conceptual framework for religious, political, and economic phenomena. Many persons are more familiar with aspects of religion as an institution of society than they are familiar with aspects of political and economic ideologies (belief systems) and the institutions through which these ideologies are implemented. However, political/economic belief systems, such as socialism, corporate capitalism, and "free-market" economies, are particular types of institutions that are equally, if not more influential than religion in some postmodern societies.

I provide examples of how one might discover her or his unconscious needs, and how they can influence conscious emotions without the person being aware of why such strong emotions can come on so quickly. Such emotions influence how one manages his or her personal identity and thus they can play a role in polarizing a group of persons discussing an issue that arouses these unconscious needs, desires and fears. I discuss identity crises as people transition from one stage of development to the next. Similarly, societies pass through crises as their culture makes significant changes to adapt to new conditions.

I summarize characteristics of the Boomer Generation, a large population cluster that is now mature in their careers and includes leaders in civic and business enterprises. Many Boomers will soon be retiring from the work force. I explore how the contexts of their lives have been influenced by changes in the interrelationships among traditions, practices, doctrines, stories and rituals, whether political, civic, or religious.

Recent publications in the field of psychology and sociology help us to understand better, these personal and societal crises. They also help us relate psychological concepts to politico-economic ideologies and to theology in ways that can increase our knowledge and the credibility of ideas associated with these various institutions. I explore variations: in beliefs, perceptions of political and religious leaders, and images of God that are derived from religious experiences, stories and doctrines.

When the institutions of religion and politics interact with each other, religious values and doctrines are sometimes misused to serve the narrow political needs of particular groups in a society. In such situations, the foundations of many institutions of the society become seriously compromised. Charles Kimball wrote about discerning when religion is used to justify evil acts in his book, When Religion Becomes Evil.

An important key to this chapter is an emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Human beings are social creatures and interpersonal relations are an important part of supportive communities. Relations with others and being accepted into a supportive community is important, especially for persons transitioning from one community to another, such as from family to a teen peer group (e.g. a sorority, or a gang). How one manages his or her identity is a key to being accepted into desired membership in a community. Thus, I discuss personal and societal identity crises. As globalization impinges on traditionally tribal cultures, the need for societal transitions in commitments and identities becomes a most stressful impact.

As one climbs the "spiral staircase" of relationship within supportive communities, the ultimate goal is the quest for a relationship with the ultimate transcendent power - God. Thus, I discuss differing images of God and how the primary images of the transcendent or of God slowly change through millennia, as described in the work of Marcus Borg, Karen Armstrong, Bishop John Spong, and others. I describe how stories play an important part in spirituality and development of one's faith. The unconscious and conscious memories from our youth are involved here.

My aim here is to guide adults in discussing the concepts herein and in applying them to their everyday lives so that they can understand better, the vitality of faith in their chosen political ideology and political party, and in their religious community.

I end with a discussion of the importance of critical thinking skills and some differences in approaches of the three monotheistic faiths to critical thinking. These differences play an important part in East - West relations as we enter the new millennium.

B. DISCUSSIONS SOMETIMES END IN POLARIZATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS

Why do some "true believers" become overly emotional when they encounter someone who does not believe as they do? Why do those who have more balanced views of their religious faith do likewise? It appears that true believers close their minds and can not listen actively to those who follow an alternative version of faith. Believers sometimes feel threatened if they hear a moderate, mature and seemingly normal person describe, with confidence, that there are different interpretations of political or religious beliefs and/or doctrines. Some believe that their own understandings are the only right ones and they rely on, or quote, selected verses from the Bible or the "party-line" of one's political party to prove their point. Often a cleric has convinced a true believer that the selected verses are the only truth because they are in the Bible or Qur’an, and "come from God".

When true believers encounter a different interpretation, it creates doubt in their minds and some must belittle the others to preserve their beliefs. Such encounters are stressful, especially for those who have a low tolerance for ambiguity and close their minds to reduce the stresses of doubt.

During discussions about people who seem to have strong limits to the scope of their perspectives, a metaphor that arose was - "these people act as though they were in a box". Generally people who use this metaphor imply that those on the far right seem to be in such boxes. However, I have met so-called liberals who have broader perspectives and believe that they are not in a box. In other words, each group cannot stomach discussion with the other. They are just in a different box. It is important to realize that under certain conditions people in each of these boxes can have a good life and work for peace at the level of their own perspective.

Recent research published in the American Sociological Review and accessible at: http://www.asanet.org/page.ww?section=Press&name=circle+of+friends) describes how the circle of friends is shrinking for Americans. This idea provides one explanation why broadening perspectives has become so difficult for Americans. A solution to this problem is provided by the idea of social capital described by Robert Putnam in his book: Bowling Alone. I describe social capital in Section L, in Chapter 4.

I believe that the increasing isolation is why many people are attracted to the mega-churches that thrive on supporting many small groups each of which connects people around topics of common interest. Isolated people need opportunities to build relationships with others in settings that broaden perspectives. This is what social capital provides. Small groups in mega-churches can help broaden religious perspectives, if that need is included in their organization. It appears to me that they often reduce the isolation, but strengthen the "Berlin Walls" that limit exposure to diverse perspectives instead of breaking down these walls.

C. UNCONSCIOUS NEEDS

I believe that fear causes some people to become deeply emotional when discussing their religious beliefs and/or political ideologies with another person who holds a different view. The fear is aroused by deep unconscious needs related to the foundation of one's faith. For example, they fear that their image of God and understanding of salvation will be cast into doubt. To help understand how an unconscious need may affect one’s mood, consider the following example.

A friend and I had a recent discussion after an adult Sunday school class. We discovered that on occasion, we both had tears come to our eyes and were filled with emotion when we viewed, a film wherein a main character received public recognition and/or acceptance by a group of people for an accomplishment that served the community. In some cases, it marked the conclusion of a long personal struggle such as winning a prize for overcoming a physical handicap, or saving the life of a child who could not swim and fell into water over her head. I could not explain why the tears and sobs came, but it appears that I had an unconscious need - to be recognized, appreciated, and/or accepted. Others have deep unconscious needs to be free from certain types of obligations or commitments. In either case, such needs influence how we manage our personal identities.

D. PERSONAL IDENTITY CRISES

Specialists in the psychology of human development such as Erik Erikson, and James Fowler have described stages of development that were summarized in my first chapter. Many of us pass through crises as we transition from one stage of development to the next. Underlying these crises is the concept of personal identity. As one develops he or she must learn to manage new identities that he or she presents to the world. Even changing roles from being a supervisor at work to a dad at home can be stressful. The following are examples of statements by children beginning to form their identities and by adults changing from one role to another. "I am no longer a baby, I can do it my self." "All the other kids drive a car, why can't I?" "I am now a parent, a spouse, I am an insurance salesman, I am a church deacon, and I am a son who cares for his elderly mother." The many components or markers of a person’s identity become difficult to manage because each of the identity-markers takes time and nowadays time is limited. When I would come home after a day's work as a research engineer, and my children would meet me at the door eager to tell me what happened in their day, it took time for me to switch channels in my brain and take on the identity of a Dad. Working Moms have similar problems managing multiple identities.

Realizing the nature of unconscious needs helps explain a variety of commitments that individuals make during their lifetimes. These commitments are often tied to memories and needs that lie buried in their unconscious. For example, consider a person who grows up as a racial or religious minority and faces prejudice and discrimination as he passes through the adolescent identity crisis or a later one. I know a number of men, from Mediterranean or Afro-American racial backgrounds, who were attracted to and/or had married blonde American women to strengthen their acceptance into the American mainstream and their personal and family identities. Often, they were not aware of this subconscious desire.

Another example is that of a man born and raised as a Muslim by a strict, authoritarian father. Coming of age in America this person converted to Christianity. To strengthen and accentuate this new component of his identity, he immersed himself in a fundamentalist evangelical congregation. The discrimination he encountered when others viewed him as a Muslim, or a minority, had decreased. After his transition to a fundamentalist Christian version of faith, he had a new simple and clear identity that he no longer was ashamed to present to the public. To reduce any vestige of discrimination as a Muslim minority in America, especially after the tragic event of 9-11, he would tell the story of his life change. He accentuated a negative view of Islam to further weaken any vestiges of his former Muslim identity by distorting his description of the Islamic path to salvation.

There are many men who joined the Marines as another way to strengthen their identity and be accepted as a patriotic American.

E. SOCIETAL TRANSITION CRISES

Harvey Cox on page 194 in Religion and the Secular City included the following remark by Erikson.

(Erikson) " once remarked that the anguish a civilization suffers as it moves from one era to the next is not unlike that of a person negotiating a new stage of the life cycle, say from adolescence to young adulthood, or from middle to late adulthood."

James Fowler in Faithful Change and Emmanuel Todd in After the Empire both applied the models of personal identity crises to the transitions of whole cultures and societies from pre-modern to industrial and then to postmodern stages of development. Such transitions often involve violence and large segments of a society's population often regress to more simple forms of political ideology and religious faith to weather the storms of such transitions.

An example that extends from the personal level of transition crises to the societal level is the following. When I taught on a college campus during the riots of the 1960's, a student complained to me that his grandparents had come to America as immigrants from Europe and worked hard to put all their children through college. With a college degree his dad had become an engineer and achieved a higher status than that of the student's immigrant grandfather. Now his parents wanted him, similarly, to reach a higher status position than theirs by getting a Masters Degree and a good professional job. However, by the late 1960's some students in this position found that there was much less room at the top and they rebelled against the more difficult expectation of "doing better" than their parents. I believe that this crisis in personal identity management, felt by many frustrated college-age youth contributed to some of the violent acts during the societal transition of the 1960's. The Vietnam War, of course, was also a factor.

We have seen similar unrest and violence during the past few decades as America passed through the postmodern transition and became the world's most powerful empire. As our world becomes more complex, many persons have difficulties in adapting to the many rapid changes in cultural traditions. Politicians also seem to have trouble adapting. Some try to tap the frustrations of voters by selecting single issues such as abortion or gay rights to simplify politics and gain supporters among voters who also are stressed by change. In 2006, with a mid-term election coming, I did not see much innovation and exploring of new perspectives and policy platforms. Those who regress to simpler strategies seem to rely upon regressive approaches to religious faith and to politics. Eventually, some of these people will find that a simple, dogmatic, and selective interpretation of the world affairs and/or religion will prove inadequate in these complex times. I see this trend starting as we approach the 2008 Presidential election.

F. THE BOOMER GENERATION

Persons of the Boomer generation (roughly those born in the late 1940’s and 1950’s) are reaching a stage in their life cycle wherein many of them are searching for meaningful spiritual paths and are using an increased knowledge of psychology to assist them. Their quests are forcing changes in their approaches to religion and in how they relate to transcendent forces encountered by participation in activities found in churches, synagogues, mosques, and in other religious and secular traditions. These changes impact ceremony, practices, tradition, dogma, programs, music, and the design of sanctuaries and buildings. The Boomer generation has been influenced significantly by the anti-establishment rebellion of the 1960's and the relative decline in the proportion of creative and constructive television shows, as entertaining shows increase. Many seem to be sensitive to a broader mix of sensual inputs that now include new visual presentations, music with loud rhythmic beats, dance performances, and drama. To what extent do these new inputs to church services distract church goers from the boredom of traditions that no longer seem relevant? In the economic realm, commercial interests, aiming to captivate customers who will buy their products, have used television to exploit sex drives and the adolescent's need to fit in with others.

Boomers have developed a style of loose commitment to help them navigate across the divide between the modern era and the postmodern transition. This style has weakened the impacts of traditional ways of relating to each other and to the transcendent forces that have underpinned morality in the past.

(Note: More is said, in a subsequent section on Spirituality, about the importance of commitment in generating within each person, a set of meaningful practices, stories, symbols, and metaphors from the ambient culture and religion that are essential for developing the spiritual aspects of faith.)

Information on the foregoing trends is useful for examining why there are significant differences in membership growth rates among different religious congregations, often within the same denomination. Tradition-bound congregations from older mainline denominations have not been growing as fast as evangelical, fundamentalist, orthodox, and more emotionally involved congregations. I view this trend, in part, as largely a retreat from the complexities of modern-urban societies to simpler, more doctrinaire, approaches to faith and to managing one’s identities.

Mainline congregations must become more relevant to people in the 21st century and build new foundations for tuning-in to the transcendent, underpinning morality, and maintaining a strong identity while navigating a changed economy that includes job loss. The alternative is to continue languishing on the vine. (The same holds true for political communities and parties.) Relevance must include making content more meaningful to the context of life today. Merely changing Sunday services by adding the audio and visual aspects without changes in interpretation of outdated trasitional ideas has not helped tradition-bound churches to attract young people.

I refer to this problem again in a later section of this chapter.

G. VARIATIONS IN BELIEFS, DOGMAS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF REALITY

The increasing variety of religious beliefs within Protestant Christianity, for example, makes it difficult to identify the common core of postmodern Christian beliefs. The differences among beliefs confuse some and threaten others, thus making it desirable for our society to increase tolerance and open-minded perspectives, especially between persons who follow the extremes of orthodox and progressive interpretations of holy writings. I, for one, believe that the variability among approaches to God is greater within many congregations than it is among congregations. The same can be said of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim and other faiths.(30) Books by Wade Clark Roof, Mike Regele, and a paper on What is the Koran by Toby Lester, all listed in my Bibliography, provide evidence of such variability. Professor Ken Gergen discussed saturation of the self as I outlined in Chapter 1, Section P (Perspective taking level #6).

Other important considerations that contribute to the variation within congregations are:

1) the different stages of faith development in which individual members function , (Stages of faith development are described in my Chapter 1), and

2) generational differences.(31)

These differences are the topics of Wade Clark Roof’s recent book together with Jackson Carroll, entitled Bridging Divided Worlds. They present survey data on Pre-Boomers, Boomers and Generation X’ers gathered from a number of different congregations.

H. IMAGES OF GOD - TRANSCENDENT, WITHIN EACH OF US, AND/OR IN HEAVEN

This section deals with a key component of religion - relating to the idea of a Creator, a God, The Force, or other “ultimate” transcendent foundations of the faith. Variations in beliefs regarding these relations contribute significantly to polarization.

When humans try to form a mental image of something they cannot see, hear, or feel, it is natural to base their image on something with which they are familiar. Many persons imagine God to be like a King, and/or a Judge. This is called personalizing God, or having an anthropomorphic (human-like model) image of God. Our language forces us to speak and write about God in this way. We refer to God as a "Him" or "Her". Using the pronoun "It" seems to demean God. Thus, many of us create God in the image of a Father, a King, or in an image of some super-human being. Such images of God impose limitations upon our concept of God.

People sometimes imagine and relate to a large group of persons or an organization in ways similar to the way they relate to one person or a family. For example, desirable approaches to managing national budgets are evaluated with reference to family budgets. The differences are ignored or are not realized. This idea was mentioned, relative to a different context, in a book edited by Nicolini et al.(32)

In Biblical times, God was imagined to be in heaven, above a flat earth. Such a view of God was consistent with the beliefs about the cosmos in those times. However, in the postmodern transition that we are in now, the knowledge gained from scientific research makes it difficult for many adults to hold on to the old image of a remote God in heaven. Marcus Borg, in his book, The God We Never Knew, distinguishes between a Monarchical image of God and an Immanent image of God. The Monarchial image is referred to as: God the Father, a supreme being, a King, Judge, usually remote, up in Heaven. The Immanent image has God being all around us and within each of us. (Borg, born into a N. Dakota Lutheran background, was in his thirties when he first began to relate to the Immanent image of God.)

Borg, on page 36, wrote that KNOWING God, is more than knowing ABOUT God. As I see it, KNOWING, in this sense, implies a close relationship between two persons. You KNOW a person when there have been many happy and good experiences shared together. I remember when my 7-year old son's girl friend wished that he were there to share in seeing a beautiful view of a creek winding through a canyon. This is because they had spent many enjoyable times hiking together in a canyon that had many swimming holes. They were like a pair of loving and knowing children and had a caring brother and sister relationship.

A few centuries ago, an anthropomorphic, all-powerful creator was the prevalent image of God. I prefer to separate the anthropomorphic aspect of a transcendent Creator God from an internalized image of a loving and caring God to which increasing numbers of Christians relate. Many seem to relate to one and/or the other image in different situations.

Is God real? In Fowler's book Faithful Change he quotes William James as follows: "That which produces effects within another reality must be termed a reality itself, so I feel as if we had no philosophic excuse for calling the unseen or mystical world unreal."(33) In my view, this statement works best when a community of people holds and applies a belief. Then we can talk about that belief as being real, even though a different community might hold a different belief. For example, if a story about an American bomb destroying the house of an innocent family whether true or not, can lead to consequences, say such as a suicide bomber driving into the American Embassy, then the story, as it was imprinted in the mind of the suicide bomber, was real for him. This line of reasoning leads me to the statement: "God is real." To be more precise, since each person has a unique image of the infinite God, and yet in a major faith, there are common aspects or "central tendencies" to the images of God, then we can say: "That community's image of God is real". Marcus Borg, in his recent book, The Heart of Christianity (2003) provides a clear discussion of terms such as truth, real, and worldview.(34) The story of the blind men and the elephant illustrates the importance of having a broad perspective. Each person who says that they believe in God probably has a different image of God in their mind.

In sum, if persons grow up learning Bible stories or stories from the Qur'an and the Hadith about God, these people are likely to have some average image of their God, although each individual will imagine God in slightly different ways. (In Islam, the Hadith tell actions and words of the Prophet Muhammad). In the Bible, the gospels are somewhat equivalent, in that they contain sayings and describe actions of Jesus.)

God is imagined in many different ways because the idea of God is too complex for any human to be able to describe in words. The concept, GOD, is ineffable, which means that it is difficult to describe in words that communicate a clear meaning that most persons would interpret in the same way. Our language itself is not up to the task of describing an infinite creator God. Biblical stories and sacred stories in other faiths guide the thinking of people about their God. Those who, like Marcus Borg believe that God exists within one's mind, can relate to that image of God as one relates to the memory of a dear friend or parent now deceased. Many persons internalize some image of God, of The Prophet Muhammad, or of Jesus. This image is developed from what they learn about God from their sacred books and stories. Such an image, for many persons, is an effective guide along the road of life. How one relates to an internalized image of God, Allah, or Jesus is a major component of the spiritual side of faith.

Upon reading about Yahya Suhrawardi who lived in the twelfth century, and was put to death in 1191, I found that he experienced God in terms of light. His

"Ishraqi mysticism is still practiced in Iran." ...it requires spiritual and imaginative training of the sort undergone by Ismailis and Sufis." "... whatever luminosity belonged to material bodies came directly from light, a source outside themselves." "He was attempting to discover the imaginative core that lay at the heart of all religions and philosophy...".(35)

The image of God is discussed, below from a slightly different perspective. Human beings, besides being social and relational creatures are also spiritual creatures. By the latter I mean that humans seek a trustworthy relationship with a caring being or force that transcends their own concept of self, and reaches down into their unconscious. This is a result of the "hardwired" proclivity that I described in Section D of Chapter 1.

I found the reporting of interviews of children by Robert Coles(36) to be very helpful to broaden my understanding of how children view God. Coles, in another book, provided many interesting vignettes about children ages 9-13 discussing their views of God and their values. These stories show that their views are not much different from those of adults.(37) That is because those children, who have well thought out opinions, got them from listening to and getting answers to their questions from their parents and religious education teachers. Children tend to accept images of God from Bible stories and other stories. They might be a bit more dogmatic about the doctrines they hold, but as they become adults they have time to update metaphors and stories, if they do not become mired in their early interpretations of old doctrines and beliefs. Coles' story about a child named David illustrates the spiritual life that some children achieve.

Karen Armstrong, described how, in the third century after Christ, people were discussing questions about the relation of Jesus to God "with the same enthusiasm as they discuss football today."(38) Church leaders tried to settle those questions in the year 325 CE, when they settled on the Trinity in the Nicene Creed. However, the Trinity has often been misunderstood in the West where the approach to God was through reason, doctrine and proclamation. In contrast, Eastern Orthodox Christianity seemed to find that the concept of a Trinity lent itself well to their more spiritual approach to faith, an approach that places more emphasis on contemplation, silence and religious experience.

Since God is infinite, humans might be helped in imagining a triune God. Hindus give some of their Gods several pairs of hands or five faces. That is another way of trying to help humans imagine and relate to an infinite God.(39)

Armstrong wrote:

"Muslims and Jews have also attempted to look back to the past to find ideas of God that will suit the present...a notable Pakistani theologian, Abu al-Kalam Azad, turned to the Koran to find a way of seeing God that was not so transcendent that he became a nullity and not so personal that he became an idol. He pointed to the symbolic nature of Koranic discourse, noting that the balance between metaphorical, figurative and anthropomorphic descriptions, on the one hand, and the constant reminders that God is incomparable in the other."(40)

Elaine Pagels, in Beyond Belief, discussed, in detail, the divisions, among early Christians, which the Nicene Creed tried to resolve once and for all. The Gospel of John won out over the (Secret) Gospel of Thomas. However these divisions still exist today and Marcus Borg has written about them in his recent books.

Members of many present-day Christian congregations are split between those whose God is up in heaven and those for whom God is within. Many believe that if one develops a close relationship with Jesus and/or with God, and opens his heart to such a relationship, then the "amazing grace" of God seems to flow in a spiritual way that builds hope, a positive attitude, and strengthens faith in the relationship. Such a relationship enables a person to navigate safely through many of the vicissitudes of life.

I personally prefer a combination of the two images of God. I believe that the internalized image of God can have a transcendent aspect that does not have to include a belief in a God in Heaven, somewhere above us and yet remote from us. Transcendence can refer to having power over humankind and nature, a power that does not negate the possibility of Free Will. This kind of image of God may be viewed as a creative force or regulating system that does not have to include an anthropomorphic aspect. Nelson Thayer wrote: "...awareness of transcendence may in fact be indistinguishable from the awareness of immanence".(41)

I briefly mentioned Spong's description of ultimate consciousness from his book The Sins of Scripture in my Section P of my Chapter 1. In this paragraph, I elaborate a bit more, in the context of this section. Spong described the expansion of consciousness that was influenced by the teachings of: the Old Testament prophets Hosea and Amos, and the life of Jesus. On page 293, Spong wrote that God is the "ultimate consciousness in which our own consciousness participates and is a part." I believe that the word "consciousness" as used by Spong, is similar in meaning to how I use the word "perspective" in Chapter 1. "Ultimate Consciousness" then, is in some ways equivalent to the eighth level of perspective taking and implies a relationship to what Borg described as the God within. On pages 294-295, Spong wrote that the tribal deity of the pre-Christian Jews was growing with the expanding consciousness of the people. From another prophet, possibly Malachi, Spong wrote:

" … we hear that the boundaries on God imposed by our security [and identity] needs are being broken open and the divine shackles are falling off from who God is." ... "In the life of Jesus following the lead of the prophets, the God of Israel was becoming the God of the universe." (I inserted the term in square brackets.)

When one speaks about God acting in some way, I prefer to separate these actions into two groups. Consider the statement that God caused a storm or earthquake to destroy houses. I interpret such statements to refer to the creator part of God that includes the big bang and evolution. These are processes with a variety of physical probabilities and randomness included within those processes. God did not cause the storm for the purpose of punishing a human being. The best we can do is to use scientific methods to simulate part of the storm's processes and predict where the storm might hit and how strong it might be.

Some people say: "God acted to punish a group of people who violated a moral law." I prefer the following wording: "a person's or group's belief about God caused them to act" in response to the immoral act.

From a different perspective, we need to view God's graciousness as rooted in a creative process that includes the process of evolution, and as leading humankind to take on responsible partnerships with God as His helpers. We need to be stewards of His creation. That means that we have the responsibility of managing natural ecosystems to continue in a progressive balance so that the processes of evolution (part of God's creation) will continue to be fruitful.

We must realize that the theological concept of "GOD as Creator" includes the whole universe and it's natural eco-systems of which we are a part. Humans have the consciousness to partner with God and we have the obligation to help keep these many systems in balance.

Some people believe that God's creation is sacred and we should not tamper with it. However, we pollute Mother Nature and exploit its resources for personal gain. Some believe that we might even go so far as to use genetic engineering to help manage natural ecosystem balances. How shall we be guided in balancing the sacred and secular in the postmodern era? Can we have evolution without competition? Can we have competition without conflict?

Spong's Chapter 10 in A New Christianity for a New World sheds light on a new path to God, "a post theistic universalism". Spong, on page 21, defined a theistic God as "a being, supernatural in power, dwelling outside the world...". On page 182 he wrote: "My responsibility as a Christian in this twenty-first century is to separate the wheat from the chaff of my tradition in order to discover the essence and to grasp the treasure of its ultimate insight and meaning of God." The chaff of the Christian tradition as I interpret Spong, who wrote in 2001, includes much from our old Western European culture, including support for the economic and political aspects of neocolonialism. I discuss these ideas in Section C of Chapter 5 herein.

At the end of this section on Images of God, I believe that it is useful to recall the eight levels of perspective taking (from Section P in Chapter 1 herein) and the idea of a spiral staircase of increasingly broad perspectives reaching toward a transcendent perspective of the ultimate force in the universe, that we call God (mentioned in Section E of Chapter 1 and in Chapter 5 herein).

Consider that young children in most all cases have an anthropomorphic image of God and many can relate to Him via the hardwired conscious and unconscious memories of their relation with their caring Mother. As they grow older and broaden their perspectives they relate to and internalize also aspects of organizational perspectives such as their family, their school, their place of work, their state and nation, and the world. This ever broader perspective is their spiral path up to the ultimate transcendent perspective we still call God.

I. INTRODUCTION TO ASPECTS OF SPIRITUALITY

The concept of spirituality is closely related to how one interacts with and relates to his/her image of the divine and/or the process of cosmic evolution. The relationship starts in childhood, when hearing stories about God and becoming familiar with the emotions that others have when they communicate such stories; emotions such as awe, joy, fear, and respect. Such experiences create symbols that dwell in our conscious and unconscious and trigger particular subjective feelings. Disciplined, yet relaxed focusing on these symbols, together with contemplating about them, helps one organize these symbols and experiences toward a coherent holistic image of the process of an evolving cosmos that some persons achieve in the later stages of faith development. Such focusing includes relating, centering on the sacred, meditating, prayer, relaxing, yoga, and clearing ones mind of worldly cares and concerns. These and other approaches help one to occasionally reach an alternative state of consciousness. Such a state is one wherein a person feels in communion or close relationship with the divine and/or the cosmos, with the Christ, with the Holy Spirit, with a remote monarchical God, with a God within each of us, or a combination of the foregoing.

The Introduction and Chapter 1 in Thayer's book Spirituality and Pastoral Care provide a good discussion of the uniqueness of spirituality and its embodiment in symbols and symbolic structures learned in religious classes or in other spheres of one's life. On page 13, Thayer defined spirituality as: "(S)pirituality has to do with how we experience ourselves in relation to what we designate as the source of ultimate power and meaning in life, and how we live out this relationship. Spirituality is not merely inner feelings; it has to do with the integration and coherence of ourselves as experiencing and acting persons." Each person has unique experiences in her past that consciously and unconsciously influence her vocabulary of symbols and the meaning they impart to these symbols. In his last paragraph on page 27, Thayer described how adult discussion groups believed that "... meanings were being communicated and shared. But upon further inquiry, none really knew what the content of the others' experience actually was." The kind of person one is and her or his unique experiences influence one's spirituality and each person has unique aspects in his own spirituality.

Paraphrasing Thayer, spirituality in general, emphasizes an interrelated set of practices, rituals, and doctrines designed to deepen one's sense of relationship with the ultimate transcendent power, or the divine. Included in this definition is, by implication, integrating and expanding one's perspectives of the real or reality so that their perspectives reach transcendent levels.

There is more by Thayer on Spirituality in my posting Relating to the Devine and Peacemaking in the section on Hardwiring. It is accessible at: [www.notess.com/cn/1215.shtml].

Professor Daniel Taylor has written a short, but great book about the impacts upon his spirituality from visits to Iona Island, Lindisfarne Island, and Skellig Michael. The book was published in 2005 and is listed in my Bibliography at the end of this text. It is a short book and well worth reading.

Another description of spirituality can be found in the beginning of a book, Spiritual Literacy, by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Their definition is much broader than the foregoing. On pages 28-29 they emphasize: a "holy longing, a yearning to know the meaning of our lives, to have a connection with the transpersonal", "our deepest values and desires, the very core of our being", personal depth, conscience, deep will". Is this yearning related to what energizes our hardwired quest for relationship with the ultimate caring other?

An example of spirituality occurs when one has felt at one with a particular group of people, or felt her self to be in tune with the cosmos. This feeling can happen at one level, after contemplating a subject and understanding for the first time a new idea or relationship of ideas. One feels a joy and has a glimpse of some new power to comprehend the meaning of faith or the meaning of a relationship with God or Jesus. This feeling might last for only a short time, until one gets involved doing something else. I had such a feeling when singing in a choir that performed Handel’s Messiah. All the parts, in harmony, created a sound and mood that was greater than the sound produced by any one voice. I felt at one with the choir and its music. A choir transcends the individual.

The feeling of joy in such occasions is similar to the JOY that Scott Peck described in The Different Drum; the joy that members of an authentic community feel when they first realize that their group has risen to the level of an authentic community.(page 40 in The Different Drum.) The community members know each other, respect each other's differences, and can reach workable compromises on issues that divide and polarize pseudo communities.

A transcendent experience is something like a mountaintop experience, seeing the layout of land features below, in a new spatial relationship and connectedness. From this enhanced perspective, one can see two cars below, approaching each other on a narrow road that curves sharply around the base of the mountain. This mountaintop perspective is broader than that of the drivers in the cars below.

Armstrong wrote on page 338 that when our minds are relaxed and receptive, ideas come from deep within our minds and sometimes from our unconscious. Many are familiar with the "Ah! Ha!" experience Archimedes had while in the bath. Sometimes these new ideas escape from being imprisoned by ideas "that have already been established."(43)

Spirituality develops from lived experience wherein one has emotion-evoking experiences that generate meaningful symbolic attachments. Examples are: attachment to the house and hometown where one spent happy childhood years, attachment to a tree or a scenic overlook, where one might have spent pleasant moments with a close friend. Other examples are: attachment to a group of war buddies or college classmates with whom one had exciting experiences, and religious activities that involved close relationships while learning from the Bible, and relating to Jesus. Summer church-camp experiences especially provide opportunities for spiritual reflection and Ah! Ha! Experiences.

Such symbolic experiences dwell in our memories, in part, as unconscious memories, and influence how we feel about events later in life as the new situations trigger the unconscious and/or conscious memories. We often are unaware how these symbols can work from our unconscious to generate strong emotional responses, when turned on by certain key words - such as red flags and memes. Memes were described by Richard Dawkins, in is book, The Selfish Gene, first published in 1976. I quote from his Chapter 11, a descriptive paragraph below.

"Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about, a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. As my colleague N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up an earlier draft of this chapter: `... memes should be regarded as living structures, not just metaphorically but technically. When you plant a fertile meme in my mind you literally parasitize my brain, turning it into a vehicle for the meme's propagation in just the way that a virus may parasitize the genetic mechanism of a host cell. And this isn't just a way of talking -- the meme for, say, "belief in life after death" is actually realized physically, millions of times over, as a structure in the nervous systems of individual men the world over.""

After reading the book Spiral Dynamics - Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change by Beck and Cowan, I find that when Dawkins talks about memes being ideas that spread from brain to brain, this means that memes are also perspectives, worldviews, and similar more complex ideas. Beck and Cowan's book Spiral Dynamics expands on this idea and in this E-book, I refer often to the idea of broadening perspectives. Thus I hope that the reader will be reminded of the idea that perspectives spread from person to person when conditions are right. I recommend Dawkins' book and the one by Beck and Cowan.

During the Presidential election campaigns of 2004, memes such as "pro-life", "freedom", and "democracy", were often used to corral and manipulate the thinking of voters, especially those who listened to talk radio hosts and 15-second sound bytes. George Lakoff described how this was done and I refer to Lakoff again, in later sections of this chapter.

For a good understanding of memes, see also, Susan Blackmore's book, The Meme Machine.

I return to a discussion of spiral dynamics in Section C of Chapter 5 herein.

Closed-minded persons can spread memes that seem to be true, though they are distortions of the truth. Call it rumors, if you wish. Consider that the second annual report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism stated that fully 68% of Fox News reports lack information about the source, compared to 4% for CNN reports. Opinionated and unsubstantiated reporting does not contribute to an informed public, so essential for a working democracy.(44)

Development of strong symbols and a coherent set of metaphors and symbols is an important part of building one's faith. It helps if a group of people share experiences in authentic communities and build a common set of symbols and metaphors. For a spiritual transformation to develop, one must be committed over a period of at least several months. It is not something that one can achieve over a weekend, unless an experienced consultant leads a group of people who already know each other and are familiar with the key words, symbols, experiences, and perspectives uniting all of the foregoing. Mariana Caplan wrote about the length of time it takes to attain a lasting spiritual transformation.(45) She emphasized that most Americans are too much in a hurry and too much used to a fast paced life, such as fast-food restaurants and automatic tellers. New Age gurus and other "sages" who promise them ecstatic experiences at a weekend retreat, easily exploit many who are searching for an authentic and long-lasting spiritual transformation. Others rely on drugs to give them a feeling of ecstasy. However, in most cases they become addicted to the search process and never achieve authentic and long-lived transformations.

An example of the importance of strong and coherent symbols is the response of some liberal congregations that go too far in the opposite direction and avoid the mention of key Christian symbols to the extreme. In many cases such congregations or fellowships suffer from a lack of even a few key metaphors and symbols that are needed to unite a congregation and develop the mystical and spiritual side of faith. I believe that they and the persons whom they try to attract have been so repelled by this under-symbolization that they threw the baby out with the wash water.

I have found that some Christian congregations, in trying to satisfy a wide range of age and generational cohorts, have a mix of metaphors and symbols that is not effective. It is difficult to provide a focused set of symbols while trying to satisfy the needs and experiences of persons with a wide variety of backgrounds. Some prefer literal interpretations of the Bible. Others prefer to de-emphasize portions of the Old Testament. Some find little meaning in communion bread and grape juice and do not believe in hell, or heaven. Others believe that because Jesus died on the cross, and was resurrected, his death saved them from hell for eternity, if they accept Him as their savior.

Armstrong's A History of God shows clearly how so many different approaches to God and faith developed and many of them are still relevant to small groups within particular congregations today.

The tree of faith has become overgrown with twigs and branches that weaken the tree. There is much careful pruning to be done. If the stories, metaphors and symbols are not properly trimmed, the congregations will lose members.

Thomas Merton distinguished contemplation from trance or ecstasy, the hearing of sudden unutterable words, and the imagination of lights. He wrote: "Contemplation...is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source. ...It 'knows' the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes beyond reason and beyond simple faith."(46) Might it be that a desire for relationship with this Source is hardwired into the child as a result of a caring and trusting relationship with his mother?

Excerpts from Merton follow. "Contemplation... is the experiential grasp of reality as 'subjective', not so much "mine" (which would signify "belonging to the external self") but "myself" in existential mystery... Contemplation ... arrives at reality - by an intuitive awakening in which our free and personal reality becomes fully alive to its own existential depths, which open out to the mystery of God. For the contemplative, there is only "I AM". "...in the humble realization of our mysterious being as persons in whom God dwells, with infinite sweetness and inalienable power."(47)

I believe that the search for the feeling of ecstasy and for emotions that are spread by group contagion is what attracts some people to Pentecostal and other types of growing congregations. However, I feel that this kind of group activity and participation in worship is inauthentic and will not provide strong symbols that have meaning and will be long-lasting, unless the activities take place within "genuine communities" as Scott Peck defined them.

Spirituality includes the idea of a relationship with what is considered an object or idea that is sacred. An example of a community that developed a sacred attachment is Estes Park, Colorado. The object that became sacred to many residents of that town was a large bull elk that came into town with his harem each winter to graze at the lower altitude. The residents named him "Sampson". When a big-city man shot the bull to take his antlers for a trophy, the whole town joined together to catch the culprit and punish him.

Primitive hunters in prehistoric times, Native American Indian tribes, and modern-day nature lovers observed animal, plant, and bird behavior over periods of years. Such activities lead to a great respect for animals and nature in general, a respect that is closely tied to the idea of a felt relationship to the animals, plants, etc. This type of relationship is similar in some ways to the spiritual relationships described above. Selected elements of the natural world were viewed as spirits by primitive peoples. Such relationships reflect our human tendency to anthropomorphize sacred objects.

I believe that humankind have been placed on this planet to do God's work. It is through our good and caring actions that God's work is accomplished. If we live in a tight, authentic community that incorporates mutual help among the community members, then if one member is in trouble and needs help, the community will join together to provide help. This is another form of what Christians call God's grace at work. It is also an example of how a supportive community can equate to a transcendent force that is larger than the individual. This idea, in my view, is related to that which John Spong described in Chapters 11 and 12 in his book A New Christianity For A New World.

David G. Myers, described how research shows the "powerful effect of overt action on internal disposition."(48) If one wants to change character in significant ways, he has to depend on more than introspection and intellectual insight. Sometimes one needs to get involved in the action. The Biblical emphasis on strengthening one's faith by getting involved in helping others, is strongly supported by evidence from the field of social psychology. Congregations that get their members involved in helping others, strengthen the faith of their members. Myers presented a good example of how involvement in helping and doing, changed perceptions in positive ways.(49)

J. YOUTH AT THE TURN OF THIS MILLENNIUM

First, I present a quick review of some relevant ideas. Children as they progress through the stages of psycho-social development learn traditional norms of expected behavior from their family, if their upbringing is consistent, caring and supportive. Then, as they begin to seek degrees of autonomy and relate to peers in what is now becoming an ever-earlier onset of adolescence, they replace the influence from their parents with that of role models, peers, from their neighborhood and from the media. The internalized values and personality styles gained from parents and peers guide young people, as they become more independent individuals. In adolescence, some begin to learn how to analyze consequences of intended actions and how to take the perspective of others and third parties. Subsequently, a few go on to learn enough about groups and organizations so that they become able to take the perspectives of those groups and organizations with which they come in contact. Role models are helpful, though unfortunately, some role models for socially disadvantaged youth are negative ones in the form of gang leaders, radio-talk show hosts, extremist clerics and the like.

A problem that is only recently becoming better understood is the impact of television viewing on some very young children and its possible effects on rewiring of the brain. A newspaper article starts out: "Very young children who watch television face an increased risk of attention-deficit problems by school age, a study has found, suggesting that TV might over stimulate and permanently "rewire" the developing brain."(50) The article indicates: "problems included poor concentration, acting restless and impulsive, and being easily confused." "Over stimulation during this critical period "can create habits of the mind that are ultimately deleterious," said Dr. Dimitri Christakis a researcher at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. He said: "If this theory holds true, the brain changes likely are permanent."

This study raised a question in my mind about whether youth and adults might have problems, especially in America where many have grown up watching television without the benefit of parental interpreters who can translate or mute the violence and consumerism so that the child will not be misled. More research is needed to answer such questions. How might the effects of television and violent computer games affect the development of critical thinking skills? How might it affect tolerance for diversity and ambiguity?

I believe that in Western societies, undergoing postmodern transitions, many persons still believe that there are eternal and universal truths. One such truth is: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". To follow this command, requires:

1) Skill at taking the perspective of a variety of others in our pluralistic society.

2) In addition, to follow the Golden Rule one must have experience at projecting consequences of her/his actions. We are learning that many adolescents have problems with projecting consequences without guidance from trusted others who have had more experience.

The two foregoing requirements typically are developed during the upper adolescent years and the young adult years. As I see it, my question is: - Can one follow the Golden Rule sincerely and authentically while lacking experience in taking the perspectives of diverse others and groups, the contexts of these others, and in projecting consequences?

Young people need to learn how to: discover, respect, and appreciate the constructive aspects of time-tested lifestyles of others. By "time-tested" I mean to imply that short-term advertising fads and other types of created fads, have not been tested by the passage of time and thus do not qualify as aspects of culture that the community treats as a norm (expected behavior). It is difficult to provide constructive learning experiences for young people. Mission trips to aid and learn about persons in other living situations and cultures are helpful, as long as evangelizing is not disrespectful and /or intrusive, but occurs indirectly by example while working together. Young people learn how to appreciate the perspectives of others by building relationships and working together on rehabilitating housing, parks and the like.

Experiences gained in the field of psychology have enabled increasing proportions of young adults to relate in new ways, to an ultimate power, inner force, Supreme Being, or God. A good number of Boomers seem to be engaged in spiritual quests that are based on an internalized image of God, yet one that still satisfies the innate human need for relating to transcendent forces. Increasing knowledge about developmental stages of faith and spiritual development on the one hand, and generational differences in interests on the other hand, are useful guides for changing religious services, traditions, ceremonies and musical forms to better suit the Boomer generation and their successors, the Generation X people.

It is difficult to generalize a discussion on how to fine-tune the program of a particular church to attract more members. Each particular church needs to consider its staff, lay leaders and congregation members, and its neighbors: their skills, their style, their needs, their preferences, and together select the best programs. However, the concept of training our youth to take the perspective of others is one key that will help any church in our postmodern age.

K. APPROACHES TO DIVERSITY AND CRITICAL THINKING

In this twenty-first century, we suffer from systems of governance that are many times more complex than those of Hammurabi, the ancient Hebrews, and the early Christians. We are becoming aware that we need a new paradigm to lead our moral codes to higher levels of abstraction so that a large majority of people can comprehend governance. Specialists in legal and moral affairs interpret application from the general to the specific. Ideally, by democratic means, each person should have input through their representatives to selecting judges, interpreters, and leaders who will guide our planet to peace and harmony among all peoples, and also toward a way of life that is in harmony with Mother Nature.

Consider that if one lives in a tribal community wherein change occurs slowly, there is little need to analyze critically news that one hears within the village wherein one is familiar with most of what goes on. This is so because the other members of the community know which storytellers are trustworthy and, in time, they can separate truth from imaginative rumors. When external events affect the community, the power structure of the village, in many cases, determines what is good for the community and/or what will help them maintain influence. This can function well if the leaders have broader perspectives than the other people in the community.

In today’s modern urbanized settings change is rampant, and many community members lack skills in critical thinking. Most people rely on what they are told by those at the top of the power structure, in news broadcasts, on radio and television, or by writers of essays in the newspapers. Critical thinking skills need to be taught in high school and universities, even though political leaders might feel threatened by critical thinkers. Progress in teaching critical thinking is evident in some textbooks that now have special sections at the end of each chapter focusing on critical thinking about the content of the chapter. This is a start.

When I studied engineering at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the mid-twentieth century, I did not learn about critical thinking, deconstruction of texts and the like. Many Muslim college students who recently studied in the West did not receive training in critical thinking for the same reason that I did not. They seemed to prefer technical subjects because they found them less threatening than social science, "social justice, pluralism, and gender justice" because the former did not involve topics that are included in their religious faith and might conflict with their cultural and spiritual interpretations at that time. In addition, it seems easier for Muslim students to get jobs in the technical rather than social/behavioral fields.

In pre-modern times Muslim thinkers such as al Ghazali were skilled at critical thinking and that skill was taught in the Muslim Universities (madrasahs). Omid Safi, in the Introduction to his book Progressive Muslims (pp. 19-21), states that an impact of colonialism was the decline of the madrasahs. (Karen Armstrong, in The Battle For God (p. 34) attributes a similar effect to the Mongul invasion of the thirteenth century.)

Eqbal Ahmad interviewed by Barsamian, in the book entitled: Eqbal Ahmad, presents a number of reasons for the decline in Higher Education in Pakistan and India, on pages 19-20.(156) The World Bank, for one, discouraged higher education by emphasizing literacy and a pool of workers who would follow instructions. In Pakistan, bureaucrats started running universities. Colonial education aimed to provide servants for the empire rather than governors, citizens or educators. The foregoing are only some of the factors that help explain the decline of education in Muslim nations. Referring to the writing of Khaled Abou El Fadl, colonialism contributed considerably to the decline of education in critical thinking, because educated locals were a threat to the local puppets supported by the colonial powers.

The following is a full quote, because I cannot condense it without losing the impact of his very clear writing.

"The burden on Muslim intellectuals today is heavy indeed ...just because Muslims achieved greatness once does not necessarily mean that they will do so again. From a Muslim perspective it is arrogant to assume that regardless of the efforts and behavior of Muslims, God is somehow obligated to save Muslims from the consequences of their own deeds. Classical jurists used to repeat that political power is necessary to safeguard the interests of religion, but they also warned that political power is fundamentally corrupting of the human conscience and the mandates of justice. This is particularly true of the current Muslim reality."(51)

There is another important consideration that explains the decline in greatness of these Muslim civilizations. Among those tradition-followers with tribal scale commitments, and who are not broadly educated, there is a fatalistic value orientation that emphasizes reliance upon Allah to solve problems from natural events and human actions. Rather than the Western orientation: that if there is a problem, find out how to fix it and fix it, Arabs wait and rely on Allah to fix it. One often hears the phrase: "Allah willing." In part this might be the result of centuries of living in the desert, where there was little one could do if a well went dry. Harrison mentions this fatalistic value orientation on pages 40, 46, and 64 in his book: The Central Liberal Truth. A similar fatalism is evident in Latin America where, when a person missed the bus on his way to work, one often hears: "The bus left me or missed me." Some sociologists believe that similar fatalistic attitudes helped slow development in Latin American societies.

Raphael Patai, a cultural anthropologist, who taught at Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania, described this orientation in a book entitled: The Arab Mind. The book was published by his estate 6 years after his death in 1996. See especially pp. 156-7 on how the Arab mind sees "the universe running on a predestined course, determined by the will of Allah who also "predestines the fate" of each individual. Chapter 15 describes stages of stagnation and responses to it. His historical summary goes beyond the effects of colonialism. There are many considerations that contribute to stagnation, but I believe that the impacts of television and the Internet could eventually succeed in overcoming such stagnation. I recommend Patai's book.

Two other good sources of information about critical thinking are the book, Critical Reasoning by Jerry Cederblom and David W. Paulsen (1991). The 3rd edition of their book provides many examples that are relevant to the discussions in this book.

The other source is Chapter 14, in Marlene Winell's book, Leaving The Fold. I recommend her book most highly.

In my view, we see Barber's McWorld type of corruption in America, exemplified by the politicizing and thus corrupting the appointment process for selecting justices to serve in the Supreme Court of the USA. A very recent book by Leon Howell, entitled United Methodists @ Risk describes very clearly the strategies and tactics used by far-right extremists in their attempt to gain control of governing bodies of mainline religions and also the national government.

NOTE: that for each of the three faiths, a person's cultural background shapes the way in which a follower relates to her or his God. It shapes how one prays, whether alone at home or in a group of like believers. In an ethnically pluralistic faith such as Islam, the five basic "pillars" of the faith are viewed as universal for all Muslims and are performed in essentially the same way by persons from Pakistani, Lebanese, Sudanese, Afro-American, or Indonesian backgrounds.

Recent research with brain imaging has yielded a number of papers and web sites about spirituality, belief in God, and faith. The ideas relate well to my writing on hardwiring in the brain of a neew for relating to a caring other. Dr. Andrew Newberg, an MD has the following web sites.

Newberg. See also: http://www.salon.com/books/int/2006/09/20/newberg/ Spirituality and the Brain.

The next three sections of this chapter outline some of the important aspects of the three Abrahamic (and monotheistic) faiths, aspects that include critical thinking skills and relate to persons from different religious or ethnic groups. I present them from a viewpoint related to the main ideas in this book. There is much that I have omitted. Harrison provides, in his Chapter 4, discussion of several other religions that are not included among the Abrahamic faiths. He considers more aspects of religion in his comparisons.

L. JEWISH APPROACHES TO CRITICAL THINKING AND TOWARD THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS

In Biblical times, as today, women with responsibilities focused around child rearing, learned how to take the different perspectives of several persons (her children and others), manage interactions and conflicts among her children, and build consensus. Men, on the other hand, were more competitive, especially in an environment of scarcity, and got involved with power and influence-seeking which can become addictive. They had less experience with taking the perspective of other adults, unless they had taken the role of teacher, group leader or judge in the tribal community. Men in other clans or tribes were often treated as competitors mainly for land and wealth.

Generally speaking, I use the word "tribal" many times in this and the following sections. I believe that it is important to consider the difference between tribal systems of governance and the national/global systems that we have in the West today. The differences are important because Modern Westerners, who live in societies based upon individual rights and a good degree of self-sufficiency, find it difficult to comprehend the feelings and concerns of tribal peoples who depend upon the clan and tribe for support and administration of justice in emergencies. A typical tribal example is the tribal member who was Iraq's chief weapons scientist. He said, on ABC World News Tonight 1-21-03, that he would not leave Iraq because his tribe is in Iraq. I know that there were American-born Polish-Americans in the 1960's who would not leave the Polish ghetto in Buffalo, NY to move to the suburbs because their inter-human support system with which they were familiar, and they trusted, was in the Polish ghetto.

That is part of the reason why Palestinian and other tribal mothers, today, weep so over the destruction of their house and neighborhood or the death of a young man in their family. Their husband and sons were their support system, especially in old age. Many of these women never imagined a professional career, unless there were schools that would train them in that way, and they lacked trusted role models who could prove to them that they could trust modern support systems to provide real hope of opportunities in their own futures.

The foregoing two paragraphs are one KEY to understanding the feelings and the hopes and fears of tribal peoples. Many Americans find it difficult to comprehend tribal peoples because we were never closely involved with them. Yet, in upper-class professional circles and even in middle-class neighborhoods there still exist tribal types of exclusivity and closed and supportive systems of mutual trust and understanding about which some of us moderns have forgotten.

This was the setting of life in Biblical times. Moses' commandments were primarily aimed at keeping peace in the tribal communities with their realization that mutual trust within the tribe is essential, as were relating to one, all-powerful, creator God who cared for His people. Also included in the commandments were commands for each individual to manage their self-oriented animal drives so as not to abuse the rights of other members in their communities.

Hebrew children studied their holy book (The Torah) that contained many important stories that showed them how to organize their lives. The stories and over 600 laws were written down and memorized to help govern daily life. The children in school discussed the stories and the laws, in some cases, in great depth. Because, for centuries in the Western world, Jews had been restricted from certain occupations, and their religion placed significant value on helping their poor and improving social situations, they placed high value on a broad education in both research, applied social and natural sciences, engineering, medicine, and law. In this way they learned how to think critically about the increasing complexity of life, the laws of right and wrong, and good behavior. Critical thinking skills helped them to seek out the truth. The first chapter in Proverbs is most relevant to the importance of wise and critical thinking.

Charles Kimball mentioned the lack of critical thinking skills in "intelligent undergraduates" in the 1990's.(52) Learning and education were important to many Jews for centuries. Learning how to think about different ways of life and why some ways were better than others, were also important. This emphasis on critical thinking helped the Jews survive, for many centuries, as exiles from their holy temples and the land that had been theirs.

Marc Gopin explained, in detail, aspects of Jewish culture that have the potential to help reconciliation, and on the other hand aspects that make reconciliation very difficult.(53) Unfortunately the constructive traits do not seem to apply to treatment of the Palestinians in the Middle East today.

The Jews had grown up learning and following their laws and many responded to their legal system as though it was sacred. Many feared violating the laws and sometimes found creative and comical ways and loopholes to get around following them. On the other hand, unthinking compliance to the many laws led some to overlook human aspects of situations and the need for compassion.

The Hebrew prophets informed people when they slid back into idolatry or got into trouble because they violated the laws or the basic tenets of their faith. Sometimes the prophets felt that God spoke to them and told them which laws were the most important. Hebrews were taught to believe that they were a "chosen people" chosen by God to lead the world. (Some Muslims have a similar belief about Islam.) Because the Jews were dispersed from their land, in what is called the Diaspora, they developed networks that enhanced information flow through their channels of commerce and trade. Their systems of wealth, for several reasons, became separated from the land (which in many places they were forbidden to own) and as a result, they developed more flexible systems of finance and investment.

Prophecy provided an important redirection of their communities when self-oriented leaders strayed from the basic commandments. A number of writers, such as Hugh Sanborn, have called for religious leaders to fill prophetic roles that point out where our governing officials have strayed from universal values of the Abrahamic faiths. Hugh Sanborn, is a retired director of campus ministry and professor of psychology of religion, and edited a book entitled: The Prophetic Call published in the Fall of 2004 by Chalice Press. I discuss some of the ideas from his book in Chapter 5 herein.(54)

The old Hebrew traditions were tribal traditions, and thus, from today's multicultural perspective, they were compassionate mainly to others in their tribal or larger religious community. This compassion seldom extended toward all "others" beyond their co-religionists. Gopin described the Old Testament concept of "ger", applying a wide range of moral and emotional obligations to a stranger who is different from the majority group.(55) (We desperately need more ger today, and compassion should be given to others who are neighbors in today’s global world.) Gopin described an example of the difficulty in even providing gestures of compassion to others with whom a relationship involves considerable hatred and fear.(56) This example involves the use of cognitive dissonance to breakdown the strangle hold of hatred.

There have been reform movements in the three Abrahamic religions. A recent film illustrates well, the universal spiritual principles that one can find in the great Abrahamic religions.(57) It is helpful to distinguish between those aspects of Reform Judaism that are cultural (the hand waving, dancing, and historic holiday celebrations) and those that are universal-spiritual in their significance. I believe that the latter are what should be emphasized in the three Abrahamic religions.

President Jimmy Carter's new book: Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid expands upon the foregoing and will have constructive impact upon the Israeli - Palestinian problem. The Publishers Weekly review of Carter's book ends with the following. "Carter's book provides a fine overview for those unfamiliar with the history of the conflict and lays out an internationally accepted blueprint for peace."

M. CHRISTIAN APPROACHES TO CRITICAL THINKING AND TOWARD THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS

Christianity became the second great monotheistic religion. That faith differs in several respects from that of the Jews. Jesus built upon the Hebrew framework, but aimed to reduce and simplify the many rules and laws that the Hebrews developed. Certain classes of Jews (political and religious) followed these laws too literally and lost sight of the larger purpose of life, which was caring for others, as individuals, and in communities. The "others" included, individuals living in different contexts than one's own. For Christians, the Good Samaritan story pointed out the need to extend basic human compassion and caring among persons living and working in diverse situations, careers, occupations, and so on. The caring-for-others included those in other tribes. Extending compassion in this way effectively placed a limit or cap on the exploitive side of competition and individualism that affected outsiders. Jesus, in a setting of Roman occupation, pushed for separation of spiritual relations with the One God from power politics and its addictive character. A number of recent writers have compared descriptions of the Roman Empire (referred to as the Dragon in the Book of Revelations – Chapter 12), to the American Empire today.(58)

Christians reacted to the historic trend that people were beginning to live more and more in cities. These cities were built around trade and increases in knowledge. Craftsmen, traders, and others from many societies lived near each other in these cities, often in compact ethnic enclaves or ghettoes. In the cities, residents spoke different languages and followed different religions. The number of rules and norms began to increase to the point of becoming confusing because the different communities followed different norms and rules. Some communities felt that their ways of life and system of laws were better than those of their neighbors. In that context, Jesus emphasized caring and nurturing love and compassion toward the diverse others not only the poor and the lepers in one's own tribe, but others in neighboring tribes as well. While discussing extending compassion to others, I believe that it is helpful to point out that, Muhammad Asad wrote: "The Prophet, Muhammad, often stressed a believers moral obligation towards his neighbors, whatever their faith..."(59)

Jesus' followers viewed Him as being the son of God, and some people viewed Him as a God, to whom they could relate more easily than to a remote, omnipotent God which humans can only comprehend in part. This aspect of the Christian faith coupled with the idea of substitutionary atonement (explained below) seems to me to be an important way to counter the shame and/or guilt that build up in many people, especially those who were made to feel inferior and inadequate in early childhood. James Fowler discussed the idea of "shame" and differences in the approaches to sin and redemption by Augustine and Irenaeus.(60)

New stories arose around Jesus' way of life and His teachings laid the groundwork for spreading compassion and caring to, what today we call, diverse and multicultural communities.

Being tolerant toward others at times seemed to be overlooked by the people when the others were of a different ethnic (cultural) background and followed a different religion. In the case of Muslims who look upon Jerusalem as a holy place, as do the Christians, and the Jews, we still see intolerance today toward followers of the other of these three faiths all rooted in Abraham.

The fall of the Roman Empire and invasions from the North and East led to the Dark Ages in Europe. The Roman Catholic Church and Byzantium were the primary surviving organizations and played increasing roles in governance. The common people did not read the Bible and priests acted as intermediaries between individuals and their God. This hierarchical form of organization in the Roman Church led to corruption and eventually to the Protestant Reformation.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, was the first to systematically develop, around the year 1097, the idea that Jesus' death on the cross was a sacrifice for sin that makes God's forgiveness possible. For many Christian believers, this substitutionary image is a major element related to the desire for forgiveness of sins and eventual salvation. Marcus Borg wrote that Gustaf Aulen, a Swedish theologian some 60 years ago argued "... that this understanding of Jesus' death did not become dominant in the church until the early Middle Ages."(61) Derek Flood discussed "Vicarious Atonement" or "Satisfaction-Doctrine" in detail.(62)

Christian writings and the Bible, throughout their history have undergone considerable critical analysis and reinterpretation. Critical analyses, especially after the Reformation, helped the more progressive Christian denominations update and maintain the relevance of their stories and grand narratives. Professor Marcus Borg, Bishop John Shelby Spong, and others have summarized some of the more recent critiques and reforms in their recent books. However, there still exist today many persons who identify themselves as Christians, yet lack the critical thinking ability and the multicultural experiences that are essential to extend Jesus' examples of caring and compassion to all other human beings in today's world.

I recently encountered an excellent example of interpretation and a discussion of method in a book published by a scholar from the Jesus Seminar. It is entitled the Jesus Seminar and its Critics by Robert J. Miller. Interpretation and historical analyses is no easy task. It requires a group of dedicated scholars and the freedom to question and reinterpret.

Charles Kimball in his book When Religion Becomes Evil, identified a tribal aspect in Christianity today. He wrote: "The rigid exclusivism embodied in the view that "Christianity is the only truth", ... is the foundation for a tribalism that will not serve us in the twenty-first century." Kimball has been teaching comparative religion and courses on Islam, and for over twenty years, he has visited the Middle East and specialized in studying that area. He is an ordained Baptist minister and an advisor to our government. I recommend his very readable book that helps the reader expand his or her perspectives and comprehend from where the majority of Muslims are coming. I recommend it, especially, to the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, because it would help them gain a better appreciation of Islam. Hopefully it might reduce the distortions and biased views that are often attributed to them in the media. Religious leaders who quote passages from the Qur'an and the Bible out of context are not honest educators working toward the kind of mutual understanding that is so essential for reconciliation and peace in a pluralistic society.

In my view, these fundamentalist leaders misinterpret those sections of the Bible such as Paul's writing to the Corinthians, wherein he is cautioning them not to be misled by intellectualization of Greek philosophy. Wisdom without care and compassion (love) towards all peoples can lead one astray. See 1 Corinthians 3:19 - "... God catches the wise in their craftiness"; and in 13:2 - "And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge ... but have not love, I am nothing." Love without knowledge and wisdom sometimes provides the wrong answers to the question: "What would Jesus do?" I believe that one needs a balance between knowledge and wisdom on the one hand and caring and compassion for all others on the other hand. Without such a balance many appear to retreat from the complexity and diversity of our globalizing world to extending love only to those who perceive the world as they do - a simplistic, closed-minded and tribal form of commitment, easily distorted and exploited by selfish demagogues.

Kimball presented a story from his past that is most revealing about exclusivist believers. He had been very involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and in Young Life, (two conservative Christian groups) having read most of the books the group leaders had recommended. When, at age 19, he decided to take a religion course in the college of arts and sciences at a state university, he described the reaction of most of his friends and the religious leaders whom he knew, as "...swift and decisive. "Don't do it," they warned. Those professors will try to undermine your faith by confusing you with questions. They don't believe the Bible is true.""(63)

This story is a prime example of how one's peers and one's teachers sometimes try to lead a person to close their mind in order to defend a naive approach to their faith. This is exclusivism. The teacher and friends might believe that they are saving the person from being confused, from fear, and from the stresses of ambiguity and uncertainty. However, we must remember that cognitive dissonance is often a key to learning.

Techniques of thought control have been used for years to defend particular political ideologies and religious faiths. Thought control does not allow young persons to explore how others relate to their God. In Chapter 1, I described how one's quest for a relationship to a caring, transcendent other is common to, and becomes "hardwired" in, most people. Because of this common quest, there is much that the three Abrahamic faiths share in common. For this reason, learning about the approaches to the transcendent among other followers of the Abrahamic faith, often deepens one's understanding of his or her own faith.

N. APPROACHES OF ISLAM TO CRITICAL THINKING AND TOWARD THOSE WHO FOLLOW OTHER FAITHS

The Middle East was a place where increasing interactions among many different tribes for purposes of trade, commerce, and crafts found developing urban centers ideally suited for this new way of life. This was the setting for the birth of Islam. Islam placed more emphasis on tolerance of diverse others and redirecting people away from the addictive power of acquisitiveness and greed than did the other Biblical faiths at that time. Yet, because of the many polytheistic and idolatrous faiths that fragmented communities in the area, Islam still had to focus on strengthening spiritual relationships to the worship of One God. Islam did not separate politics from religion and included guidelines for the good life in the Shariah (sacred laws that governed, for the believer, many aspects of life at that time).

Islam came upon the scene, during the Dark Ages in Europe, through revelations from Allah through The Prophet Muhammad to the tribal communities in the Arabian dessert. The tribes for years had fought each other over rights to camels, cattle, sheep and goats, olive orchards, trade and water. They fought over which tribe would rule the trading centers along the many trade routes that crossed over their land connecting Europe with Asia and Africa.

The following is a time-line of life for The Prophet – Muhammad. He was born in 570 a.d. His father died before He was born. His mother died when He was six years old. His grandfather cared for Him and then His uncle, the father of Ali, cared for Him and took Him along on trips to Syria. This is how He learned the caravan trade. He was a caravan leader by 595 when He met Khadija, the owner of a caravan, who became His first wife. He had his first Revelation in 610. Khadija died in 619. He moved to Medina in 622. 'Ayesha, His last wife, was very devoted to Him. He died in 632 at the age of 62. The Prophet lived 22 years after His first revelation. On the other hand Jesus' public activity lasted at most for several years before the end of His life a few years past age 30. This great difference in the length of time Jesus and The Prophet carried out their ministries is important to understanding the difference between the two faiths and how they approached succession. For a good description of the foregoing, see the DVD: Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, 2002.

Karen Armstrong, in the beginning of Chapter 5 in A History of God, described how during the time of The Prophet's life till he was age 40, the Bedouin tribes had encountered expanding trade and new wealth. This changed their life style and put great stress on the traditional tribal ways. A form of individualism began to develop. "They felt that they had become masters of their own fate...".(p. 133) As some traders gained wealth their was fighting between the clans within tribes. Muhammad was to become The Prophet that the Arabs never had and He struggled to bring an end to the inter-tribal fighting. With such a beginning the development of Islam was very different from that of Christianity. Yet the three monotheistic faiths had much in common.

The Prophet united the tribes by getting them to believe in one God. He accepted and built upon the teachings of the main Jewish and Christian prophets, but He did not accept that Jesus was the son of God. The development of laws, in the Shariah, which The Prophet said came directly from the one God, called Allah covered most all of the aspects of life in Arabia in the seventh century and even included how to conduct business, trade, and so on. The Qur'an gave some important rights to women that are described by a comment in Asma Barlas' new book Believing Women a few paragraphs hence.

Although The Prophet supposedly could not read and write, the messages that God gave to The Prophet were written down by those who had heard the Prophet recite them. The result was the Holy Qur'an, which many Muslims believe contains the direct words of Allah. In the Qur'an, according to a search using the University of Michigan web site,(64) the word compassion is mentioned 14 times. Six of these times the verse relates to The Prophet Muhammad or other persons. The other 8 references refer to Allah being compassionate.

My web posting: Notes on the Qur'an is listed in my Bibliography. It includes many relevant quotations aimed at countering misconceptions propagated by people who present isolated verses out of context and distort the faith. Kimball quotes from Shakespeare: "Even the devil can cite scripture for his purpose." My 19-page handout entitled Introduction to Muslims and Islam has basic information about Islamic and Muslim practices, and quotes from the Qur'an. It is accessible on the web.(65)

A book edited by Geoffrey Orens, entitled: The Muslim World complements my posting and presents a brief summary description of the Muslim World, based upon reprints of articles and excerpts from journals and books that discuss the history, current issues, and trends in religion, politics, and related social issues. I recommend that book.

I also recommend a website entitled: Comparison of the Ten Commandments with similar passages in the Qur'an.(66)

As the many tribes became united by the new faith, The Prophet organized an effective and spirited military force that conquered many of the then existing pagan lands and societies. Their early success, in less than one hundred years after the death of The Prophet, led some to believe that their success was evidence that they were following God's will. This, in some ways, is similar to the Jewish idea that they were God's "chosen people". (Asad has an interesting comment on the idea of a chosen people)(67)

Religious wars such as the Crusades were started in the eleventh century and people who held different beliefs were often killed, which seemed easier than trying to change their minds by reeducation and by showing them new ways thought to be better or different. The cruelties of crusaders and others from a thousand years ago still remain in the memories and minds of Muslims, Jews and Christians alike. Today, some leaders use these stories of past cruelties, for political purposes and to maintain and enhance the old hatreds. For example, in a book edited by Haddad and Smith there is a quote that says: "All the studies in this collection confirm that it is more the cultural and political affirmations being promoted by various groups in the name of Islam and less the religion of Islam that cause fear and concern."(68)

One of the best books for understanding Islamic concepts such as the Shariah and Jihad and contrasting important topics in the Qur'an and Sunnah to similar ones in the Bible is The Heart of Islam by Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr. There are similarities between Nasr’s ideas and those of John Cobb about Christianity.(69) These similarities refer to basic religious frameworks in Christianity and Islam.

Islam today extends from Indonesia to Morocco and into Central Africa, thus including almost all of the races of humankind. An example of tolerant living together by people of the three Abrahamic faiths in particular city-states in Spain a thousand years ago provides a strong foundation for hope for a better future. Professor Maria Rosa Menocal, published The Ornament of the World in 2002. A Yale University Professor and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center, who now lives in New York, she described a period of several hundred years around the year 1000 a.d. during which the Muslims were in Spain. Tolerance reigned especially in the arts, science, and government as the educated Christians and Jews learned Arabic and used that language to express themselves in beautiful poetry. Menocal described instances of Jews attaining high positions in Muslim government and in being creative and widely read in the fields of literature and poetry. Menocal's examples indicate that followers of the three Abrahamic religious faiths can work cooperatively and creatively, to an extent sufficient to be recorded in history. Yet, each religious group followed their own faith.

Menocal's book is well written with illuminating anecdotes that help get her points across and captivate the reader. The author, in a reader's guide at the end of her book, described why for so long, Westerners were unaware and could not fully appreciate the underlying forces of tolerance. They lacked the background perspective to appreciate that way of life. Menocal has overcome this obstacle. Other authors dwell on the intolerant acts, of which there were many, but her focus contributes to broadening perspectives of readers who prefer a well-rounded overview of those times. I highly recommend her book.

In October 2006, Robert Satloff, Executive Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, published: Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands. Satloff described examples of Arabs and Muslims willing to protect Jews from Nazi persecution, even though others actively supported it, and many were indifferent to the plight of their Jewish neighbors. He described how wealthy, worldly Arabs in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco saved Jews from persecution by Nazi and Fascist troops and police, at great personal risk. Arabs saved one woman from rape by German troops by leading her to a farm and hiding her there for weeks. He also described the actions of a Tunisian prime minister, who resisted efforts to have Tunisian Jews moved to local concentration camps. In Paris, the Grand Mosque was used as a sanctuary for approximately 100 North African Jews, providing them with documentation identifying them as Muslims. Satloff was interviewed on the PBS Newshour in late December 2006.

The writing down of old stories and laws creates problems for all three of the monotheistic faiths because the written and printed word persists over time. Some were opposed to changing old interpretations of stories in the holy books. Karen Armstrong wrote that Muhammad Abduh of Egypt, about 100 years ago, said that "the Shariah Law must be reformed to enable Muslims to get the intellectual freedom they required" in the modern world.(70) Armstrong also wrote that Dr. Ali Shariati in Iran some thirty years ago, "was convinced that Westernization had alienated Muslims from their cultural roots and that to heal this disorder they must reinterpret the old symbols of their faith."(71)

A new book, by Associate Professor Asma Barlas of Ithaca College, discussed how one interprets a text. She presents a knowledgeable application of gender study techniques and methods of applied textual analyses. She explains how each person interprets a text in slightly different ways and that textual analysis is difficult reading for some readers.(72) There is no "one right" interpretation. Interpreters must be careful to interpret a verse from the Qur'an with reference to the holistic context and the intent behind the words. The truth can only be approached in the light of the whole text and knowledge of the contextual background.

Interpretation, therefore, is risky because it can deviate from the original intent. As I see it, even a person who reads the Qur'an in Arabic (or even the Bible in English) might forget certain interrelated parts. This can make his interpretation inconsistent with other parts of the Holy Books and can distort and lead to a misinterpretation of the message. Those who can only read the Qur'an after it is translated into their own language other than Arabic, are exposed to several other sources of distortion. These include: errors in interpretation; errors that result from limitations of the vocabulary and grammar of the language into which the Qur'an is translated; and influences of modernity. The many institutions that have changed so much in the last 1400 years contribute to the latter type of errors.

Toby Lester summarized issues associated with translating the Qur'an. He described how one scholar said that reinterpretation for the modern world is "a sensitive business."(73) Some scholars have been attacked and others killed by regressive, literalist extremists.

A different aspect of interpretation is ememplified in a Newsweek article entitled Sacrificed To the Surge in the April 14, 2008 issue, pp. 30-31. As American forces have given power to keep the peace to tribal sheiks, harassment of women increases as teenagers with little knowledge and education get power and weapons. They control the life of the people in ways that vary from province to province and neighborhood to neighborhood. For example, they interpret rules about wearing the scarf and driving differently in each area.

O. CONCLUSIONS ABOUT DIFFERENT USES OF CRITICAL THINKING

To conclude these three sections on the monotheistic faiths, it is necessary to remind the reader that many followers of each of the faiths still lack the critical thinking ability and the multicultural experiences that are essential to enable them to broaden their perspectives. Broad perspectives are necessary to discover the truth behind political policies that try to justify actions by referring to distorted and out of context religious statements from sacred writings.

I believe that critical thinking is essential for the ultimate goals of replacing warfare and killing with caring and compassion for all human beings. Religion and governance are still too tightly interwoven. All three faiths have the word compassion at least 14 times in their original holy books. Sadly, the macho thrust in men seems to overpower the compassionate thrust in women, in all three religious groups. This dominance is abetted by competition in the areas of business and industry, the increasing power of weapons, and the growing separation between power-elites and the majority of the population.

More important, however, is that the majority of common people and some in our legislature lack the knowledge and information to track complex situations and provide correcting influences to governmental and corporate leaders. I attribute this deficiency to a mass media that lacks the resources and courage to help redirect our government away from the grasp of a consumer-market ideology and/or narrow-minded leaders.

My hope is that strengthening of the European Union, with a population larger than that of the United States will soon provide areas of progress and perspectives that will surpass those in the United States. These might include the quality of life for its citizens, civic involvement, and various forms of democracy, which in some cases will work better than democracy in the United States. Then we would have a model to follow in liberating people from the attractions of empire and consumerism. The second edition of a recent book by DeGraff, Wann, and Naylor, entitled: Affluenza provides many hope-generating examples that can help liberate us from this consumption-dependent disease.

Jeremy Rifkin has written a new book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. His book describes the difference in values between European and American societies. Some Europeans emphasize more-human approaches to capitalism that lead to healthier and better-educated populations.

A. INTRODUCTION

This chapter interrelates, supplements, and synthesizes the many ideas outlined in my first two chapters to provide a foundation for discussion of peacemaking in Chapters 4 and 5 herein. I discuss basic value differences between Muslims and Christians, responses to increasing diversity, and impacts of assimilation on second and third generation descendents of parents immigrating to America. I discuss key differences between Christianity and Islam to lay the groundwork for answering the question: "Why Do They Hate US?” I present six responses to this question.

I discuss a first look at interactions among the institutions of religion, polity and economy and present a short history of governance. I discuss in depth the use of stories to motivate people, and problems with revising and updating interpretations in stories and sacred writings. I end with a section on Peacemaking Circles.

B. BASIC VALUES OF MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS

Consider how basic Christian and Islamic values enter the picture. Some very basic and universal values held by followers of both faiths are: extend compassion to all those in your own community and in other diverse communities, be generous, be hospitable, be charitable, treat people of all races as equals, and be a good steward of what we call mother nature. Many Muslims follow these value guidelines as much or more, in some cases, than do many Westerners, especially Americans. Many of these values predate Islam and are rooted in Biblical traditions and in Bedouin tribal customs. Another important value that predates the three monotheistic faiths is to be responsible in maintaining the honor of your family, clan, and tribe in that order.

The values included in Bible stories and in the Qur'an are supplemented and clarified by the Gospel stories about the actions of Jesus sayings and actions of The Prophet Muhammad that are preserved in the Hadiths. The Hadiths (sayings and actions of The Prophet) provide what is equivalent to the Christian Gospels and the writings of St. Paul - models and standards for living well and contributing to the welfare of one’s community. Both of these religious faiths use the fear of Hell as an incentive to do good, though the two faiths differ about what one must do before death to guarantee salvation from Hell.

Basic value guidelines have led Muslims, to save and expand the knowledge of the Greeks and Romans that was lost during the Dark Ages that followed the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. In its heyday in Spain, from 800 a.d. to 1200 a.d., Muslims governed in a way that allowed Jews, Christians and Muslims to work peacefully together to produce great progress in the arts, philosophy, medicine and mathematics. There was discrimination and prejudice between the three faiths, and violation of human rights, among the lower classes, and some political and religious leaders at times were abusive to others. However, tolerance among the philosophers, artists and scientists allowed them to make considerable progress by working together.(74)

I believe that if children grow up seeing their parents giving tender loving care (TLC) to plants and animals and doing the same themselves, they will be more likely to value compassion, caring, and loving when they become adults. If one gives TLC to a plant, one gets a flower. If one gives TLC to a pet, the pet will lick your face of respond in other way. On a farm, children often work together with their siblings and parents in the garden and caring for chickens and the like.

On the other hand, if children grow up in crowded low-income neighborhoods where unemployment is high, in cities where there is little area in which to play, they have less opportunities to learn the benefits of TLC. Girls in the home have more opportunities to help Mom than do boys whose Father has left home, or is unemployed. Thus, in such neighborhoods, we often see girls who are more caring than boys.

To understand universal values better and how they are affected by modernization and urbanization, consider which socioeconomic groups in America have and still continue generating strong basic values that are passed on to their children. Forty-five years ago this was the small farmer and small business manager, often living in small towns. The Ozzie & Harriet family, Leave it to Beaver, and The Walton's were three TV programs that typified this life style, and more importantly, reinforced it. We lack equivalent TV serials today.

Life in modern-day urban and suburban America is no longer like it was 50 years ago. Now at least a quarter of the school children are involved in after-school activities such as sports, part-time jobs, and/or family activities, in part because they don't get enough homework and/or both parents work outside the home. Others are bored and get involved in street gangs and other non-constructive group activities. About half of the mothers work, and/or they are involved in community groups sometimes a few evenings a week.

Basic values are an essential part of what we call moral behavior. A summary of ten ideas about teaching moral behavior is accessible on the web at: [http://micheleborba.com/Pages/ArtBMI13.htm]. The author, Michele Borba, has written a popular book on the topic. It is entitled: Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues that Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing . Borba's list of essential virtues includes: Empathy, Conscience, Self-Control, Respect, Kindness, Tolerance, Fairness. One reviewer of her book suggests adding honesty as an eighth virtue. Basic values are best taught by parents, who provide examples and take advantage of educational moments. Children do not learn basic values adequately when left with television as a child sitter, and in other ways are separated from the care of nurturing parents.

Another consideration that compounds the problem of children learning moral behavior is the effects of television bringing into the home upper-middle-class life styles and the modern American emphasis on consumerism and conspicuous consumption. This magnifies the loss of self esteem among low-income residents who cannot follow such life styles. Management of personal identities is made more difficult in such environments.

With the foregoing information in mind, consider that until the early 1900's, many Muslim families in the Middle East and South Asia lived in rural areas. My guess is that a much larger proportion of them were still following the Muslim equivalent of a Walton family life style with cultural traditions of the Middle East superimposed. Many were and still are very poor. Without television, they lacked much of the consumerist-status-based expectations and desires that swamp American family life-styles. Such consumerist desires are not consistent with Islamic values against conspicuous consumption, consumerism, and status display. They also lacked exposure to the violence and sexual emphases that are included in many American TV dramas.

I believe that most Muslims followed the very old values up to the time in the mid-1800's when colonial oppression impinged upon their tradition-bound societies. Western dominance, exploitation, and oppression in the 1900’s restricted the freedoms that Islamic scholars had prior to colonial rule. These freedoms are necessary for scholars to reinterpret and update interpretations of the Qur'an and Hadith while safeguarding the INTENT of the sacred writings. A middle and very small upper class began to be exposed to Western ways during the colonial period.

Consider the historical contexts of changes that have occurred in Western European and in Muslim countries in Western Asia.

Mongol invasions in the thirteenth century devastated Muslim libraries, cities, and institutions of learning. Armstrong wrote:

"But after such a catastrophe, the natural conservatism of pre-modern” and tribal cultures “was likely to become more pronounced.” People concentrated on recovering slowly and painfully what had been lost rather than striking out for something new."(75)

Before the invasion "Muslim jurists had been allowed to exercise their own judgment in order to resolve questions that arose in relation to theology and law for which neither the Koran nor established tradition had an explicit answer."

After discovery of the New World and the coming of the printing press, Western people learned to read the sacred books and learned about new political and manufacturing ideas. The enlightenment period got its start and Westerners began to make more progress than Muslims. As the enlightenment spread, the West experienced the Protestant Reformation, rapid growth of technical know-how, mechanical inventions and the rise of industry.

"By the early modern period...Sunni Muslims believed that there was no need for further independent thought."(76) The Sunnis, still today see little need for a religious hierarchy. As a result they tend to have secular political hierarchies, in many cases corrupted by the money gotten from oil.

Some relevant questions follow. How did these and related changes affect the basic values that were prevalent in the Muslim world for centuries? How has recent exposure to modern ways of life, over the radio and now television and the Internet, affected the self-image of Muslims in the last few decades? How have the rapid Israeli military defeats of Arab and Palestinian forces in the Middle East affected Muslim honor and self-esteem? Are the traditional values that served Muslims so well, now being threatened? Are their self-images being humiliated? I believe that the answers to the last two questions are - Yes!

The foregoing, I believe, contributes a large part to the dislike and distrust Muslims hold: towards American and European governmental policies, their leaders and, in some cases, towards American citizens.

C. DIVERSITY

Just before the tragedy of 9-11 Professor Diana Eck published her book A New Religious America. It describes the great increase in diversity among religious buildings and groups in the United States. After 9-11, she revised her Preface. The first few sentences are as follows.

"The September 11, 2001 catastrophe brought to the United States a new consciousness of the transformation of American society that is the subject of this book. During the lazy summer months of 2001, as I spoke about A New Religious America to audiences across the country, I found many people still surprised to learn about America's religious diversity and reluctantly challenged to think about what this diversity means for America."

The classical writings of John Rawls are relevant here.(77) His later book, Political Liberalism discusses the problems of developing a just (fair) pluralistic society. One reviewer wrote of his second book that the people of a society do not have to be relatively homogeneous in their moral beliefs concerning its institutions.

I, myself, believe that a pluralistic populace can be treated fairly if their political institutions can accommodate the diverse perspectives that, in the three monotheistic religions, are not inconsistent with the requirements of a good society.

Shared experiences with people from different cultural and religious backgrounds help a person:

(1) to understand their own self better,

(2) to learn about traditions from different ethno-religious groups, and

(3) to clarify and expand their worldviews.

Sharing experiences with diverse others also helps one relate better to his or her God. Building a relationship with people who have transcendent perspectives is like a journey. Humans search for paths that will lead them to relationships with the Ultimate Caring Other. Sharing experiences and listening to stories about people who have sought the right paths help one navigate better in his or her own journey. In the following, I focus mainly on different paths used by followers of the three monotheistic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They have many similarities in their essential tenets that are so well described by Karen Armstrong in her books, A History of God and The Battle For God.

Another important aspect of diversity explored in this chapter is: that within a particular religious congregation there are those who follow outdated orthodox interpretations and confuse dated cultural/historical aspects of the holy books with universal spiritual truths. There are others who are moderate or progressive in their interpretations and consider the context of the times when interpreting the old traditions. There are also a small number of others who purposely distort their interpretation of holy writings to teach: biased simplistic doctrines, hatred, and justify political actions that are neither compatible nor consistent with the holy tenets. Many Christian and Muslim congregations in America include members that fall into one or the other of the foregoing categories and thus have different interpretations and worldviews.

Immigrants to places that have different cultural settings face special problems, especially for the religious migrant. Consider the point of view of Muslim immigrants to America. If they try to blend in with the culture of the new host society (become assimilated), their intention of following the path presented in the Qur'an might be weakened, but not necessarily so. Although some Islamic scholars have said that assimilation into Western culture will eventually destroy the Islamic faith of those who assimilate, there are others who say that accommodation while maintaining the intentions of the Islamic faith is possible.

Two questions arise since there is great diversity among the paths that individual Americans choose to follow on their life quest for a relationship with an ultimate caring other.

(1) Can there be a true religious pluralism in a society wherein people respect the faiths of others?

(2) Do the major religions that have withstood the test of time, hold enough human values in common so that followers can appreciate and respect those who follow somewhat different paths toward a relationship with the transcendent?

I believe that the answers to these two questions are definitely -- Yes.

Bruce Feiler described the ending of a long talk with Sheikh Yusef Abu Sneina, "the imam of El-Aksa Mosque, and one of the most vocal leaders in Jerusalem". Feiler wrote that their discussion was stilted at first. However, the mood lightened after a half hour.(78) A statement by the Sheikh at the ending of their talk follows.

"The situation we are facing is that people are living their daily lives far away from the truly faithful, and from Abraham. If we look beyond the details, which we may disagree about, and follow the principles of Abraham -- truth, morality, and coexistence -- then most of our problems will disappear."(79)

This statement, in my view, and I believe that in Feiler's view also, implies that the Sheikh also believes that Yes answers to the foregoing two questions are possible.

D. EFFECTS OF ASSIMILATION ON IMMIGRANTS TO AMERICA

Some similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam will influence the degree to which immigrants from Muslim nations can assimilate into Western cultures. Both Islam and Christianity prescribe being caring and compassionate to neighbors near and far. Jesus was one of the first to place great emphasis on including as neighbors, those outside one's ethno-religious group. The Qur'an does likewise. However, many so-called followers in both of these faiths let the animalistic concerns of their egos override the call to be caring and tolerant of different approaches to the one God.

An important difference between Islam and Christianity relates to Judgment Day, whether a soul will be sent to Hell or Heaven or Paradise, and on what basis the decision is made. Many Christians believe that one sincerely has to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior before death to have his sins be forgiven and to be assured of salvation - going to Heaven. Many Muslims believe that their good and bad deeds are weighed when that decision is made. Some Muslims believe that a trip to Mecca - The Haj - once in their lifetime will help counterbalance some of their sins. Have those Christians, who believe in the substitutionary atonement and salvation by accepting Jesus as Lord, weakened the effectiveness of the fear of Hell, as a motivator for doing good deeds? Section H, below, provides more detail on this difference between the two faiths.

Statistics gathered in the 1980’s show that the majority of Christians and Muslims in America, attended religious prayer and other services at about the same frequency. The data showed that 10 & 12% respectively for Muslims and Christians never attended in the past year and 39 & 36% attended weekly, respectively for Muslims and for Christians.) It is surprising how similar the percentages for Muslims in America are to those for Christians.

Other comparative data is shown below.

       Place of Birth        Attend Mosque Weekly or More          Often Prayed 5 Times Daily

         USA                            50%                                14%

         Lebanon                        41%                                31%

         India/Pakistan                 53%                                34%

         Other                          58%                                26%

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Haddad and Lummis, also present a chart, on page 141, that shows the percentage of Muslims who disagree with the statement that young men (aged 18 and older) should be allowed to date. The percentages in the 1980's in the US were: 51% for immigrants, 23% for descendents of immigrants and 11% for the next generation. Note the decline from generation to generation as values change with assimilation. For the combined sample, 38% disagreed with men being allowed by their families to date (without supervision by a family member) and 49% disagreed with women being allowed by their families to date. (page 137)

More recent trends from Professor Marcia Pally are posted on the web at:

[http://www.americanarabforum.org/integration_of_muslims_in_the_us.htm]

They are entitled: Integration of Muslims in the US - Familiarity with Difference. Qantara, June 15, 2007. The web site was written by: Professor Marcia Pally who teaches at New York University and Fordham University. A few short quotes appear below.

"North American Muslims are better integrated into their societies than are their European counterparts. What allows them to participate without assimilation is the "pluralistic" public sphere, says Marcia Pally (2007)." The more pluralistic public sphere is found in the USA.

Marcia Pally wrote: "Pew says Europe's Muslims are "ghettoized" and "markedly less well off than the general population, frustrated with economic opportunities and socially isolated." In the USA "their communities are excellent or good places to live"; 71% say people can succeed in the US if they work at it. Both income and college graduation levels match the national norms. Most feel Muslims should adopt American customs once in the US and 63% report no conflict between religious devotion and living in a modern society."

Pally has much more information in her posting:

"What emerges" said Amaney Jamal, an adviser to the study, "is the great success of the Muslim American population in its socioeconomic assimilation." Jamal meant well, but it's not "assimilation" that is the success. "Assimilation" means dissolving into the mainstream, but Muslim-Americans do not; they remain devoutly Muslim.”

How do sacred writings affect assimilation? A comparison of the sacred writings of Islam to those of Christianity shows that those prescriptions in the sacred revelations and writings that refer to universal mores are included in the writings of these two monotheistic faiths. Yet each of the faiths has a different mix of cultural values intended to guide followers along the different paths toward a fulfilling and satisfying life. I learned that it is very important to distinguish the paths indicated by a strict literal translation of the sacred revelations in the Bible and in the Qur'an, from those paths that are followed by more progressive interpreters of these sacred writings.

The progressives in both Christianity and Islam rely on scholarly reinterpretations based on knowledge of particular cultural (social and economic) contexts of the times.(80) To apply ancient prescriptions in more up-to-date contexts, the scholars consider the INTENT behind each dated prescription and reinterpret the wording without violating the INTENT. In addition, differences between the pre-Christian and pre-Muslim cultures on the one hand and the present-day cultures on the other hand must be considered in these reinterpretations. I believe that in America at present, some aspects of the present-day culture contradict the intent of the sacred writings of both faiths.

E. INTERACTIONS AMONG POLITICAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

I mentioned in Chapter 1 the work of Walter Wink and Emmanuel Todd. Both of them contributed to different ways of thinking about institutions and the political, economic, and religious powers that are supported by the norms and values that comprise these institutions. At this point, I introduce the idea of institutional change wherein the institutions of economy, polity, education and religion are involved together. I defined institutions in the beginning of Section A in Chapter 2 of this book.

We are living in times of rapid change as cultures clash on our shrinking globe. The writings of Emmanuel Todd and Walter Wink(81) have led me to think about societal institutions. The roles and positions filled by those who work in the organizations that represent the institutions define the influence that workers wield within the organization and beyond. The powers that are associated with the leaders of these institutions have spiritual roots that extend deep down into our unconscious. For example many Roman Catholics revere their Pope. Shiite Muslims revere their Ayatollah. In the institution of nuclear families deserving fathers and/or mothers are loved, revered, and internalized by their children. A student might internalize a favorite schoolteacher. Many Christians have internalized Jesus, and as expressed by the words of the Hymn, In the Garden, "He walks with me and He talks with me."

Adapting to and confronting aspects of cultural change is stressful. The responses to such stresses are evident, especially in young people trying to develop secure personal identities and to make choices about commitments to ideas, groups, political parties and careers. I referred to the good work of The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)in Section J of my Chapter 1. Both public school and religious education teachers can help considerably by using some of the SPLC's innovative ideas.

Consider the ideas of George Lakoff, Moral Politics a linguist who has analyzed how people react to certain key words and symbols that arouse emotions rooted in their unconscious.(82) If these reactions are viewed as threats some people close their minds and they become unable to listen and think critically. Often, this loss occurs without the victim realizing how he or she has been manipulated. Excessive television watching from babyhood on affects brain development to lower attention spans, and in some, it leads to attention deficit disorders that make learning more problematical. This also affects reactions to certain key words. We have already witnessed the application and exploitation of this television syndrome in the proliferation of 15-second sound bytes in advertising and in election campaigns. Fifteen-second sound bytes are not conducive to critical thinking. The decrease in critical thinking is a danger to democratic societies because a true democracy depends upon people listening to diverse others discussing differences, understanding differences and striving toward consensus.

Recent publications about the idea of memes are related to the foregoing. Glenn Grant has a web site that helps readers understand memes by relating them to the idea of a virus. (See Section I in Chapter 2 herein includes a discussion of memes.) Grant wrote that a meme is a pattern of information that happens to evolve a form that induces people to repeat the pattern.(83) Advertisers and politicians running for election use these ideas for their own selfish purposes. See also the work of Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan, Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change. I refer to their ideas in Chapter 5, near the end of Section C.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, in his book What's Right With Islam (2004), Imam of a mosque twelve blocks from the World Trade Center site in Manhattan, has done a superb job of describing the Islamic faith. In his Chapter 4, he wove together ideas from the work of Wilfred Cantrell Smith, Barber, and Dawkins.(84) Rauf distinguished between religion as an institution or system, which is a concept that is about one or two centuries old and, on the other hand the much older concept – religion as defining how a person relates to his or her God. Islam means self-surrender to God, and only recently has the Western meaning of Islam as a religious system or institution become common in writings. He wrote, on page 115, "Religion changed from something you did into something that you were." The relatively new terms, Islamism and Islamists merge the faith of Islam with political militancy and that leads Westerners to think that Islam is the source of militancy. This, Rauf wrote, is a "pernicious use of language". I recommend Rauf's book highly and place it on a par with Nasr's The Heart of Islam.

The ambiguities one encounters in times of socio-cultural change, especially in underdeveloped societies, make it difficult for young men to manage development of a strong and secure identity and worldview. Such change often requires individuals to change the priorities of their values and commitments. For example, young persons learn that career opportunities in the cities provide more choices that they can find in their village. But, to seek these new opportunities, one must decrease commitments to family and learn about making commitments to ones school, craft, or trade in the city. Traditional worldviews do not provide clear guidance for such changes. The ambiguities produced by these changes increase stress within families and with the youth facing decisions about moving to the new and more complex world of city life.

I have seen the variety of responses to change when rural people moved to the towns to work in textile mills in South Carolina. In some rural areas in the America of the 1950's and 60's schools tried to help prepare students for these changes, whereas in other areas the young people had to adapt without help. Sometimes church leaders helped in the readjustments. Fifty years ago, radio and popular magazines helped by dramatizing these changes in their programming and stories. Remember that in the middle of the twentieth century, the influence of television was much different than it is now and there was no Internet. I believe that the levels of stress are much greater in the developing countries of the Middle East. Now the rate of change is faster and television and the Internet now focus on the negative aspects of city life to a much greater degree.

Consider that in their early years, many Saudi boys are influenced in ways that determine how they will react to strict leaders and to women. Coming under the strict domination of their father between ages four and seven, I believe, will influence the image of God they have in their adulthood. I believe that this is so in Islam, and also in Christianity. Similarly, they can become easy prey to those extremist religious clerics and teachers who emphasize an authoritarian image of God. On the other hand, if their father is kind and compassionate, they are less likely to view God as authoritarian.

These problems of stress are compounded further by the emphasis on honor and blaming in that part of our world. (The traditions of honor and blaming are discussed in Section L of this chapter.) Changes have come so quickly that Muslim clerics and other educators have not had experience or training to help in these transitions. The result is that many leaders have chosen to regress to more fundamental guidelines associated with the Qur'an and the traditions of patriarchal cultures. Experience with living under colonial domination further compounds the problems of change.

I believe that these inner struggles can lead to the violence similar to that which Emmanuel Todd found when a culture is changing from a patriarchal pre-industrial form to a modern form.(pp. 32-42) When leaders have the resources they can help the young persons prepare for and adapt to the new situations through counseling and training for employment in this computer age. When leaders lack experience with such changes, they sometimes blame societal change and colonialism for the stress and the discord or violence that can result.

Walter Wink, in his first Chapter described the "powers" that the Bible speaks about using such terms as the Dragon (Revelations 12) to represent the dominating Roman Empire. These powers include educational, political, military, and religious institutions, but there is also a spiritual aspect that extends deep down into the unconscious of persons affected by the institutions and the leaders of the institutions. I discussed this idea in the latter part of Section P in Chapter 1 herein.

The next few sections of this chapter summarize historical trends in governance.

F. A BRIEF HISTORY OF GOVERNANCE

Primitive religions had common features, primarily because of the basic needs of human nature. These needs included: the need for food and water, safety needs, needs to explain natural events such as floods, storms and drought, and the need for a supportive relationship with caring others (developed from early childhood on). In addition, the exchange of ideas with people from other religious backgrounds provided some influences that resulted in common rituals and traditions.(85)

In the tribal village, for example, there was no government, as we know it today. The family patriarch ruled and cared for (governed) his family's property. Inter-clan conflict was a common problem. As more and more people lived in cities, where there were many classes and ethnic groups (craftsmen, traders, soldiers, scribes judges and priests), the need for governance based upon commitments to larger-scale communities became evident.

One of the best ways to legitimatize efforts to guide people has been, throughout history, to attribute the laws that govern one's guidance to a transcendent God or gods who exist remotely in the heavens and who communicate with the priest through angels and the like. Such communication was the domain of religion then, and it remains so today, except in those highly secular societies where religion institutions have lost some of their influence to political and economic ideological systems.

Richard Hooker, from Washington State University, summarized how governance developed from Hammurabi's Code 5,000 years ago. This code was based mostly upon pure reciprocal revenge (an eye for an eye). Approximately 280 laws were written down for the first time and we are fortunate that they have been preserved for us today. The scale of community to which people were committed slowly increased from families, to clans, and to tribes as the administering unit. But reciprocal revenge (equal retribution) threatened to breakdown governing networks within communities as the size and diversity within these communities increased. How could justice be administered in the context of equal retribution? This problem was solved as justice was increasingly administered by cities and eventually, by the states. The state government made the laws, and they were interpreted by judges. An advantage of this system is that those who administered the government were separate, to some degree, from those who decided upon punishments (the judges) and thus, ideally, governing officials could not be held responsible and become victims of revenge.

The next step in the evolution of governance was learning to abstract the ideas that supported the growing complex of laws. Hammurabi's code consisted of some 280 laws grouped in sections for administering ownership of land and the rights of ownership, ownership of sheep, relations to neighbors, relations between husband and wife, selling, renting and trade, and so on. Moses was one of the first of whom we know who tried to reduce the complexity to the Ten Commandments. Jesus reduced them further to two great commandments, (Love thy God with all they mind, heart, and soul; and Do unto others as you would have them do unto you). Jesus tried to liberate humans from an excess of laws many of which continually needed to be reinterpreted as cities grew in size and the number of different occupations and different ethnic groups increased. Jesus tried to make humans realize that all these diverse groups of people were to be treated as one would treat neighbors within one's own clan or tribe. Unfortunately, we still struggle with how to have people follow this commandment.

In the seventh century, A.D., The Prophet Muhammad, lived amidst the sands of Arabia and gained experience as a leader of trade caravans, a businessman, and a devoted husband. He tried to organize his neighbors to overcome their commitment to diverse tribal gods and to the retributive forms of justice under which they lived. There was no central government and system for justice in Arabia at that time. The Prophet Muhammad was familiar with the religious systems of his monotheistic neighbors, Jews and Christians, and established Islam based upon following one God and being governed by scholars who interpreted the Islamic laws. As in the Arabian society of his time, many Muslims today view the Qur'an, Hadith, and Shariah as effective bases for governing the whole round of life. The Qur'an and Hadith are described in my web posting: Introduction to Muslims and Islam, listed in my Bibliography under Notess.

However, as modernity spread and technology progressed, it became more and more difficult to govern the whole round of life by religious institutions alone. Conflicts between rational and spiritual approaches to law became common and still exist today. Political institutions have evolved to take on part of that burden.

I believe that one of the most important needs today is for a trusted system of justice monitoring and countering state violence, both within the state and among states. Such systems of justice must be administered fairly and equitably, and must now function up to continental and global levels. The latter is the responsibility of a global organization such as the United Nations and the World Court. As in the United States, the justice system must be part of a transcendent constitution that defines checks and balances among courts, legislatures, and administrations. Such a goal is most difficult to obtain in today's world, even in America. There will always be people with self-oriented and narrow perspectives who seek to gain control of the justice system. This leads to cycles oscillating between corruption and reform.

G. OBSTACLES TO INCREASING THE SIZE OF COMMUNITIES

To get a feel for how difficult it will be to increase the scale of commitments from tribal to national and global scales, consider the upbringing of young Bedouin males. Lindsey has written that starting at about age four the boy, a few decades back, was taken from the kind and lenient care of his mother to be eased into the male hierarchy.(86) He learned he had to serve and obey his father. He "learned that all females were supposed to do his bidding" and that all boys and "men older than he... were his superiors". As tribes and family clans had to fight to defend or acquire rights to water holes, courage and trust in a supportive extended family were very important. Survival depended upon family cohesion, solidarity, and shared responsibility. As tribes grew larger they would split, but each man remembered his ancestry. Some of these traditions still persist today, and obstruct commitments to larger scale systems of justice.

Another concern, in my view, is that emphasis on their family-based system of honor, described in Section L of this chapter, is possibly a cause of the fact that Muslims tend to exaggerate, in public, their emotional responses to incidents that involve disputes between persons and their friends. They seem to be displaying, publicly, a defense of their honor. Sandra Mackey described how she saw many shouting matches in which antagonists at an auto accident appeared to be ready to draw arms. However, she continued, she had never seen one Saudi strike another.(87) Television news cameras today seem to focus on this type of shouting and arm waving reaction to bombings that are blamed on the West. To what extent might it be a defense of honor reaction?

It will take time to change these traditions. I believe that migration from rural areas to cities to work in new industries will require specialized training and will eventually help people transfer their loyalties to larger scale communities. Her book provides a different view that supplements and in some cases differs from Lindsey's view. (Both books are listed in my Bibliography.) She discussed familial and tribal commitments and the effects on these commitments of a move to the city.(88)

I believe that education is a major key to broaden the perspectives of tribal peoples. Education must be relevant to the daily lives of the people today. This will require reinterpretation of symbols, stories, metaphors, myths, and sacred writings.

H. DIFFERENCES IN APPROACHES TO RELIGION BY MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS

The following elaborates a bit upon differences between Muslim and Christian approaches to religion. A religious scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, in his book The Heart of Islam described very clearly how much the virtues of compassion, mercy, and love abound in Islam, in the Qur'an and Sufi poetry.(89) In comparison with Christianity, the Qur'an and Hadiths emphasize more so than the Bible; care for orphans, financial and personal guidelines for marriage and divorce, being fair and equitable in business transactions, being kind to women and children in war, being charitable, dressing and living modestly, and so on. (Not all Muslims today follow these prescriptions.) This in part is influenced by the different historical context of Muslims in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. From before the start of Islam, the Bedouins relied on these guidelines to survive during life in the harsh desert and mountainous regions, and some of these prescriptions were needed to respond to the effects of many intertribal conflicts that contributed to significant numbers of orphans and widows.

As I mentioned in Chapter 2, Section N, The Prophet worked at uniting the many tribes that were often fighting amongst each other. Some of the norms derived from the Qur'an and Hadiths were, in part, also related to the fact that Islam was first established in a place and time where commerce and trade routes played important roles in local economies. Commerce was more important than 700 years earlier, when Christianity was young.

The tribal basis for social organization led Islam's sacred writings and those in the Old Testament to refer to holy war more often and in more detail than does the New Testament. Joshua and The Prophet Muhammad both led holy wars against polytheistic tribal peoples. The military victories of Muslim monotheism helped to convert and thus unify the competing tribes in Arabia at that time.

It is very important to remember that The Prophet's final entry into Mecca did not have the murderous consequences that befell the people of Jericho. It is also important to realize that holy war in ancient times involved face-to-face conflict with knives, swords and arrows. Today, after 9-11, the holy wars increasingly rely on much more deadly weaponry which is based on firing decisions made by aircraft pilots many miles from the target, or insurgents using cell phones to ignite bombs. Thus the whole interpretation of holy war, then and now, has changed and this requires new words for such actions and reinterpretation of their references in the sacred writings of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

My conclusions about Muslims in America are that the actual guidelines followed by the majority of believers, especially those born in America, are moderated interpretations of sacred writings. The followers update, in their minds, some of the historical, cultural, and dated prescriptions that are relevant to them. This is especially so among second and third generation descendents of immigrants.

In every faith, there are some who follow the prescribed practices more strictly than most. In predominately Muslim countries, similar differences are found mostly among the more broadly educated urban dwellers. These are not necessarily technically educated ones such as engineers. Whereas strict orthodox followers might be about a quarter of the Muslims in America, they seem to exceed half in some of the Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia. It is difficult to get accurate information in these insecure times.

As far as following the INTENT of the sacred writings, the actual practices of moderate followers are similar to each other in the three faiths. On the other hand, there is a sizable portion of followers in each of the three monotheistic faiths who follow an orthodox/literal interpretation of their sacred writings (Some use the word fundamentalist for the latter groups, though that term has a variety of different meanings). Many rely on a favorite, often charismatic, cleric and are convinced that the cleric's interpretation is the absolute truth.

At this point, to provide some balance, I believe that it is helpful to refer the reader to a book by Larry Poston, with Carl Ellis, entitled: The Changing Face of Islam in America. It is a book that contrasts religious outreach of Christian evangelicals with that of Muslims in America. Their ninth chapter is an attempt to point out how Christian beliefs and spirituality differ from that of Muslims and other faiths. They emphasize the differences between external practices what I call, cultural institutional aspects of faith, and the internal and personal aspects of faith, which cannot be imposed upon a person, but must be accepted as a voluntary commitment to a relationship with God that Evangelicals call "being born again".(pp. 195-203). Evangelicals believe that there is only one path to this relationship. Others who call themselves Christians disagree with this exclusivist, one-and-only path to a relationship with God.

Muslims have their own beliefs about salvation as being based on a measure of their compassionate and good actions versus their bad, selfish, and sinful actions. Yet I believe that many do achieve a personal relationship with The Prophet Muhammad and/or Allah. The model of a righteous person that they follow from the hadith (the actions and sayings of The Prophet Muhammad) guide them in their commitments to a relationship with their God. For followers of either of these two religions, striving to progress along the "right" path is not an easy task for an individual in our secular, over-commercialized and greedy world.(90)

Poston and Ellis described Christianity as an exclusivist faith, and pose the question: "Is it possible to embrace a pluralistic democracy and at the same time be a Christian exclusivist?" (p. 194). They answer this question on page 202 by writing: "...Christians should function individually as exclusivists, but locally, nationally and internationally as pluralists." Is Christianity for them, to some extent, an underground faith like it was in Eastern Europe and parts of Germany during and after World War II?

I. EXTREMISTS AND CAUSES OF MILITANCY

Within each of the three monotheistic faiths there are small proportions of followers who are taught by demagogues and totalitarian zealots to believe distorted and simplified versions of their faith. The leaders simplify the faith to attract followers and they distort some aspects of their faith to justify extreme actions against OTHERS whom they identify as non-believers. I have heard and read about Christians and Muslims who pass judgment on other followers of their own faith and call them heretics or idolaters. Some Evangelical Christians pass this type of judgment on United Methodists and Some Sunni Arabs pass this judgment upon Shiite Muslims.

These judgmental conservatives in some cases follow leaders who mislead young followers who often have a very limited workable understanding of the sacred writings or scripture, even though some might have memorized the writings. Absent from almost all zealots and their followers is a sufficient amount of shared constructive experiences with diverse others which would lead them to understand and appreciate better their own faith and the different worldviews of these OTHERS.

In the case of Islam, regressive Wahhabi interpretations were propagated by Saudi Arabia, using oil money to finance training of imams (clerics), publish slanted textbooks, and build mosques in many Muslim communities, in the West, and in America.(91)

The present culture of Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia, makes it difficult to broaden perspectives, especially for those with no high school education and little opportunity to learn on the job in culturally diverse settings. It is to be expected that some, especially unemployed youth with little hope of a secure career, would be susceptible to the ranting of extremist leaders. In those nations wherein a greater proportion of Muslims follow distorted and unbalanced interpretations of the Islamic faith, major boosts to recruitment for violence are:

1) the increased poverty and hopelessness among young persons,

2) years of governance by corrupt authoritarian regimes ruled by puppet governors installed and supported by colonialist Western nations, and

3) the effects upon their culture of occupation by British and French armies for over 100 years. Occupation is humiliating, especially for those cultures that emphasize honor at the tribal level.

We all would progress toward a peaceful togetherness, if the Westernized Christians and Jews were more sincere in their faith’s call to act with compassion and caring toward their neighbors. This includes, especially, the Orthodox Jews in Israel and those American Evangelicals who support Israel's expansion into the West Bank, in hopes of fulfilling, respectively, ancient ideas of being a chosen peoples, and prophecies of a second coming. By this, I mean that they should have helped the Muslims and worked together with them to build their economies and education systems to reduce the poverty, and provide opportunities to work together on a variety of constructive projects. The Israelis restricted the Palestinians by building settlements on land stolen from the Palestinians. The Israelis consume several times more water per capita than they allot to the Palestinians. In many areas the Palestinians are permitted to draw water only a few days per week.

In sum, I believe that both Muslims and Christians need to make some changes in how they interpret and apply their written traditions. The reorientation and reinterpretations of sacred writings suggested by progressive Christian and Muslim writers include an increase in the scales of commitment to include the national level. This does not mean that the family is neglected, for commitment to family differs from the commitment to one's nation, which in turn differs from that to one's God.

The reorientation should reinterpret verses in the sacred writings that at present relate to aspects of the cultures and historical contexts in the Middle East, over 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. Reinterpretation should change the language and vocabulary of some verses in the Qur'an and Bible, without changing the INTENT of the sacred revelations. The reorientation and reinterpretation should also account for changes in our globalizing world.

These changes include: severe increases in the killing and wounding capacity of new weaponry, increased speed of communication via the Internet, increased speed and range of transportation, and a growth in population that exceeds the limits imposed by our planet’s natural resources. We must provide and distribute more equitably what is needed for a healthy and safe life for all. For example, I believe that it is essential to reduce birth rates to stabilize population growth that exceeds employment opportunities, food supplies, the capacities of housing, and easy access to clean water and good road systems. Reduction in birth rates has happened for some racial and ethnic groups in the West as they became assimilated into modern cultures and women began to work outside the home. However, such a transition takes time.

The writings in a recent book entitled Progressive Muslims edited by Omid Safi and in books by Christian writers: Bishop Spong, Marcus Borg, and others, all point out comparable changes that are needed in reinterpreting Holy Books.

To achieve this form of progressive change within the INTENT of Allah's Revelations to The Prophet Muhammad, requires a national government that will respect the changes in life styles and life needs, as more women work outside the home. Related life needs are: day-care for children and the elderly; and protection of human rights for males and females on an equal basis, and for children and the elderly.

Another writer who has influenced many interested in progressive Islamic views is Muqtedar Khan, a professor and Director of International Studies at Adrian University in Michigan.(92)

J. FUNDAMENTALISM IS A WORD OF MANY MEANINGS

When exploring the diversity among religious faiths and within religious faiths, it is desirable to clarify the term Fundamentalism, which is interpreted in so many different ways. I seldom use the term "fundamentalist" because it has taken on a derogatory slant in the minds of many Americans, typically signifying a blind acceptance of selected old statements in holy writings some of which are now viewed as dated and/or taken out of context. Sometimes the outdated statements involve cultural traditions that have become mixed with the religious aspects of the faith. Much of the confusion around the term fundamentalist is the result of not distinguishing between fundamental premises of a faith that are timeless and universal on the one hand, and on the other hand, those statements that have lost meaning because of changes in the contexts of the times. Both cultural and politico-economic contexts have changed.

President Jimmy Carter, in Book magazine (Nov/Dec) 2001 wrote:

"[Fundamentalism] means you don't want to learn new facts, because they might disturb your previous opinions. You become convinced that your truths have come from God, and anyone who disagrees with you is wrong. ... That leads to a lot of persecution in the world."(93)

In the beginning of her Introduction to The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong presented a good discussion of the background leading to American "fundamentalism". In the early decades of the twentieth century, some American Protestants were the first to use the term to distinguish themselves from more liberal Protestants, believing that the latter distorted their faith. They preferred to return to basics and a more literal interpretation of Scripture.

Muslim fundamentalists are less concerned with doctrine. That is a Christian concern. "A literal translation of "fundamentalism" into Arabic gives us usuliyyah, a word that refers to the study of the sources of the various rules and principles of Islamic Law." On page xiii Armstrong wrote: "To avoid contamination, (fundamentalists) often withdraw from mainstream society to create a counterculture; ...they create an ideology that provides the faithful with a plan of action". (I added the term in parentheses.)

Bowen and Early wrote the following as a lead-in to a chapter on Islamist Activism. "The classic stereotype of a Muslim fundamentalist is a terrorist. The implicit assumption, however, that because a Muslim cares deeply about his religion and practices it fervently he is therefore violent and dangerous is both false and misleading. In fact, the term "Islamic fundamentalist" connotes a kind of fanaticism that does not accurately reflect the concerns and activities of those who seek to transform society into one governed by the precepts of Islam."(94) I would add that many of these precepts are universal Abrahamic precepts that are consistent with the Qu'ran.

Spong wrote about fanaticism in a discussion of the writing of St. Paul (on pages 137-8 in The Sins of Scripture). Spong wrote:

"One of the marks of fanaticism is a tendency to erupt in rage whenever some of the protective layers in the fanatic's security system are challenged or exposed. ... Fanatics make constant attempts to silence their critics, to excommunicate them, sometimes to burn them at the stake. ... They are people who are clearly busy suppressing something inside themselves with which they feel they cannot cope. They attach themselves to the authority of religious rules and systems that become unbendable and self-defining. They see anyone who is against their security-producing rules as being against God."

In sum, many reactionary fanatics seem to have a low tolerance for ambiguity and cannot understand or accept how deeply societal changes have affected how a well-intentioned believer should act in the context of present-day situations. The reactionary finds his security in a return to the familiar old traditions, which he uses as a guide for his actions. He does not realize that to follow the original intentions that underlie the holy writings might require reinterpretation of some familiar traditional responses. The intent of the holy writings is what is often the more universal aspect.

This points directly to a need for a broadly-based re-education of religious teachers and the common people, so that they can read their sacred books critically and separate out the dated (cultural and not universal) aspects. Then they can reinterpret them in a way that is appropriate to present-day contexts and the intent of the sacred writings as a whole. In addition, education should include the history of democracy in the USA, Europe and elsewhere. Lack of this historical background led to the mess we found in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. There has been an obvious lack of mutual trust among the various tribal leaders who were voted to the Iraqi legislature.

There is also a need to reeducate our own military leaders who were porribly trained by a book entitled: Conflict, Culture, and History. I have read a 1993 version of that book by Stephen J. Blank, et al and was still available in 2002. It was published by the Air University Press and I assume that many leaders have been exposed to the biased views expressed in a 59 page chapter by Lewis B. Ware on Islamic concepts of conflict. I believe that the chapter is based upon the writings of those who formed their ideas about Islam mainly from Medieval conflicts rather than the many more modern interpretations followed by secular and more broad minded Muslims that I summarize in this E-book. For example, the writings of Esposito, El Fadl, Armstrong and Jane Smith are not mentioned therein. Only since General Petreaus took command in Iraq is there evidence of application of more broadly informed knowledge about Muslims in the Middle East.

Interpretation is a complex undertaking. There is a very readable and interesting discussion of problems associated with interpreting the Bible and the Qur'an starting on page 128 of Bruce Feiler's book Abraham.

To overcome the narrow perspectives that many fundamentalists seem to have, it is helpful to transcend the limitations imposed by egoism, selfishness, and greed. Focusing on self holds us back from the kind of self-abandonment associated with spiritual relationships and seeking to attain transcendent perspectives. Such relationships and quests lead people to act with compassion toward others and to relate to diverse others. By so doing they progress toward more transcendent perspectives and ultimately to relationships with the divine. Karen Armstrong wrote, on page 105 in God at 2000 that many people " ... go to church, synagogue, or mosque not to cultivate self-abandonment, but to affirm their identities. We get a "buzz" out of being right, and our religion can make us feel superior to others who have not "seen the light"."

I believe that her last sentence helps considerably to explain the great increase in attendance at mega-church services led by Evangelicals such as the Reverend Ted Haggard. (Haggard was the leader of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs with 12,000 members and was president of the National Association of Evangelicals.) For many, the church service affirms their identities and makes them feel superior to those (outside); those whose worldviews are more complex and who seem to be at ease in pluralistic settings. Single-issue political involvement simplifies reality and makes followers feel good, feeling as partners with their God. On page 110, Armstrong wrote: "Our religious traditions should not encase us in a ghetto of righteousness, excluding and even reviling those outside. That is what extremists on the right and on the left seem to do - being exclusive - saying: "We are right and they are evil.""

John Spong points out how the Bible has many sayings that are used to justify violence. One reviewer wrote that those who say that the Bible is the inerrant "Word of God" are idolaters. In my view, those who commit violence, ignore the teachings of Jesus, other teachings, and sayings in the Bible that emphasize being compassionate toward all people, even those beyond one's own tribe or nation. Spong's book is a detailed resource for the contradictory teachings evident in the Bible.

K. WHY DO THEY HATE US?

In the days after 9-11, many Americans were asking: "Why did they do this to us?" In response, many Muslims in America tried to describe their faith to others and emphasized that Islam is a peaceful faith. They pointed out that militant political activists had distorted the faith to raise support for, and/or to justify their extremist political agendas. However such statements by Muslims have been given little coverage and time by the American media.

Typically, the media in America has seldom given in-depth coverage to Muslim affairs, and dramatic television presentations often focused on presenting old biased stereotypes. A good way to counter such biased impressions is to tell stories about Muslim life in America; stories that illustrate the good values that guide Muslims in their daily lives. Many of the values implicit in their daily activities are good universal values that are followed by people of many faiths.

There are many answers to the question: “Why Do They Hate Us?”, but the American media, except for some public television programs, seem to be incapable of treating multi-factor problems. Fifteen-second sound bytes and the many interruptions by TV advertisements have trained many Americans to be shallow in their thinking and to look for quick answers.

One answer to the question "Why do they hate us?" is, in part, because of the consumerism (buy, buy, buy) on American television, and advertisements that degrade our society and are increasingly immodest and immoral. It is inhuman, in my view, to interrupt dramatic and documentary presentations on television with almost equal time for commercials that urge kids to drive fast in 250-horsepower cars, and so on. The life-style commercials are aimed at selling items that help young people present their identities to their peers. Yet, this approach to identity management is superficial and often short term. Muslims, here and abroad, see all this on TV and get a distorted adolescent-oriented view of our culture. They are tired of colonial and neocolonial exploitation of their national resources by the West. Authoritarian leaders in Saudi Arabia are supported by oil money and they have ignored the needs of common people or let puritanical Wahhabi sects influence the people and educate them as long as they do not challenge the top few percent who are inhumanely wealthy. In this age of e-mail, radio, cell phones, and television, the poor are increasingly aware of why they are held back. Their needs are ignored.

A second answer is that years of European mandate regulations and protectorate regulations, imposed by the League of Nations and others, have affected Muslim traditions and self-images. Having ones land controlled by foreign powers that are not followers of Islam and having these nations control the exploitation of natural resources is a humiliation. Humiliation is important, especially in cultures that place high value on honor. (Honor, guilt, and shame are discussed in the next section of this chapter.)

A third answer, I believe, is that many of the young, in Muslim societies today, are not taught how to analyze a text, a speech and other sources of information by using critical methods of analysis to ascertain the truth of the text. Thus they, like many Americans also, believe what they are told by news broadcasts on radio and television or by writers of essays in the newspapers. I mentioned in Section I of Chapter 2 the lack of cited source information for news articles in the Fox News broadcasts, in comparison to the broadcasts of CNN.

I mentioned several reasons for the decline in critical thinking in some Muslim countries in Section K of Chapter 2. The writing of Khaled Abou El Fadl, in his chapter in Safi's book, is important and also bears repeating here.(95) On page 46: he described how colonial occupation destroyed the institutions of a civil society and replaced them with centralized, authoritarian, and often corrupt "governments that nationalized the institutions of religious learning and brought the private endowments under state control". The destruction included systems of private endowments that had supported religion and law and helped them achieve a rich and tolerant intellectual tradition maintained by decentralized institutions. Omid Safi stated that an impact of colonialism was the decline of the madrasah.(96 Armstrong attributes a similar effect to the Mongul invasion of the thirteenth century.(97

A fourth answer is related to the difference between approaches to human rights and freedom in a secular society from those in a religiously regressive society. I discuss this in Section D of the next chapter. I also recommend Seyyed Hossein Nasr's examination of this difference in very clear terms.(98

A fifth answer is that Muslim students at home and abroad have found it easier to study technical and scientific subjects rather than social science, (social justice, pluralism, and gender justice). This is because the latter involve topics that are included in their religious faith and thus would cause problems of whether to change to a more modern interpretation of their faith. Many of the terrorists who were college graduates studied only engineering and science, but not sociology and world philosophy. Our media print that those terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, were highly educated, but do not mention the narrow technical education they received. Some of the students prefer their Muslim ideas about social relations to secular Western ideas, and what they see in the Western media does not portray the moral standards with which they have grown up.

A sixth answer involves what is viewed as unfriendly policies and weaknesses in America's domestic and foreign policies. This is discussed by Emmanuel Todd in his book After The Empire. It describes an impending decline of the American Empire. Todd predicted the decline of the Soviet Empire and used a similar model to forecast decline for America.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins described his own ten-year career helping U.S. "intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving the needs of U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business."(99) These books are discussed in the last two chapters herein. There is also Chomsky's work: On Power and Ideology, cited in my Bibliography.

The Christian Aid organization has done an excellent job of research on how oil money has corrupted governments in Asia and Africa and elsewhere as well as corrupting oil extraction and refining corporations in the United States.(100) They describe how poverty has increased as oil money funds the military to protect the interests of the new elite and how corruption spreads. The percentage of people living in extreme poverty doubles and access to water and electricity in the oil well compounds does not spread to the poor natives living nearby.

A DVD entitled Iraq for Sale, a Robert Greenwald film, provides examples of how private contractors such as Halliburton and CACI working for the military in Iraq have milked millions of dollars of US taxpayer money to hire workers getting more than ten times the salaries paid to our troops. They misled their workers and have not given them adequate protection for the rebuilding of Iraq. Private contractors were involved in interrogating prisoners and abusing them severely, yet due to lack of training, their interrogations often provided misleading information.

There are other answers that are mentioned directly or indirectly elsewhere herein. Muslims are not a homogenous group. For example, some dislike the immorality in dress that they see in American movies and television. Others are upset by the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia. Some dislike the imposition of American style democracy in their country, and U.S. support of Israel's occupation of part of the West Bank and Gaza, and so on.

After completing the text for my printed version of this book, I found another that supplements the foregoing answers to a more general question. It is Why Do People Hate America? by Sardar and Davies. I recommend it highly. The authors go briefly into detail on how American leaders feel that they can ignore the negative impacts of their interpretation of "Free Trade" as long as it benefits our own economy. However, the third world leaders are beginning to learn how to counter such self-oriented policies. In my view, we have to realize that we are a part of our global society and work for the good of all before it is too late and the rest of the world becomes united to counter our policies. The sooner we do this, the better.

Sardar and Davies described well how the teen-oriented American media depictions of culture have affected young people around the world. I believe that in a few generations the older cultures will be decimated, unless they can redirect the impacts to a more reasonable blend of the old and modern.

L. IMPORTANT CULTURAL DIFFERENCES - HONOR, GUILT, AND SHAME

An important cultural tradition in a number of Middle Eastern cultures at the time of The Prophet Muhammad, before that time, and in many segments of Muslim and other cultures today is the importance of maintaining honor at an individual level and also at the level of families and clans. How might shaming contribute toward some young persons responding violently to feelings of frustration, loss of honor, humiliation, rage, and powerlessness?

Cultural traditions of honor and shaming are prevalent in traditional patriarchal and tribal cultures of the Middle East and Central Asia. Blaming others for one's plight is closely related to maintaining honor. Tyrants like Saddam Hussein often "blamed" others for the plight of his own people. To some extent, such blame may be justified. However, this does not excuse the blaming. We must remember that diplomatic compromises with tyrants too often lose out to violence.

Please Note. I am not proposing a "Muslim Mind-set". Historical events such as colonialist exploitation/domination and support, by the West, for authoritarian and corrupt regimes have disrupted a more normal adaptation to economic development and related cultural adaptations in Muslim societies. However, psychological considerations are also useful when explaining how some of the cultural traditions that are mixed with interpretations of the Muslim faith, restrict adapting to changing times.

The following discusses the idea that children, raised in a tradition of honor and shame, grow into adulthood with fragile self-assurance and tend to blame others for their own failures.

An important distinction between shame and guilt is often overlooked in discussions of honor and shame. Clarifying the difference between guilt and shame is the major topic in the work of Tangney and Dearing, entitled: Shame and Guilt. The authors wrote that shame involves negative self-evaluations. Shame is typically accompanied by a sense of feeling worthless, powerless and exposed. One does not live up to the image that one wishes to present to his or her group or community. One has lost respect. The shamed child is often told: "You are no good."

Guilt, on the other hand, involves the ability to empathize with others and a sense of remorse and regret that can lead to doing better next time. By middle childhood, children begin to be able to see themselves as others see them and they experience guilt, asking themselves when they transgress: 'Did I do that?' They are motivated to take corrective actions. If children are not sensitive to others, they may be inclined toward destructive feelings of shame that can lead to denial, blaming others and anger. Some adults who have been shamed often as a child, engage in violent behavior when they feel threatened.

Those children who respond more often with feelings of guilt, as defined by Tangney and Dearing, might be the result of parenting that focuses on corrective behavior and behavioral change rather than ridicule. An example of working with guilt is the coach who counters a player's error by taking the time (sometimes during an educational moment) to help the player improve her skills. A good coach teaches her players how to avoid making particular mistakes, and how to perform better next time. Such guided practice helps the players develop self-assurance as they improve their skills. Good coaches do not put their players down by shaming them.

On the other hand, blaming the child for transgressions, putting him down and sometimes withdrawing love, often leads to feelings of shame in the child.

The authors concluded: "Recognizing the distinction between shame and guilt is an important first step in making ours a more moral society."

De-emphasizing shaming and blaming in those cultures that still incorporate many of the old patriarchal and tribal responses of shame and honor, is essential to bring peace to a pluralistic globalizing world. This task, in the area of education, is very important to redirect regressive religious interpretations. Let's add it to the list of other considerations that are vital to building democracy and peace around the world.

Aspects of the Saudi cultural system of honor and shame are learned by very young boys starting at age seven when they "... are forced to make the painful transition from the hovering, adoring world of their mothers to the demanding world of their fathers." Sandra Mackey discussed this important aspect of child-care.(101). She described how mothers and other women caretakers pacify baby boys in ways that influence later attitudes of adult men towards women and women towards men. This part of their culture differs from Western cultures. Therefore, any kind of reform that aims to provide women with equal opportunity in careers, freedom to drive a car, and to get a good education will have to reform these old Bedouin traditions in ways that do not alienate the many people who have been raised in that tradition. Such changes may take a few generations or more to achieve. Cultures are a tightly woven web of traditions and changing one tradition affects many other traditions. Raphael Patai also described this aspect of Arab child rearing.(102)

An article, by Jeffrey Gettleman reporting from Iraq, provides the following response by an Iraqi citizen, to the return to fighting by both Sunnis and Shiites each defending their turf from the other. "We're religious people, and our leader has been threatened. We would be ashamed to stay in our houses with our wives at a time like this." Khalif is a vegetable seller aged 26. "To be honest, we weren't like this before."(103) His use of the word ashamed is directly tied to the system of honor as interpreted by many Muslims. American troops who followed the rapid attack tactics of urban SWAT Teams in the USA, humiliated and dishonored the families whose homes they broke into at night. Such humiliation is viewed much more severely in patriarchal societies than in America. Were our soldiers aware of this fact?

Emmanuel Todd described his interpretation of how, for example, Arab family structures can explain certain aspects of radical Islamism. Arab culture aspires to "combine egalitarianism with a specific conception of community that has difficulty establishing a strong state."(104) The tendency in some Muslim countries for endogamous marriage between first cousins, exemplified by marriages between the children of two brothers sets patterns for authority in a paternalistic society that, after modernization, makes commitment to state authority difficult. If one changes commitments from family and tribe to a larger scale commitment, such as to one's country, the change is viewed as being disloyal and dishonorable to one's family.

An Afro-American student told me in the late 1960’s that he lost his circle of high school friends because he alone was going to college. He was in the process of switching commitments from ghetto neighborhood to a state university. This act troubled his friends and their approach to identity management.

Todd described how people in many pre-industrial societies pass through a violent transition as they enter the modern way of life in urban-industrial settings. I believe that the required changes in identity and changing commitments from family to state create stresses that translate to blaming others and can lead to violence. Todd mentioned a number of examples and tried to explain variations in terms of literacy, birth rate, and other considerations.

"Identity" and "status" are important considerations for developing a framework to view alternative ways a Muslim young person might react to loss of status resulting from restricted job and career opportunities, discrimination and prejudice from persons of other religions or ethnic backgrounds, and the like. Professor Marcia Hermansen described identity problems faced by Muslim youth in the West.(105) She examined components of identity and culture among students in Muslim Student Association sub-cultures. She explored extremism and fringe movements, gender issues within the brotherhoods, accountability, and more. She ends with recommendations for helping young Muslims living in the West apply their energy in positive ways that could help them make a contribution to existing institutions and activities rather than becoming alienated and isolated.

When a young Muslim chooses to join a Muslim Student Association (MSA), identity considerations influence this decision. Some MSA's emphasize a return to orthodox Islam that, in general, strengthens a follower’s identity, and reduces confusion, by emphasizing a clear set of rules and values to follow. Regression to an idealized past may seem to be attractive, but it is easily distorted and misleading.

Other MSA's get involved in political action on campus to safeguard student rights, enlighten non-believers about Muslim culture, and project a particular interpretation of Islamic religion. Still other MSA's, are more progressive and help students provide a balance between living a good Muslim life and adapting to life in a postmodern American society which includes persons of many ethnic backgrounds, occupational experiences, and religious backgrounds.

It takes time to learn how to adjust to such diversity and some individuals find it easier to adjust after having shared experiences with diverse others. At the present time, the response of Muslim students overseas, especially the young, to the confusion and frustration with lack of opportunities in Muslim societies, appears to be to rely upon returning to literalist-orthodox and traditional approaches to an interpretation to Islam. This response seems to be a major avenue for overcoming confusion and simplifying lives for many Muslims, especially those living below the poverty level.

Hermansen defined a progressive Muslim outlook as: "one based on informed understanding of the tradition in its historical and multi-cultural context as evolving to address the needs and issues of the time in a way that is both spiritually and politically empowering."(106)

Another source of information about the identities of young Muslims in America, and what is being done to help in identity management is a series of articles in the Islamic Horizons magazine pages 34-45 in the January/February 2006 issue. The magazine is published by the Islamic Society of North America. I highly recommend this source.

Kahled Abou El Fadl wrote: "The burden on Muslim intellectuals today is heavy indeed. ... - just because Muslims achieved moral greatness once does not necessarily mean that they will do so again."(107) He described how far the distorted interpretations of Muslim law by some Salafabist writers have gone. He cited examples from the writing of al-Ghiryani (2001). Over a dozen examples are presented. For example "a woman may not chew gum because it is seductive".(107)

Irshad Manji, in her book, The Trouble With Islam Today presents similar ideas and urges moderate Muslims to speak out against the narrow and distorted interpretations of Islam that are used to energize violent and closed-minded extremists. Her writing style is most attractive and her book includes many stories about Islam and Muslims that I have not seen in many other books. She is a courageous writer. For example she described how a Cairo University professor was charged as a nonbeliever "apostate" and had to flee the country after submitting a book to an academic committee. The book argued that "the meaning of scripture can become "more humanistic" even as the verses remain unchanged." (page 118 in Manji's book). A like-minded colleague, Saad Ibrahim, said: "Societies that restrict the space for citizens to participate and express dissent will eventually spawn a twisted, angry, and lethal response." I believe that this statement applies equally well to America as it does to Egypt. I recommend her book highly.

In the context of the foregoing discussion, one wonders if there is hope for progress. Remember that Saddam Hussein blamed the USA for the plight of common people in Iraq. He did not mention his squandering millions on his many elaborate palaces, his vast wealth stored abroad, and his store of military weapons. This raises the question, how did he get away with such acts? The answer is that he had been ruthless against any opposition. That is why there was no unseating him. Are people from patriarchal-tribal cultural backgrounds more prone to totalitarian takeovers, inequality in the distribution of wealth, and placing high value on honor and avoidance of being shamed? I believe that the answer is - Yes! – unless they have had a good, broadly-based education.

The topics of honor and identity management are discussed in more detail in Sections C - F in my web posting Understanding Forces Confronted By Muslim Youth, listed in the Bibliography. I strongly urge readers interested in understanding how the emphasis on honor and the feelings of shame and humiliation affect the Muslim response to America's neocolonialism to read those sections in that web posting.

Another good source of information about the identities of young Muslims in America including what is being done to help in identity management is a series of articles in the Islamic Horizons magazine pages 34-45 in the January/February 2006 issue.

M. IS THERE HOPE OF INCREASING TOLERANCE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES?

While reading a book on the ideas of Eqbal Ahmad, I was surprised to find how quickly a person can change one's perspective and outlook on life. Eqbal Ahmad described, on page 25, how Malcolm X changed his perspective "...from a narrow, nationalist position to one who embraced a global perspective" after returning from his haj - his pilgrimage to Mecca. Ahmad had seen him before and after the haj.(109)

A short summary of James Fowler's writing on Postmodern Life, in his book, Faithful Change – The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life, is relevant here. It seems to parallel the conclusions of Hugh Sanborn in his book The Prophetic Call. A key sentence that summarizes the goal of Fowler's work and related postings of mine, is one, that I believe comes from that book by Fowler. The quote is: "The human calling - which we take to be universal - is to undergo and participate in the widening circle of those who count as neighbor, from the narrowness of our familial beginnings toward real solidarity with a commonwealth of being." The book is one that could be designated, some day as a "Postmodern Testament". It was written in a somewhat academic style, but could not cover the broad range of considerations relevant to his topic in another style. Every time that I opened its covers during the past four years, it spoke to my slowly evolving conceptual framework.

Fowler discussed the difference between orthodox temper that honors sources of authority that are external to the self when considering belief and morality on the one hand, and on the other hand there is progressive temper, which locates authority within the self.(111) The idea of temper comes from James Davison Hunter who wrote the book, Culture Wars. Fowler's Chapter 10 is entitled Beyond Culture Wars. Fowler ends that chapter with the statement: "churches are called to move from perceiving themselves as gatekeepers of heaven to being leaders in establishing God's commonwealth of justice and love on earth."(112)

A book published by Gilles Kepel in 2002 provides a hopeful recent history concerning militant extremists.(113) He ends his book with a hopeful, prognostication for the future. Kepel is a Frenchman who has spent some 20 years of research that focused on militant groups. His concluding chapter plants some seeds of hope for the future.

Another seed of hope comes from a PBS Newshour discussion of ethnic newspapers in California.(114) In the last decade there has been a tremendous growth of foreign-language newspapers and broadcasts (both TV and radio). These help the immigrant to learn about, and blend in with, American culture and also to keep in touch with events back in his or her homeland.

If America takes advantage of its great religious and cultural diversity and finds leaders who are motivated to use this diversity to expand shared experiences with others, for children in school and for adults of all ages, then we can truly become a "light unto the world".

Books by Charles Kimball, Marc Gopin and Karen Armstrong contain many ideas related to peacemaking and I discuss them in the last two chapters herein.

Another basis for hope is the idea of spiral dynamics that is based upon progress up a spiral toward ever increasing levels of mutual understanding and tolerance of ethnic differences. (I describe spiral dynamics in Chapter 5, Section C.) This, I believe, will be a major part of what some might call a new axial age, or a progression, or pilgrimage, up the axis of the spiral toward a unified ecumenical perspective based upon commonly held universal values.

Karen Armstrong wrote about the Axial Age on page 27 in her book, A History of God. On page 44 of that book, she wrote: "The prophets had discovered for themselves the overriding duty of compassion, which would become the hallmark of all the major religions formed in the (1st) Axial Age."

In her book, The Battle for God, on pages xiv, 51, 59, and 169, she related the Axial Age to improvements in agriculture and its implications for society and spirituality. She mentioned a second Axial Age on page 169, one in science and technology featuring leaders such as Freud, Einstein, and Bill Gates. See also her more recent book entitled: The Great Transformation.

Major transitions, such as the axial age often involve a lot of stressful confrontations. In discussing transitions in response to modernity, Armstrong wrote, on page 169, about confrontations between conservatives and liberals. She wrote: "Liberals and conservatives in the early years of the (1900's) were both involved in the social programs of this so-called Progressive Age (1900-1920), which tries to deal with the problems arising from the rapid and unregulated development of industry and city life." In her next 10 pages, Armstrong summarized that struggle. The struggle appears to be unresolved and is going on now at the start of the 21st century.

One step in this transition is recent use of the term "post-biblical". I first encountered this term on pages 469-470 of Tom Friedman's book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree. He provides a Jewish interpretation. Note: that Friedman defines his book title on page 31. I define them near the end of Section C in Chapter 5.

After a search for the word "postbiblical" in Google, I found two helpful web postings, one by Michael Dowd(115) and the other by Marcus Borg. Borg's site is a Lenten sermon that also appears on pages 9-13 of a book: God at 2000 edited by Marcus Borg and Ross Mackenzie. However, the term postbiblical does not appear in the book version. Karen Armstrong, in a chapter starting on page 99 of that book expands upon this general idea.

The idea of hardwiring of the human brain will be helpful here. I believe that hardwiring creates a life-long need for relationships with caring others, and will play an important part in another axial-age transition just now starting in world religions. This is a transition toward an ecumenical unity in our postmodern era that will still be simple enough to bridge the gap between conservatives and progressives. Hopefully the idea of hardwiring will help all faiths work together to bring more people closer to God.

N. THE IMPORTANCE OF STORIES THAT DESCRIBE HOW OTHERS LIVE

Diana Eck's very readable book on diversity contains many stories of activities prior to 9-11 by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other groups in America. Over the past few decades these groups have grown to critical masses sufficient to support religious buildings, temples and mosques, as well as activity centers. These centers are a source for many stories about assimilation and Muslim life in America. Stories that describe how others live provide the reader the "next best thing" to personal experience with friends in the different groups. In a similar vein, Bowen and Early's book provides 35 stories about Muslims in the Middle East.

One learns, from these stories, that there sometimes is less difference between the behavior of a religiously conservative Muslim and a religiously conservative Christian than there is between a conservative Christian and a moderate Christian in one's own town. On the other hand, stories can be twisted for destructive ends. Esposito wrote: "Western sports teams, marketing firms, and media have long used images of Crusaders as brave and powerful warriors, lofty symbols of self-sacrifice, honor, and valor."(116) Their rape, pillaging, and killing of non-Christians (Jews and Muslims) are seldom mentioned in those contexts.

Examples of good and constructive stories are those written by C. S. Lewis which exemplify timeless literature that avoids the complexity of academic theological writing styles. Lewis, in The Chronicles of Narnia, presented universal moral standards and virtuous actions in ways to which children can relate. I believe that such stories lay the groundwork, in the minds of readers, for a later progression to higher stages of faith development. (See Alan Jacobs' book – The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis.)

O. STORIES AND TRADITIONS NEED UPDATING AND REINTERPRETATION

In the days before writing, storytellers, without thinking, changed details of their story to maintain relevance when circumstances changed. The storyteller saw how his audience reacted to stories and this feedback helped him modify the stories. Once writing became widespread, the written word made it more difficult to modify stories and maintain relevance over long periods of change. Nowadays, the television storywriter does not even see his listeners and must resort to surveys or panels to get feedback. Surveys are not as effective as the old kind of see-and-hear-the-feedback-as-you-tell-the-story.

An example of the need to reinterpret printed excerpts from the Bible is the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - has a problem with the word "do". Consider that some Americans place their mother in a retirement home or assisted living facility when she can no longer care for herself. That is viewed as a caring act by the child toward the parent. However, I would not tell a devout Muslim to "do" that because a devout Muslim traditionally cares for his parent in his home. In America we have new institutions called retirement villages that provide quality care, though not all of them do so. Muslims, in the West, are slowly changing their attitudes about the old traditions. They increasingly are sharing responsibility for care with retirement and assisted living facilities. Thus, one must consider relevant aspects in the culture that is meaningful for the other before suggesting what they should do to be caring.

Another example appears in Huston Smith's book, The Religions of Man, (on page 447). He wrote:

"John Wesley brings out the difference in the quality of this Christian love when, in saying that we should love our neighbor as he loves himself, he catches himself immediately and adds, Nay, our Lord hath expressed it still more strongly, teaching us to love one another as He has loved us."(117)

These different examples have made me think of the need "to walk in their shoes" before trying to be caring of others who are very different. Thus, perhaps, we should reword the Golden Rule to read as follows. "Care for others while considering the context of their religion and culture as you would have them care for you in your context." If you believe that your context is more effective morally than is theirs, discuss that with the others and agree on modifications, but continue to be caring. We should add that in doing so, one must account for the fairly high possibility and desirability of assimilation into a host culture within the time of a few generations. This makes the whole statement more complicated, but that is what happens in a globalizing world that has increasingly diverse societies. Even Jesus' second commandment needs clarification today.

Near the end of Chapter 2, I mentioned Toby Lester calling reinterpretation "sensitive business" because some scholars had been killed by regressive extremists.(73)

The violence threatened and carried out against scholars who reinterpret the sacred writings in Muslim societies differs little from that some Western writers have encountered. For example, consider what has happened to Bishop John Shelby Spong in the Christian West of the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's. He outlined the following acts. He received 16 death threats, was followed by a "truth squad" in Australia, had bomb threats at a lecture in Brisbane, had guards protecting him at a lecture in Canada, and he had to cross shouting picket lines in California.(118) The newspapers, and far right religious press distorted his statements and writings presumably to enflame the extremist Christians to picket and in other ways try to silence other interpreters. There seems to be little difference between some Western and Muslim extremist conservative clerics. They sow distortions and hate in order to preserve their exclusivist medieval approach to faith.

P. ADAPTING SACRED STORIES TO SOCIO-CULTURAL CHANGE

The writing of many copies of the holy books came shortly after Islam took root and this, in my view, has led the three monotheistic religions to the complex problems that we are fighting over today. There are two main problems.

The first problem is that once written down, the passage of time changes the meaning of words. Yet the context of the time implicit in the writing remains tied to the past. This places a strain on the relevance of the old writing and makes interpretation more difficult, especially for the common people living at the current time. They must rely on religious scholars to guide interpreting and translation of the text. The scholars must also be aware of:

1) how the culture of the times, including political and economic institutions, is interwoven with the religious and spiritual content, and

2) how changes in context have occurred over the passage of time. For example, in Islam, the faith spreads among people in other lands who do not speak the classical Arabic in which the Qur'an was written.

In addition to reinterpretation, translating the Qur'an from Arabic into English presents very significant problems. A good example of such problems comes in a sentence from Chapter 5, verse 51 of the Qur'an. There are several translations of the Qur'an that translate it as follows. "Take not the Jews and Christians for friends." The problem lies in how the Arabic word "Auliya" is translated. A better translation than "friends", is "allies". That meaning is more accurate according to a footnote in a translation by Muhammad Asad. The translation into "friends" might be the result of ethnocentric exclusivism. I have heard a number of Jews and Christians tell their friends not to intermarry and to seek help only from professionals who are their coreligionists. Similarly conservative Christians have also urged their compatriots to give their business to their own kind.

Are the meanings of the latter examples any different from the meaning of verse 5:51 in the Quran?

Asad has translated the Qur'an into English and in Appendix 1 of his translation he included a very clearly written and helpful discussion of allegory and symbolism in the Qur'an. His translation of the Qur'an is entitled The Message of the Qur'an. See an excellent 26-page article on the life of Muhammad Asad in Saudi Aramco World.(119)

In developing nations, the need to separate some of the daily aspects of life from religious writings requires interdisciplinary scholars with knowledge of religion, history, culture, and linguistics combined. This will take time.

The second problem caused by writing of the holy stories is that, in some societies, more and more people began to learn how to read and write. We now see books that have been written about how to interpret the holy writings in the three monotheistic faiths. Yet, some writers are very susceptible to their own personal interests, greed and the quest for both power and certainty. Thus, reading without the benefit of discussing the writer's interpretations can bias the reader's interpretation.

Personal interests can lead readers to distort interpretations as they read and they lead others to write new stories and slant the truth to suit their own perspectives and interests. This slanting often is done with the writer being unaware that his biases distorted his writing. This is what the Taliban and al Qaeda have done, to the extreme. They effectively brainwashed young men into thinking that they were fighting or acting as defenders of the faith. Similarly, some of the more orthodox and literalist Jewish and Christian congregations select particular verses from the Bible to support their slanted views. One has to be a biblical scholar to be able to counterbalance one-sided sermons and interpretations with other verses to achieve a more balanced view.

Q. WHOSE STORIES SHOULD A PERSON BELIEVE?

A recent study by the United Nations, entitled: Arab Human Development Report 2002, provides a good summary of the situation in 22 Muslim nations, is included in the following paragraphs.(120)

"A blunt new report by Arab intellectuals commissioned by the United Nations warns that Arab societies are being crippled by a lack of political freedom, the repression of women and an isolation from the world of ideas that stifle creativity."

"But the use of the Internet is low in the Arab Middle East. Filmmaking appears to be declining." The authors also describe a "severe shortage" of new writing and a dearth of translations of works from outside.

"The whole Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one-fifth the number that Greece translates," the report said. In the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, it concludes, "the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in just one year."

In today's world, scholars must help the increasing number of readers to counter the effects of greed and colonialism, corruption and exploitation, and distortions of holy writings, taken out of context. This can be accomplished only by courageous education of people about the use of critical analyses. Then the reading public would be better able to detect any distortions in interpreting the eternal truths that served as the foundation for the holy writings.

There are many examples of distortion by the media, both overseas and in America. Some examples follow.

In today's world, with almost instant communication over the Internet, via television and radio, truth comes in many versions, to such an extent that many people have become confused. Just look and listen to the very different Palestinian and Israeli descriptions of events in Palestine. There appears to be two opposing versions of reality, each based on a different vocabulary. The Israelis call suicide bombers "terrorists" and say that they are fighting against terrorism. On the other hand, the Palestinians call the suicide bombers "freedom fighters" who aim to free the West Bank from a cruel and degrading occupation and terrorist acts committed by the Israelis. A recent article published by the Associated Press described how the Israelis pressured CNN to admit that they (CNN) erred. They gave more program time to the Palestinian family of a suicide bomber than to Israeli families of the victims. This is but one example that shows how political and economic pressure influences and distorts presentations by the media that most Americans read or listen to. In my view, presentations by the American media are far from balanced.

We see regressive versions of Islam interpreted by imams many of whom have not had adequate levels of theological education and of social psychology. Similarly, we see many Christian preachers who distort their interpretations of the Bible and get rich from financial contributions from people who see and hear them preach over television and in large arena-like churches. There are orthodox Jews in Israel and elsewhere who hold to literal and outdated interpretations of the Torah and Talmud. They support the inhuman policies of the Israeli government in occupied Palestine.

Mark Weisbrot referred to the distortions of fact by the Bush Administration in an opinion article with the headline: Living in a Post-Factual World. They used taxpayer money, threats of firing government employees, and other immoral tactics, to distort public information about such important issues as education, social security, and medicare reform. Weisbrot provided factual information to support his claims.(121)

Democracy can only be effective if the general public has truthful information, honest and well-researched interpretations of government policy, and updated interpretations of the sacred books, such as the Bible and Qur'an.

In April of 2008, those political writers who opposed Barack Obama's efforts to become President, radically distorted the sermon of Obama's minister, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. They selected particular sentences and publicized them out of context to distort the impression of Obama. In a one hour interview with Bill Moyers on April 25, 2008, Wright said that he talked about empires throughout history that have failed, and said that powerful governments do not act in ways that are consistent with the will of God. This was true of the Roman Empire and is also true of the government of the United States of America that did not treat native Americans and citizens of African descent fairly. The Moyers interview is accessible on the web at: [http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/transcript1.html].

Like the prophets of old, Dr. Martin Luther King was vilified when he spoke about racism, militarism, and capitalism. Rev. Wright told Moyers that he thought people did not understand the meaning of the word damn as condemn. "They don't understand the root of the word, the etymology of the word in terms of God condemning the practices that are against God's people. In this E-book, I refer to the writing of Emmanuel Todd, on pages 16-22 in his book: After the Empire - The Breakdown of the American Order. There are others who have also written about the coming decline of the American empire. Yet, our mass media seldom discuss this topic and vilify Wright after quoting him out of the context of a long successful and prophetic ministry.

In subsequent talks to the NAACP and the Washington Press Corps Rev. Wright continued presenting his views on inequality and African-American leaders who were in attendance showed their agreement by applauding. He differentiated the perspectives and implicit value hierarchies, of prophetic religious leaders from those of politicians who are running for high office. Each of the two groups view 15 second sound bytes differently. Obama in his response on the 29th of April had to disassociate himself from Wrights prophetic statements about the sinfulness of United States policy leaders. What is sad about the Wright-Obama disagreement is that Obama with two primary elections a week away was not free to transcended the confrontation and speak from a broader perspective. Many of the unemployed in Indiana and N. Carolina would not appreciate a transcendent perspective and the media with their short summaries of his talk would likely distort any transcendent view instead of trying to help the citizens understand a broader perspective.

Nedra Pickler in an Associated Press article in page 11A of the Denver Post of 4-29-08 did a good job of summarizing recent statements of Rev. Wright. However, conservative writers criticize Pickler's perspective. A good example of criticizing Pickler's perspectives appears in Tom Blumer's web posting at: [ http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/02/24/ap-s-nedra-pickler-has-obama-s-back].

When readers read a one sentence description about a candidate, they rely on their own perspective to fill in the blanks and they come up with different interpretations depending on the breadth of their perspectives. Small minded conservatives and liberals with narrow perspectives each come up with different opinions. Similarly, those at the two extremes who have larger perspectives and follow more complex but still different economic belief systems also come up with different opinions. The foregoing implies that to counter such polarization, an effective and pluralistic democracy needs journalists who can transcend the differing views and help inform people so that they can appreciate and understand the diverse perspectives of others in a pluralistic society.

A politician ideally tries to understand the perspectives of his or her constituents, ranging from those that have focused and narrow perspectives because they shared few experiences with people from different career, racial, and cultural backgrounds, to those others who have shared a variety of experiences with people from a broad mix of backgrounds and thus have broader perspectives. Few pastors have people from as great a variety of backgrounds in their congregations as the constituents of a politician because people join congregations wherein the members have some degree of consensus about religious matters, even though the congregation might include political conservatives and liberals. Unfortunately, most radio talk show hosts are not familiar with a broad range of perspectives and prefer to keep the views of their listeners focused on a narrow perspective that they can relate to. Similarly, some politicians rather than help broaden the perspectives of their followers, tend to focus their talks toward narrow and simple perspectives that attract followers or desired groups of supporters in key states that will help a them win an election.

We see another form of distortion that is evident when people find it difficult to avoid consumer advertising that distorts the truth, and gets them addicted to greed. For example, personal identity needs are exploited when advertisers imply that the make of one's car and the labels on one's clothes are key signifiers of status and identity. Naive young persons who accept such implications are misled and some of them soon discover that the meanings of such signifiers are shallow, temporary, and inauthentic. Being inauthentic leads to more consumerism because the satisfaction of identity needs is temporary. In a way, one might say that the American public is exposed to addictive consumerism. The book Affluenza - The All Consuming Epidemic, by De Graaf et al, describes this addiction in detail.

In the context of a consumer ethic, preservation of the intent of holy writings becomes difficult, especially in the Islamic faith that disapproves of the consumer ethic (which some translate into a form of modern idolatry). Preservation of the intent of holy writings requires some kind of hierarchical system for assuring that the modernizing revisions do not distort the intent of the original foundations of faith. I believe that this need is best served in free university systems that are separate and safeguarded from narrowly self-oriented political and/or religious control. Such freedom requires a substantial number of educated readers from a variety of backgrounds who examine and learn how to deconstruct texts to clarify the influence of personal biases and distortions made by the authors or the translators.

John Esposito has written extensively on Islam and Muslims and provides a framework and checklist of the many different considerations that should influence the opinions of people in America. The problem is a complex one, and Esposito's book is the first one that I have found which covers the complexity in a neat and well-organized form. It should be required reading for anyone concerned about policies toward Islam. There is much room for hope, yet the American media and politicians (the latter concerned mainly about upcoming elections) do not help to enlighten the American public. Often, they appear ill informed.(122)

R. CHANGES RESULTING FROM INCREASES IN DIVERSITY

In an excellent article, Paul Findley wrote:

"Most Muslims of my acquaintance are strict in their observance of Islam's five pillars, ... but, others have stated candidly and without hesitation that they do not always observe the prayer and charity pillars. In acknowledging their shortcomings, they nevertheless identify themselves as Muslims. ... I am unable to cite published estimates of the number of Muslims who are considered non-observant, but several of my Muslim acquaintances believe that at least one-half ...belong in that classification."(123)

As societies develop more broadly-based economies and a substantial middle-class develops, there is an increase in both the diversity among life styles and experiences with others who have different life-styles. How can a complex society learn from experience with diversity? How can such experience function at higher levels of perspective taking and thus counter polarization by extremists who make consensus difficult?

Professor Diana Eck's book, A New Religious America, 2001, (with a preface updated after 9-11) includes a number of stories about violence and fear between two religious groups in American cities. She described how this was turned around into the two groups working together to spread mutual awareness and understanding throughout the areas. The stories in her last hundred pages are heart warming and show a hopeful path toward a multi-religious society and world.

S. ORGANIZING THE FOREGOING INTO SYSTEMS USEFUL FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT

This topic is one attempt to tie together the many considerations outlined above.

New experience with "peacemaking" and "Peace Circles" can be used to help establish peaceful living for all in a diverse pluralistic context. The following excerpt describes the idea of Peace Circles that can be helpful in increasing mutual understanding and appreciation between persons from groups that follow different religions and politico-economic ideologies.(124)

"Peacemaking circles provide a process for bringing people together as equals to talk about very difficult issues and painful experiences in an atmosphere of respect and concern for everyone. Peacemaking circles create a space in which all people, regardless of their role in society, can reach out to one another as equals and recognize their mutual interdependence in the struggle to live in a good way and to help one another through the difficult spots in life."

"Peacemaking circles are built on the tradition of talking circles, common among indigenous people of North America, in which a talking piece, passed from person to person consecutively around the circle, regulates the dialog. The person holding the talking piece has the undivided attention of everyone else in the circle and can speak without interruption. The use of the talking piece allows for full expression of emotions, deeper listening, thoughtful reflection, and an unrushed pace. Additionally, the talking piece creates space for people who find it difficult to speak in a group. Drawing on both traditional wisdom and contemporary knowledge, the circle process also incorporates elements of modern peacemaking and consensus building processes."

"Participants are seated in a circle of chairs with no tables. Sometimes objects with meaning to the group are placed in the center as a focal point to remind participants of shared values and common ground. The physical format of the circle symbolizes shared leadership, equality, connection and inclusion. It also promotes focus, accountability, and participation from all."

Another hopeful sign is the book by Marc Gopin, who has been a Senior Associate in the Preventive Diplomacy Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. His book published in the year 2000 is entitled: Between Eden and Armageddon - The Future of World Religions, Violence, and Peacemaking. He considered the fact that sacred texts will forever include verses about war against enemies and about peacemaking based upon interpersonal and communal values derived from ethical ideals. On page 85 he wrote that the relationships between people vary from generation to generation and often influence which stories and laws become most influential.

The following paragraph is a quote about Gopin's work from a highly respected evangelical friend of mine. It is inserted here to detail the thinking of his viewpoint.

“Marc Gopin's book Between Eden and Armageddon sounds interesting. However, it is a social scientist's view of religion, in contrast to the viewpoint of one that believes in objective truth that has been conveyed through divine revelation. As one belonging to the latter category, I find the concepts somewhat alien to my own frame of reference." "On the other hand, one could postulate that the intrinsic human need for a relationship with the Creator (call it a Power larger than self, if you will) represents the kernel of that truth implanted in the human psyche both in response to God's invitation to us to know Him and so that people would search and seek to understand Him.”

I believe that it is feasible to achieve peaceful coexistence amidst global diversity if leaders work to help interpersonal and communal values become dominant by reforming interpretations of sacred texts, amidst a technology of increasingly deadly weaponry. It can be done. I discuss Gopin's work in more detail in the next two chapters.

T. CONCLUSIONS

This chapter has summarized how religious institutions and stories about living together in pluralistic communities can help all of us live more peaceably. It has laid the groundwork for reforming outdated institutions of religion and governance to be more in tune with changing conditions and worldviews. It summarized the risks that are taken by scholars who reinterpret and update stories. There is hope for improvement toward living peaceably with diversity if we, as individuals, learn to listen to each other and work together to reform our institutions.

A book written by Gilles Kepel, and referred to in Section M above, substantiates such a hope-filled future. Salmon Rushdie seems to share Kepel's idea that recruitment and brainwashing of extremist militants has peaked and is decreasing in countries such as Iran and Algeria.(125) However, by late 2005, I had lost some of my earlier optimism.

De-emphasizing shaming and blaming in those cultures that still incorporate many of the old patriarchal and tribal responses of shame and honor is essential to bring peace to a pluralistic globalizing world. This requires a good broad education aimed at redirecting regressive religious interpretations. Dramatic stories of people going through the transition to more progressive interpretations of sacred writings in local languages are needed and could help significantly to educate young and old alike to be tolerant of others from different backgrounds and to be more caring and avoid violent reactions to diversity. Let's add it to the list of other considerations that are vital to building democracy and peace around the world.

Development of economic, political, and judicial systems and their ideologies must be in a more democratic direction to enable young persons to map out career paths that lead to more hope-filled futures. America, and the West in general, need to assist the middle class and the youth to establish tolerant, democratic forms of governance and reduce the influence of excesses by a consumerism that pollutes identity management with inauthentic signifiers of status and identity. The problems in France with a high unemployment rate among youth and growing problems in America and elsewhere around the world point to the need for new approaches. The lack of good jobs for those starting their careers is another problem. The increasing separation between the rich and the poor exacerbate these problems. We all need to reverse these trends and provide hopeful career paths for young people and the education to support this, instead of spending money on weaponry.

An interesting web site that I just encountered March 1, 2008 is the following one. [www.acommonword.com]. It presents the responses of 138 Muslim scholars to statements made by Pope Benedict XVI in Regensburg 9-13-06. Also in that website is a link to a posting by scholars at Yale Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture. It was endorsed by almost 300 Christian Theologians and leaders. Planning is underway for a series of major conferences and workshops involving international Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders.

A. INTRODUCTION

In the following I describe my thoughts about the importance of effective systems of justice that earn the trust of tribal peoples so that they will gradually increase the scales of justice systems to which they are committed. The scales need to be increased to include trusted and fair justice systems at national, regional, and global scales. This does not mean that commitments to local school boards and other organizations concerned with equitable and honest operations at local levels will disappear. It means that those areas of life that function best at larger scales, such as global trade and United Nations activities, will be included among the commitments individuals and families learn to manage. I believe that this is essential for world peace.

Can lower class and middle class people manage their commitments to cover such a wide range from local to global scales? In many cases, this will require education over a period of time, and research on how best to expand commitments, perspectives, inter-group discussions and consensus building. Systems of law that have become cluttered with much too many special case applications need to be simplified so that justice systems can function at levels closer to the basic principles of justice. Ken Gergen, in his book The Saturated Self wrote that some people become saturated by the complexity of life in a complex pluralistic society. I view these as the ones who close their minds to new ideas and to expanding their perspectives. We see this among political and religious extremists on the far right and left in the USA, as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

All people in the modern world close their minds to some areas of life. Some do not appreciate classical music and opera. Others do not appreciate rock music and hip-hop. Teenagers drive while drunk and/or while text messaging. Those involved in such risky behavior can not yet handle the complexity of life in a modern society. Those who get their news from radio talk-show hosts rather than the more detailed analyses in newspapers and balanced television discussion programs, also seem to be saturated in the areas of world affairs.

The catastrophe of 9-11 has brought out many good books that describe recent research on reconciliation and peacemaking, provide a background of early research, and give clear examples and analyses of violence and genocidal acts. Some of the books include recommendations for building bridges among people with diverse worldviews and cultural backgrounds.

I discuss the changing speeds of communication technologies, their effects upon tribal societies, conflict resolution, reconciliation, and peacemaking efforts. I include examples of effective non-violent movements and the psychology of fear. I discuss differences in the emotions of altruism, fear and anxiety, and ideas that affect how one should approach peacemaking. These examples provide a hopeful path toward resolution of conflicts, reconciliation, and peacemaking.

Recall the story of Antigone that I mentioned in Section M of Chapter 1 herein. That story presents the conflict between a person with commitments at a tribal level, symbolized by Antigone, and a person with commitments at a city level, symbolized by King Creon. The Biblical story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 30-37) is related to the same conflict - the transition of a culture; from one wherein compassionate acts are extended mainly to those within one's tribe, to identifying others beyond one's tribe as human beings who should also be treated with compassion.

Today we find similar conflicts of transition between rural and urbanized Iraqis, and also among American congressmen who seem more concerned with getting funding for "pork-barrel" projects in their own districts than with projects that have a broader impact and serve more important needs. This problem has been with us for over 2400 years. Can the United States help solve this problem in Iraq in one decade, when we have not solved it among our own congressmen?

Benjamin Barber deals with this question in Chapters 11 & 15 of his book Jihad versus McWorld. I recommend his book. It is well written.

B. PEACEMAKING, RECONCILIATION, AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

An important requirement for developing and maintaining a peaceful society is a trustworthy judicial system that functions at a national scale with subsidiaries at regional and city scales. The key word is trustworthy which implies that the judicial system will not become a tool used for personal and/or political gain. One of the main problems in many authoritarian societies is that they depend upon tribal-scale judicial systems and that are not independent of politics. In America today, such narrow or focused politics is called good ole boy politics rather than tribal politics. But, the good ole boys are little different from a tribe. Both operate in a box.

In those societies ruled by an authoritarian leader, even though there might be a national-scale justice system, in many cases, basic human rights are not protected. Will a national legislature accept an independent judicial system before the governing institutions become compatible with an honest and good judicial system, or will they try to bias the judicial system by selecting judges that agree with their approach? Do we see evidence of the latter in America today? These two questions imply that the justice and political institutions must be kept in balance as they change toward larger scale systems. This is no easy task and it requires a strong and well-informed executive branch. I have seen several attempts to increase perspectives and oversight levels and reduce duplication that have failed because of turf battles in county and state governments in the United States. County and state governments tried to integrate and coordinate the responsibilities of several departments in the area of centralizing management of computerized coordination and planning systems. Each department fought to hold on to its own way of doing things.

Gene Lindsey's book, Saudi Arabia, on pages 45-51, presents a businessman's view of tribal justice and male authority, saving face and honor, recompense to the victim, and the humiliation when living under the authority of another. Sandra Mackey's book The Saudis on pages 109-121, also discusses these issues. She wrote about how group revenge is imperative, and "complicates the attempts of governments to be the arbiter of justice" ... for Bedouin tribesmen, but also for many of those who have migrated to the cities. They still follow the old traditions. On pages 112-114 Mackey discusses the efforts of King Abdul Aziz to tame the old traditions through "...a combination of religion, marriage, bribery and punishment." These two books are listed in my "Bibliography.".

For an update on the religio/political struggle going on in Saudi Arabia in 2004, a good summary is one by Fareed Zakaria. (126 )

Consider how higher levels of perspective taking can help resolve conflicts between ethno-religious groups within a nation or within a region of nations. Constructive perspective-taking implies learning enough about diverse others to realize that they are also human and that the others have much in common with their potential oppressors. To broaden perspectives in this way does not mean that every citizen must become aware of the intricacies of global organizations and corporations. This is where the element of trust comes in. Free university faculty and open and honest public information staff have roles to play in communicating relevant and trustworthy considerations that cover a range of community scales. A goal should be to bridge the gap between higher and lower levels of perspective taking. That would enable people to view the perspectives of the two opposing groups and work at mediating their differences by helping persons in the two groups appreciate each other's perspectives. Still higher levels of perspective taking also include being familiar with the governing, religious, and judicial organizations of the different groups involved. The goal here, then, is to enable specialists to have a transcendent overview of the whole conflict and where possible set the stage for building bridges that can overcome the differences without violating universal values that are held sacred by the various groups involved.

There are two very important steps that must be included in any attempt to facilitate bridge building.

1) One key to bridge building is to show rural people how others have changed commitments to those aspects of the desert culture that focus on family and clan by broadening their commitments to larger scale systems of justice. One can start with those who have been exposed to a more urban modern way of life. Books and videos that describe successful transitions by such families will ease the transitions among rural people.

2) The second key is to provide effective, fair, and trustworthy systems of justice at the town, regional and state levels. This will not be easy, but there are models to follow in other countries around the world.

A related aspect of reconciliation and peacemaking involves developing the economic, political and justice systems of third-world nations in a balanced way. This has to occur in ways that are unique to each nation. Fareed Zakaria in his new book The Future of Freedom outlines trends in such developments that in some cases are making progress. In other cases they seem to be out of balance and unable to reduce corruption and authoritarian control. To go into detail about these trends is beyond the scope of this book, but the concept of balance is very important, and should be kept in mind as one reads through this chapter.

C. EXAMPLES OF INCREASING THE SCALE OF JUSTICE SYSTEMS

The following examples of justice systems focus mainly on the tribal level, or scale of commitment in the Middle East. One is a story about an Iraqi father who was forced by tribal leaders to kill his son or risk the death of his son and himself at the hands of tribal members. This was because the son had allegedly given information helpful to the American military. This dishonored the family. We see similar perspectives in our urban slums where gangs respond to what they view as similarly dishonorable acts.

Another story is about a Jordanian Muslim girl who secretly dated a non-Muslim Jordanian soldier and was killed by her father after he learned of the romance. This act was also committed to preserve the honor of the family. This story is based on the life of Norma Khouri, who incorporated it in her novel. See her book Honor Lost. It is listed in my Bibliography.

Such forms of tribal justice present obstacles to progress in societies trying to adapt to a postmodern, globalizing world. Much depends upon the outlook of the tribal chief. If the chief is following tradition and using it selfishly, to maintain his power, then change will be difficult. If the chief can be convinced to broaden his interaction with others who are more progressive, learn from them, and appreciate their perspectives, then perhaps the chief will work to change the old system of justice and support constructive change with help from examples of progressive inter and intra-tribal cooperation.

The next section lists some key responsibilities of Systems of Justice, Government, and Religion and is useful to remind readers of the many intricate interactions among these three systems. The three systems or institutions must function closely together in an integrated and balanced fashion. Such interaction does not imply that religion must surrender to manipulation by the state, its responsibilities for maintaining and propagating universal and basic human values.

Another important response to change becomes evident when there is a popular revolution that replaces corrupt authoritarian leaders with a new legislature and president as has occurred in 2005 in the Ukraine and in the Georgian Republic. In such cases, soon after the change, there sometimes is one-party rule and there is insufficient minority opposition in the legislature to provide checks and balances in a way that complements the judiciary.

Maintaining balance applies to Muslim nations undergoing a change of commitments to state levels when considering that some form of social services will be needed to replace the kind of assistance formerly provided by the family or tribal leaders. Similarly, if birth rates are lowered to benefit the economy, some form of social security will be needed to replace the tradition of sons caring for their older parents. A basis for such services already exists in the form of charitable assistance provided by Muslim organizations.

The foregoing are examples of institutional changes that involve coordinating change in cultural, religious, economic, and political institutions. This is no easy task and it requires a strong and well-informed executive branch. This is why the attempts to centralize functions among certain city and state government departments, that I described early in Section B above, failed. The balances were upset and the interactions among sections in the affected departments were overlooked.

The concepts of honor and shame, key parts of tribal justice systems, are directly involved in the foregoing changes. For more on these topics, see Section L in Chapter 3 herein, and my web posting: Understanding Forces Confronting Muslim Youth.(127)

D. EFFECTIVE AND FAIR SYSTEMS OF JUSTICE ARE ESSENTIAL BUILDING BLOCKS TOWARD PEACE

If justice systems can transcend tribal boundaries and win the trust of a diverse populace, then it will be feasible to progress toward stable growth and development. Unfortunately, building a trusted system of justice often takes second place to rebuilding the economy in the early stages of the process of nation building. It is essential that development of an effective system of justice be started early on, to help prevent corruption in the economy and polity. In the Foreword to R. Scott Appleby's book, The Ambivalence of the Sacred, the President Emeritus of Notre Dame starts out his statement with the quote: "If you want peace, work for justice."

The following are sample checklists pointing to important content and functions of religious, judicial, and governmental institutions. These institutions interact with each other and with economic, political, and educational institutions. Only selected responsibilities are listed below.

Religion includes: stories and practices that help one relate to the One God (the transcendental power and/or process of creation). It includes: teaching sets of universal moral standards, values and norms that guide behavior, interpreted by a governing hierarchy guided by sacred writings. It provides supportive communities for members.

Systems of Justice include: prosecution, courts, rehabilitation and imprisonment. They are also responsible for interpreting the constitution, and protecting civil rights, human rights, property rights, and freedom of the media within the bounds of decency.

Governmental Systems include: checks and balances, and administrative and legislative branches. Associated with government are political parties that develop: policy, programs, and select candidates for election. Government is responsible for enforcing honest and equitable election campaigns, fair lobbying, and public information procedures.

A checklist in Appendix 2, shows the foregoing and is useful to remind readers of the many intricate interactions among the three systems. These three systems or institutions must function closely together in an integrated and balanced fashion. Such interaction does not imply that religion must surrender its responsibility of maintaining universal and basic human values, to manipulation by the state.

I believe that global systems of justice and governance are needed to help humankind survive as weapons-technology, portable by an individual terrorist, reaches the levels of mass destruction. These systems should include processes of conflict resolution, reconciliation, and peacemaking. One of the greatest threats to world peace today is the result of people committed only to tribal/good ole boy perspectives, and systems of justice coming into contact with people whose commitments extend to systems organized at national and global levels. Being unfamiliar with global-scale commitments, tribal peoples tend to exaggerate the evil of global interactions, though in many cases the evils of foreign exploitation of national resources and local labor are real. U.S. policy in the Middle East unfortunately provides many examples of neocolonial exploitation and oppression. Tribal people have great difficulty in appreciating the perspectives of those leading global corporations

Terrorist tactics seldom win peace and progress.(128) Georgie Anne Geyer showed that the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries provide many historical examples of tribal peoples using the only weapons they had,(2-3) including suicide, to gain freedom from neocolonialist domination. Blaming neocolonialism for their problems and resorting to terrorism may satisfy frustrations for a while, but in the long run only working together to build trust with kindness can be victorious.

E. INCREASING SCALES OF GOVERNANCE CREATE NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR SYSTEMS OF JUSTICE

To balance the desires and actions of individuals, groups, and corporations and to safeguard moral rightness, governments have tried to institutionalize fair means of conflict resolution and have tended toward democratic forms of governance. However as the scales of the governing units increase in size, and the diversity of perspectives increase, it becomes more difficult to monitor the fairness and equitability of actions. The anonymity persons have in urban environments weakens the traditional monitoring approaches that rely upon peer pressure to get tribal members to live up to norms that counter the effects of selfishness and corruption. We find that selfishness and shortsightedness lead to corruption, competition, inequity, and the like. In fact, many so-called advanced economies are based, in part, on greed more so than compassion and sharing. As organization structures become more complex and hierarchical, the perspectives of workers and leaders in these organizations lose track of the whole and become narrow, focusing on the bottom line or performance of their immediate work group. Oversight becomes difficult when one worker does not understand the tasks and responsibilities of fellow workers. Corruption increases due to lack of effective peer oversight. Such increases in complexity and loss in oversight play major roles in the rise and fall of organizations and even of civilizations. We need to develop clear guidelines for deciding which conflicts should be resolved within the family, which ones within the neighborhood, and which ones at state and global scales.

The foregoing considerations also apply to religious organizations and provide another strong reason for separation of church and state.

In the anonymity of urban environments, it becomes more difficult to extend compassion to others. One writer who discussed compassion is Francis A. Schaeffer, a philosopher, theologian, and an evangelical thinker who has written many books. In How Should We Then Live? - The Rise and Decline of Western Culture, on pages 113-119, he discussed the Christian Church's weak response to child labor, slavery and discrimination. He wrote: "But all to often in England and other countries the church was silent about the Old and New Testament's emphasis on compassionate use of wealth." Greed seems to have become a key to entrepreneurship as business and industrial leaders put their profits back into expanding their enterprises and overlooked compassion for their workers, for the sake of the bottom line.

I believe that independent systems of justice are essential, at several scales, for channeling the power of greed to constructive ends for all, and for broadening perspectives and concerns to include those people at the bottom of the income and status scales.

An interesting paper on justice, from a different perspective, is a recent one by Professor Eric Gans, who has written on the origins of language and violence.(129) Another source is Chapter 7 in Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban's book Islamic Society in Practice. She described changes in governance and human rights under colonialist rule and under Muslim rule that followed the achievement of independence from colonial rule.

F. CHANGING INFORMATION CONTEXTS - COMMUNICATION NOW PENETRATES EVERYWHERE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS

There is now an increasing awareness that communication technology has enabled enlarging the scales of the communities to which many professional and business workers are committed, whether for selfish reasons or for the prosperity of humankind and the natural environment. In the past few decades some business communities have begun to function at global scales. Some professionals belong to several associations and work for international corporations, both of which have members from around the world. They meet them at annual meetings and stay in contact throughout the year. Yet, there are other people who still relate to and are primarily committed to one or two communities that function at parochial scales.

Between the two foregoing extremes are people in tribal and village-oriented communities who are increasingly exposed to new ideas and lifestyles of postmodern societies. There are also many villagers migrating to urban areas for jobs that do not yet exist. Third-world nations struggle to compete with modern and post-industrial societies. People are having their perspectives stretched in all directions. They see the advantages of freedom and they also see the abuse of freedom by greedy businessmen and others who become dominated by competition whether in manufacturing, sales, research, advertising, or professional sports. They see the results of freedom without responsibility.

Professor Benjamin Barber has written a well-received book Jihad Versus McWorld (1995) that describes the two extremes of parochial and tribal cultures (Jihad) on the one hand, and global cultures (McWorld) on the other hand. The former, in some cases, become involved in holy war against modern approaches that are based upon faith in a free market ideology that seems to be deficient in respecting the rights and institutions of common villagers. Accountability and responsibility are absent. Barber's book provides a foundation for some of the ideas that I present herein. His latest book, Fear's Empire, published in 2003, applies some of his ideas to the post-9/11 world.

Considering the stresses generated by these aspects of globalization and the resulting feelings of humiliation, frustration and powerlessness, one can understand why many rebel against the Western way of life. But rebellion and violence are not the only responses to anomie (not having norms that guide one to resolve the confusion of change). There are innovative responses and role models. Stories about these can serve as guides to overcoming feelings of not knowing how to find a constructive life path. I present examples in Section J in this chapter.

The next two sections might seem to be repetition, since some of the information has been mentioned earlier in this book. However, at this point I present it with some new references and examples to provide a context for conflict resolution and peacemaking.

G. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - INTERCOMMUNITY COMPETITION AND CONFLICT

Throughout the history of humankind's quest for ways to establish and administer communities there has been competition for natural resources, space or land, and the knowledge of how best to safeguard access to them. Competition has led to war, acquisition of power, conquest, research to expand technological knowledge, and failures to share knowledge. Centuries ago, philosophy and history contributed to development of guidelines that helped administration of ever-larger political and economic communities. Theology contributed to traditions, practices, myths, and stories that helped people relate to transcendent perspectives that reached deep down into ones unconscious. However, individuals vary considerably in the depth of understanding that they achieve in knowledge of philosophy, history, and theology. These variations cause problems.

Some people become deeply committed to their particular view and perspective. They become defensive and hesitate to listen to differing perspectives and fear trying to understand them. This makes it difficult to share equitably, compromise with diverse others, and reach the levels of consensus needed in a functioning democracy. This trend becomes a form of idolatry.

An article about Missionaries Under Cover raised important concerns about the mission work of Evangelical Christians in Muslim countries, which appears to ignore the differences in culture between Muslims and Middle-Class Americans.(130) Some "true believers" appeared to follow a simplistic worldview that displays an ignorance of cultural differences. They are seen as arrogant and disrespectful by the victims of years of oppression. Many Christian and Muslim "true believers" close their minds to preserve their worldviews and reduce stress produced from encountering others with different worldviews.

In the context of increasingly diverse communities, and galloping technological know-how, we find ourselves in danger that weapons of mass destruction will become increasingly used in attempts to resolve conflicts. How do we resolve such conflicts? How do we know who is right? Remember that under such confusing times, uncertainty leads many persons to divide those involved in the issue into good and evil, and they grab on for dear life to the simplistic view - that their perspective is the only right one.

The Arab-Israeli conflict provides many examples of such intercommunity conflict. A book, first published in 1987 and which won the author a Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction, now updated in 2002 is entitled: Arab and Jew - Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land by David K. Shipler. Shipler was a New York Times Bureau Chief in Jerusalem - 1979-84. Reviewers are very positive about the many personal interviews he described in a fairly well-balanced report.

H. INSTITUTIONS AND INCREASING SCALES OF COMMITMENT

I mentioned the concept of religious institutions in the beginning of Chapter 2 herein. As communities grew in scale and the age of scientific enlightenment weakened domination by religious institutions, commitments began to increase and fragment with the addition of special knowledge communities such as worker guilds and professional associations. As communication technology developed, such special communities became global in scope and were no longer tied to physical space.

Religious communities (such as the Roman Catholic Church) were perhaps the first to reach a global scale. Protestant and Muslim groups have also extended their reach worldwide. The scales of political institutions have grown similarly as exemplified by attempts to extend political ideologies such as capitalism and communism over the whole globe. The United Nations organization provides global arenas for discussion and attempts to guide ever larger communities to live peacefully and limit the harmful effects of competition for scarce resources, unbalances between population growth and sharing wealth, food, and the like.

Rapid population growth in developing nations often causes problems of unemployment, starvation, and hopelessness, especially among young persons. Overpopulation exacerbates the negative effects of competition. It is a difficult problem to ameliorate by institutional change. This problem is described and solutions are discussed in Part IV, pages 115-154, in a book entitled: A Survey of Sustainable Development, and edited by Jonathan Harris, Timothy Wise, and others. Related topics are summarized in other parts of the book. I highly recommend his very readable book.

Islam, with a fairly expansive shariah or system of laws, has tried to integrate religious and political institutions under the authority of religious scholars. Yet, Sunni Islam historically had not been governed by a hierarchy, similar to that of bishops and cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church. Integration was mainly under the authority of the Qur'an and Hadith as interpreted by a tribal chief and/or imams. Thus, Sunni Islam lacks the coordinating structure of a legitimated hierarchy needed to manage religion and politics in a coherent and well-integrated way during changing times and among societies with widely differing histories and cultural traditions. Yet, from another point of view, Sunni Islam has permitted a degree of freedom that gave rise to secular forms of governance and business. To what extent might the lack of a hierarchy have increased the chance of authoritarian rule by the likes of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Hafez al-Asad in Syria?

Shi'ite Islam, on the other hand, does feature a hierarchical structure. Shi'ite Islam was formed after a dispute over who should succeed as the leader of Islam. They, largely for political reasons, according to Karen Armstrong, supported direct descendents of The Prophet, a typical tribal approach to succession. Has hierarchy among the Siites in Iran helped?

In contrast, Christians handled succession differently. Since Jesus' ministry only lasted a few years, the means to select leaders in Christian communities to assist the apostles in their work was developed by the apostles a few years after Jesus' death. However, as Elaine Pagels describes in her book, The Gnostic Gospels, there was also controversy about who was Jesus’ favorite. The story of how Stephen and several others were chosen to share the task of feeding the widows appears in Acts: 6:1-6. It is described on page 144, in Charles Kimball's book When Religion Becomes Evil. On page 146, Kimball wrote:

"Institutional structures develop to meet and serve real needs - religious, political, economic, military, recreational, and so on. These structures do not change easily. Rather than being a means to an end, protecting the religious institution sometimes becomes the end that justifies the means."

Returning to Islam, Iran currently is going through a conflict between authoritarian theocratic rule and an educated population in the larger cities who prefer more freedom from the narrow perspectives of Shi'ite leaders. When the followers of one Shi'ite religious leader (ayatollah) killed another leader in Iraq in early 2003, they were either protecting their institution of Shi'ite Islam, or they were protecting the position, political power, and/or authority of another religious leader. To what extent did Western colonialist support of the former Shah in Iran set the stage for a religious takeover?

I believe that problems with intercommunity warfare, competition and imbalances in sharing are mainly due to the deficient development of proven and trusted, global-scale systems for administering justice. The concept of sovereignty is directly related here in the USA. In the news one reads about disagreements such as whether certain local levels of justice supercede that of the nation when it comes to protecting human rights. Another disagreement is whether the regulatory level of a child-welfare agency permits them to enter a private home and take a child away into their protection.

Today many of the conflicts in the world develop from competition among economic/politically - based communities for control of resources and space. These conflicts continue and become more deadly mainly because easily portable weapons technology has increased the range of destruction to the global level. In order to control such potential for global disaster we need to expand the scale of justice systems to function effectively at the global level and beyond. Today there is no worldwide agreement about the range or scale over which the world court has jurisdiction. In addition, we need to expand systems of governance to the global level when it comes to arms control, disaster relief, HIV virus, and poverty. In the case of child rearing and abuse, considerable progress still is needed at the village level. In the case of gun control in America, efforts are still stymied at the town level. Thus there is a very wide range of community scales wherein governance and jurisprudence need improvement.

I. CONFLICT RESOLUTION

One of the main functions of justice systems is the resolution of conflict, in ways that do not stifle freedom and progress in knowledge and technology. Conflict resolution techniques, initially, were mainly developed to resolve labor vs. management and similar disputes. Such techniques involved round-table discussions among those involved in the conflicts, and shuttle diplomacy by experienced, trusted and empathetic listeners. Scott Appleby's book The Ambivalence of the Sacred presents many detailed stories of how conflict resolution was successful when the conflict was between self-aggrandizing political leaders and the common people who were represented by human rights and democracy advocates. Consideration of basic human rights is rooted in religion, in national constitutions, and in the United Nations. Respected human rights observers have gotten worldwide support for the defense of human rights, but authoritarian leaders still infringe on human rights. Appleby described examples wherein people in a number of developing nations slowly gained trust in human rights groups and, working together with specialists experienced in conflict resolution, they peacefully unseated some dictators. There are a few cases where the totalitarian regime had enough military strength to prevent such takeovers relying on the increasingly destructive scale of high-tech intelligence gathering and weaponry.

Appleby's second chapter goes into depth describing the apparent inaction of "religious actors" in the former Yugoslavia. They did not openly demand that Milosevic stop atrocities by Serbs against Roman Catholic Croatians and Muslim Bosnians. Many people were killed, their homes and crops destroyed, and their churches and mosques destroyed. Clerics decried the atrocities upon their own followers in faith, and sometimes made general statements about violence, but seldom if ever demanded a halt to their own followers committing violence against others in specific instances. Were they afraid they'd be jailed or killed? Did they feel that their own followers, many of whom seldom went to the tradition-bound religious services, would not support them? Or did they just not extend the compassion that is so highly valued by followers of all three faiths? What role did abuse by others centuries ago play in their failure to act with conviction, against violence in particular and in general? Appleby discusses these and related questions. On page 260 of The Ambivalence of the Sacred Appleby wrote:

"Muslim progressives, insisting that Islam comes to know itself more profoundly through interaction with other traditions, have collaborated with non-Muslim scholars of Islam and entered into dialogue with Christian and Jewish scholars on topics such as "Western and Islamic Perspectives on Religious Liberty."

At this point, I introduce examples of nonviolent conflict resolution of which few Americans are aware.

J. EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL NONVIOLENT ACTIONS LED BY CHARISMATIC PEOPLE WITH HOLISTIC WORLDVIEWS

Actions by a number of leaders illustrate different ways to use nonviolent actions to delegitimize oppressors. Examples of such leaders are: Mohandas Gandhi, Ghaffar (Badshaw) Khan, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King. In April 2003, I came across a very readable and short biography, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam written by Eknath Easwaran, about Badshah Khan, a Pathan, Pastun, or Pushtun from the mountains that straddle the Afghan-Pakistan border. I have the second edition that was published in 2002. I had not known that Gandhi had a Muslim colleague, Badshaw Khan. From the late 1920's till the late 1940's, both worked together, Gandhi in India and Khan in Pakistan, to help India, including Pakistan, gain independence from Britain.

Most Americans have not heard about Ghaffar Khan. Born, Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1890, he was later called Badshah Khan, which means the leader of the khans (see page 79). He died in 1988. Khan's leadership showed how nonviolent acts magnify the shame directed to the oppressor. They viewed nonviolence as being most effective if those involved were known to be good fighters, yet they gave up their weapons to be nonviolent. On page 194, Gandhi's idea of nonviolence is described. "True nonviolence does not issue from weakness but from strength. It was a matter of the powerful voluntarily withholding their power in a conflict, choosing to suffer for the sake of a principle rather than inflict suffering - even though they could." The Pathan (Pashtun) fighters were known for their bravery and thus, when they acted nonviolently, they were most effective. Today in the mountains along the Afghan-Pakistan border, some Pashtun are being misled by "selective literalist" Islamists to return to Taliban ways. But, Badshaw Khan had a larger perspective as he strove to lead a force for freedom from British rule; and he succeeded. The life of Badshah Khan shows the compassion, love and bravery that true Islam engenders.

What was the basis of the hour-long talks Badshah Khan presented to recruit followers, as he walked from village to village in 1929? He spoke to his fellow Pashtun tribesmen in words at their level. His talks helped convert these mountain fighters into non-violent marchers. (See quotes from one of his talks and reactions on pages 110-113 in Easwaran's book.) Might Khan's approach have led their thinking to higher levels of perspective taking, and combined these ideas with a Godly perspective? Is a larger scale of justice likely to be familiar to persons at a small tribal or village scale? Khan awakened their appreciation of a larger perspective.

A web posting by: Amitabh Pal., entitled: A Pacifist Uncovered presents very interesting details of Khan's struggle against the brutality of the British forces.(131)

Does the person whose moral value system and levels of perspective taking function at the highest levels, view as trivial such concerns as one's personal wealth, status, and safety? It seems so in many cases. Do persons whose values and commitments are focused on global and regional scales, rather than only on self-oriented and parochial scales, tend to become leaders for peace and justice? I believe so.

Is that why Badshah Khan gave his property to his sons and did not go to Britain to study, as did his brother who became a physician?

Scott Appleby and Marc Gopin described similar actions by a Buddhist monk, starting on page 123 in The Ambivalence of the Sacred and on page 44 in Marc Gopin's, Between Eden and Armageddon. Appleby described how Samdech Presh Maha Ghosananda organized four peace marches in Cambodia in the 1990's. Some of these marches were very successful in getting out the vote. Hundreds of thousands of onlookers encouraged the marchers along the way and 10,000 joined their ranks. Gopin wrote that on one march for ending production of land mines, the marchers passed through areas that had been densely seeded with land mines and almost completely deforested. In their third march, two of the marchers were killed and four wounded as they got caught in a firefight between the Royal Cambodian Army and Khmer Rouge.

Ghosananda followed the Theravade tradition in Buddhism. Gopin added that Ghosananda used marching as a way to help encourage reconciliation. Thus the marchers as well as the onlookers might be transformed. Ghosananda's whole family had been murdered by the Khmer Rouge. Describing how the marchers walked through the area riddled with land mines, Gopin provided the following quote from Ghosananda: "We must remove the land mines in our hearts which prevent us from making peace - greed, hatred, and delusions. We can overcome greed with weapons of generosity, we can overcome hatred with weapons of loving-kindness, (and) we can overcome delusions with the weapon of wisdom. Peace starts with us."(p. 45)

Gopin referred to the delusion of Pol Pot's mad vision. Those marches spanned an interval of at least two years. The mythical stories, so meaningful to the Cambodians in the context of those times and under the leadership of that monk, aroused deep emotions but also generated hope. Gopin mentioned that the marches like those of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, changed the direction of history.

A book entitled: Peace is the Way - Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, edited by Walter Wink, provides a collection of over 50 articles written by leaders of nonviolent movements for peace. These achievements have not been widely publicized by the American media. The last chapter by Richard Deats, presents an encouraging summary of successful peace movements from around the world. He described a number of successful acts toppling dictators in the Philippines, Chile, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asian countries. People power has overcome police forces and armies. We have seen this in the Ukraine in 2005, though it now appears that the popular revolution might be short lived. Such victories against corruption can spread like wildfire in today's world of quick and easy telecommunications. Deats described the public education programs in peaceful and nonviolent resistance that played key roles in these successful movements.

K. PEACEMAKING OFTEN ENTAILS CULTURAL CHANGE

Professor Lawrence Harrison, in his 2006 book: The Central Liberal Truth - How Politics Can Change A Culture ..., discusses the effects of religion on progress in his Chapter 4. He presented examples of progress-resistant values and progress prone values in several of the major world religions and concluded that religious reform can change traditional, progress-resistant values to values that foster modernization and progress. On pages 211 & 212, he summarized important reasons holding back "progress toward the goals of democratic governance, social justice, and prosperity." These include: clerical interpretations of the Qur'an that promote fatalistic attitudes to problems that require leadership guiding cultural change, and perpetuating subordination and illiteracy among women. Comparison of Muslim development in contrast to that in the West and occupation by the West, are insults to their self respect and honor that are some important contributors to conflict between East and West.

Marc Gopin pointed out that peacemaking needs much more than the basic methods of conflict resolution. He explored peacemaking and how to expand conflict resolution in ways that account for the diverse religio/politico/economic systems presently found in communities around the world. I believe that much more needs to be done to make conflict resolution more effective, to train broad-minded leaders, and to enable judging the quality of life in communities as climates change and populations exceed what their eco-systems can support.

When religious and political ideologies and traditions are involved in a conflict, one must consider that perhaps some of the traditions are in the forms of "sacralized violence" that are stories that celebrate murderous acts of revenge that occurred many years or centuries in the past. Gopin described the Jewish holiday of Purim on pages 52-53. This celebration includes an obligatory reading of the Book of Esther. The story of Esther is celebrated even today as a holiday of a Jewish victory remembering the killing of some (75,000) who were said to hate the Jews and were thought to be planning to kill them at the command of Haman. Since Haman's order could not be voided, Queen Esther had a hand in getting her husband, King Xerxes I, to hang Haman and permit the Jews to do this killing. Similar celebrations are repeated throughout the holy books of the three monotheistic religions, and to some extent they glorify killing, rather than peacemaking. However, one must keep in mind the context of the times when judging those traditions.(132)

Another example is the harassing of Jews that would occur in some East European countries after the Christians came out from Good Friday/Easter services, having been excited by sermons that attributed or implied the death of Jesus was influenced by the Jews.

The three main monotheistic faiths that Karen Armstrong has described so well in her book, A History of God include traditions that recall times of violence and oppression in the history of the faiths. In many cases, such as the Palestine/Israeli conflict, the conflict in former Yugoslavia, the conflicts in Northern Ireland, and elsewhere, violence, oppression, and revenge have been sacralized in the form of stories, poems and now videos and CD's showing live events. Memories of such violent acts are commemorated in sacred writings, in holy books (Bibles and the Qur'an) as well as in ceremonies at religious and national holidays. Readings of those events do not let the followers forget past oppression, and, at times they contribute to the perpetuation of hatred. But they also provide support for overcoming oppression today. We did it once and we can do it again.

Harvey Cox wrote that Erikson once remarked: "… Just as the passage beyond a personal phase of life brings back memories of previous ones, a culture must also look back as it goes forward. ... Memory of the past can provide an emancipating energy in the present." (p. 194 in Religion and the Secular City.)

I believe that celebratory stories can be reoriented to redirect present-day readers to assign causes for the conflict to: small perspectives, lack of compassion for the other on both sides, support of a militant, authoritarian leader, and lack of a transcending judicial system for the problem. In this way, the story would contribute to learning about peacemaking instead of revenge centuries after the event. Based upon Gopin's term of "sacralized violence", I suggest that reorientation and redirection of celebratory stories might be called "resacralization".

Changes in perspectives and scales of commitment require changes in one's identity. The initial doubts created by interaction with diverse others sometimes generate a return to earlier times as one searches for new identity props. We search our attics or in today's jargon - our storage bins, for props from a glorious past, but that teaches us nothing about how to avoid such vengeful actions and set up the preconditions to make peace instead. This is what progressive Muslims need to be doing in many Middle Eastern countries and many Christian progressive thinkers need to be doing in America. We need to help each other in this effort.

A very recent DVD and book, both with the title The Power of Forgiveness, the latter by Kenneth Briggs describes the response to tragedy by several people who have forgiven the person who caused the tragedy. Forgiveness works in our brains differently than revenge and retaliation, allowing compassion to contribute to peacemaking. The approach used in this book and in the DVD complements the work of Marc Gopin described above.

L. STRENGTHENING SOCIAL CAPITAL

A new concept, "social capital" provides hope for assisting sustainable community development, in societies that are poverty stricken. A few pages of postings by the World Bank define the term "Social Capital" clearly and provide interesting examples.(133) Nowadays, capital in terms of manufacturing plants and technological knowledge is being supplemented by a non-competitive market type of capital that " ... refers to the investing one's energy and commitment to strengthen the norms and networks that enable collective action. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion - social capital - is critical for poverty alleviation and for sustainable human and economic development." It can also be helpful for mobilizing popular actions for eliminating the causes of oppression and exploitation.

Robert D. Putnam described a good example of the importance of one aspect of social capital in a comparative study of economic development begun in 1977 and entitled: Making Democracy Work - Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (1993). His team compared development in Northern Italy with the much slower development in Southern Italy, after regional government was established in 1970. The North had much involvement in civic activities wherein common interest based on profession, occupation, interest in music, and/or art, provided citizens with opportunities to share experiences with others from diverse backgrounds. In the South, kinship hierarchies that were authoritarian in character limited such social interaction. The question that Putnam's conclusions raised in my mind is the following. Is social capital effective when the groups are composed of people from different career, professional, and ethno-religious backgrounds? I believe the answer is yes. In Southern Italy, kinship units, lacked the diversity that helps one broaden his or her worldview and in this way increase creativity? Might the traditional cultural factors restricting economic development in Southern Italy be similar, though not identical, to the factors that restrict economic development in tribal parts of the Muslim Middle East, Latin America, and elsewhere in the world? Again, I think the answer is yes.

A recent book edited by Conceicao, Pedro et al (134) includes work by a number of authors that expand the context in which social capital functions and can be developed. A need for change is evident in the traditional institutions that hamper a broadening and intermixing of diverse perspectives in a context of mutual trust. Networks need to be expanded in scope and the Internet can be most helpful here. We have models of successful development of social capital. Two different models are mentioned on pages 12-14 in the book edited by Conceicao et al, one in Italy and the other in Silicon Valley. I highly recommend this book.

The idea of social capital is woven into a larger context in a book entitled A Survey of Sustainable Development, and edited by Jonathan Harris, Timothy Wise, and others. See especially pages 71-78. For example, the more egalitarian social structures in Taiwan and Kerala were more amenable to synergy between public agencies and ordinary citizens, than is the case in "rural Mexico, where a strong landlord class presides over an excluded peasantry."

Do you think that political leaders in the Middle East and in Washington would fear development of social capital because it might lead to populist pressure to reign in government power? Such fear was what led to choking the liberating thought from the madrassahs by puppets set up by colonialist powers. Such fear in the West has led to spying and reducing funds for peace-oriented work in universities. During our Civil Rights movements forty years ago our FBI spied upon Martin Luther King and other leaders.

I have not yet found research on social capital that includes consideration of the contributions promoting synergy and mutual trust on the one hand, and divisive, exclusivist attitudes on the other hand. Both of these considerations are often rooted in particular attitudes and perceptions propagated by religious clerics. I believe that in today's world, such contributions, both constructive and destructive of social capital cannot be ignored. Institutional change can accentuate the positive, difficult though it may be, to guide constructive and progressive change.

Another good book that supplements the former is one edited by Davide Nicolini et al, entitled: Knowing in Organizations - A Practice-Based Approach (2003). They described some of the concepts related to new vocabularies and concepts of organizations. Several chapters discuss replacing the concept of knowledge with the "process of knowing" or "getting to know".

My experience at leading folk dance groups provides an example that illustrates the difference between new and old approaches to knowledge. While reading pages 14 & 15 in Conceicao's Introduction, I thought about two different ways of learning by members of amateur performing dance groups. They provide a good example of a community of practice. The old approach to knowledge is comparable to the person who tries to learn the dances from written instructions relating the steps to the musical measures and timing. On the other hand, the new approach is comparable to the person who gets on the floor behind a good dancer and learns by copying and doing the movements and expressions. Temple Grandin, writing about differences in the brains of animals and humans, pointed out how some people rely on images rather than words to learn. I believe that the visual aspect in the latter way of learning unique styles of dancing was most helpful.

Life in a real community involves many relationships, both vertical and horizontal, and the best way to learn about them for the purpose of making constructive changes is to join the community and become accepted as a member by the others. Joining in, whether in a choral group or dance group, decreases the restrictions imposed by class differences and other hierarchical differences.

The new concept of learning by participating and involvement sheds light on the context of what is learned. The old approach viewed learning as a mental process residing in a person's head (page 3). The new approach conceives of learning as active involvement with the group in situations including the historical, social, and cultural contexts. Thus it becomes easier to work together to change historical impediments to change.

Professor Richard Florida published, in the year 2002 a book entitled: The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida refined the concept of social capital in chapter 15. He relied on a considerable amount of new data that supplements the ideas of institutional change, facilitating networking, and revitalizing central areas of large university towns to attract what he defined as the new creative class. He extrapolates beyond industrial cities and Silicon Valley to new creative centers such as Seattle, L.A. and New York.

Two web postings describe, from a corporate perspective, the classic work of Peter Senge on how "learning organizations" can adapt to change. The postings are listed as the first two items in Section R of this chapter.

M. HOW YOUTH ARE EDUCATED IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION

An interesting opportunity to read about events in Palestine that one seldom sees in the American media is a new book by Edward W. Said, a well-known cultural and literary critic. It is entitled Culture and Resistance and has an Introduction by David Barsamian. Said described experiences during many recent visits to Palestine wherein he talked with many different people from all walks of life. He included discussion of events related to music and other aspects of a people's culture and identity that one seldom sees in the American media. This book shows how much most Americans are out of touch with global realities. I noticed during the Afghan war, in The Denver Post of 7-14-07, and other statements reported in the American media that some Pakistani and other clerics, especially regressive Islamists, also seemed to be out of touch with the major global realities. This makes them more easily misled and, in some cases, leads them to distort interpretations of the Qur'an and Hadith to justify extremist and violent actions. For example, it appears that there still are some Muslim clerics who believe that Israeli special-forces destroyed the Twin Towers and a part of the Pentagon.

Young persons educated in that way are easily recruited for terrorist acts when old interpretations are treated as absolute truths proven by successes in the distant past, and are applied in the present-day context of low levels of education and lack of hope in achieving modern lifestyles and living standards. The power of a rifle props up the faltering identities of these youths by creating an inauthentic impression of power.

I have listened to and watched Muslim and Christian clerics interviewed on television, some highly educated ones and others not well educated. I feel that it is essential that such religious leaders obtain a broad-based education before they lead groups of adults and children. Children need to learn how to think critically and discuss history and behavioral and social sciences in addition to the natural sciences and math. School-age children will be exposed to the Internet and television no matter what restrictions are imposed by concerned parents or by a rigid orthodox literalist government trying to limit freedom to learn and question.

In Muslim countries, pre-colonial forms of scholarly and progressive madrasahs need to be re-instituted to replace the rote learning variety so much more common today. Many persons today, Muslims and Westerners, ask: "What caused Islam to lose its high ranked position relative to the West in the last centuries?" One of the main answers is that they lost the benefit of the high quality madrasahs. As I mentioned in Section K of Chapter 2, this is largely the result of colonialism, but there are Muslim nations today that have the resources and opportunity to fund re-instituted madrasahs. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and some of the small oil kingdoms could do that, if they did not sit back and waste the money they receive from neocolonial corporations. A few other Muslim nations seem to be moving in the right direction.

Emmanuel Todd wrote about the violence that often occurs when a culture goes through a transition from preindustrial to modern worldviews in the third chapter of After the Empire. I mentioned personal and societal crises of transition in Sections A, D and E of Chapter 2 herein. Such crises are stressful, and desacralization of violent stories from the past is important to reduce the violence often associated with the stresses of societal transitions.

Jane Smith and Marc Gopin both wrote about how the masses of people could be redirected toward peace by reorienting the traditional interpretations, and de-memorializing (de-emphasizing the violent stories of ancient military victories) the past oppressions that were relevant to the pre-modern society. At the same time, it is important to revitalize the universal values of moderation, and have families fulfilling their responsibilities in early education, honesty, charity, and the like. On the other hand, our modern society needs to de-emphasize values of consumerism and conspicuous consumption, and encourage building more authentic personal identities by providing a good, broadly based education. They need to counter demoralization by the excesses of modern media, television, and the Internet. All these changes need to be made in a well-coordinated manner. Sacred writings also need to be reoriented to emphasize peacemaking values and de-emphasize sacred violence. It is primarily the teaching and interpretations that have to be changed. One does not have to modify the original intent of the sacred writings when changing meanings and traditions.

Professor Lawrence Harrison, in his 2006 book: The Central Liberal Truth - How Politics Can Change A Culture ..., has a helpful discussion of the media on pages 78-85. He described how op-ed writers preach to the converted more so than influence the public. Many readers are looking for confirmation of their own values and attitudes. He presents examples from the media in Germany, the Middle East, Latin America and China.

N. THE INTERNET CAN HELP DIALOGUE AND LEARNING RELATED TO PEACEMAKING

The internet can be used constructively as long as access is not overly controlled. Two examples of constructive Internet forums that support critical thinking are: the following. Gil Bailie has posted a web-forum and there is a related web-forum edited by John Boettiger.(135)

The two forums present essays (accessible free) and opportunities for submitting essays covering a wide range of current topics. Much useful information is contained in the essays linked-to, in both forums.

When there is conflict between two religious groups, religious interpretations of the two opposing faiths might need reorientation. Their doctrines should be made more relevant and must emphasize reconciliation and peacemaking, or else little progress will be achieved. To accomplish such a task is most difficult. It can even lead to the death of those scholars involved in changing interpretations of sacred writings. Such killings have occurred in Iran and Egypt. An Israeli political leader was also killed because he sought to make peace. Religious symbolism runs deep into the soul of "true believers". Sometimes generations have to pass before changes can be made.

The door to dialogue is often closed by religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim. Group discussions about God often reach no conclusion because the concept of God is most complex and no one person can relate to the entirety of God. This is what has happened in some church discussion groups in which I have participated. Discussions can go on forever because each person involved in the discussions has, in their mind, a different image of God than the others have in their minds, yet, each person is unaware of the difference. I mentioned Nelson Thayer's view on this point in Section I of Chapter 2. The difficulty can be resolved if a good facilitator has each person define for the others how he or she views God in the context of the discussion.

Religious leaders for centuries have worked at legitimating their view of the sacred symbols by claiming that they are absolute truths. But, in this way, they close the door on dialogue among their followers. When religion emphasizes absolute truths and dualistic arguments it develops the potential for simplistic views. When followers have closed minds and avoid getting involved in discussions with others, it becomes easy for leaders to legitimate, and justify terrorist acts. The "true believers" become intolerant, closed minded, and remember a perverted version of their faith, never questioning its validity or coherence. Something similar can occur with political ideologies, but in the latter case, for many, the symbolism does not run as deeply into ones soul and unconscious as does religious symbolism.

I must insert here a reference to a high quality set of papers presented at a conference on violence held in Innsbruck. For those who are familiar with literature, and the writings of Dostoyevsky, Professor Andrew McKenna has a very interesting paper that delves into the Dostoyevskian psychology of the oppressed militant more so than any other writer I have yet seen.(136) Access to other papers is accessible from a list posted by the Colloquium on Violence and Religion and entitled: Terrorism, Mimetic Rivalry and War.

McKenna has also written a very interesting section on the topics of constructing ones personal identity and violence. That section is summarized in Section I of my posting: Understanding Forces Confronted by Muslim Youth. (137).

O. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR

Gopin summarized ideas from his study of how stories of violence from the distant past have, as I say, roots deep in the unconscious of people today. Can such deep memories of pain be replaced by witnessing constructive reconciliation and successful projects that demonstrate forgiveness and compassion? It might take several generations as we have seen 130 years after our American Civil War. It takes leaders like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela and many others. It requires an integrated and coordinated effort to change institutions in the areas of education, social welfare, job training, jurisprudence, entertainment, finance, and so on.

On page 186, Gopin described unilateral actions of compassion over an extended period of time that would be necessary to change attitudes rooted in mistrust and violence from the past. Only by such actions can the hope of reconciliation contribute toward building mutual trust and fairness. He goes on to list other examples that must happen concurrently.

Much has been written recently about the psychology of fear and anxiety and how they affect our body and brain. However, I have not found as much written about altruistic behavior which some might think is the opposite emotion to fear and hate. These two types of emotions are quite different from each other, as I describe in the next Section.

Steven Hyman of the National Institute of Mental Health wrote: "Survival depends on the ability of an organism to respond to threat or reward, and predict the circumstances under which they are likely to occur."(138) The article indicated: "The brain structures that handle that job evolved long before the neocortex (the seat of conscious awareness), and they easily override it. The "emotional brain", as LeDoux calls this web of ancient circuitry, is highly attuned to signs of potential danger."... "The fear system's command center is the amygdala ...Even a split-second glance at a hostile face activates the amygdala in a normal brain...An active amygdala doesn't wait around for instructions from the conscious mind." "Through a process known as fear conditioning, the emotional brain can readily learn to perceive a mundane stimulus as a warning sign."

The occurrence of fear and anxiety coupled with the idea of 'fear conditioning', tends to make strategies based upon fear become self-fulfilling prophecies. If we fear an enemy, we arm to defend ourselves. In response, the enemy arms for defense and war becomes almost inevitable. Sometimes governmental officials rely upon this self-fulfilling aspect to propagate fear and gain support for war and/or reelection.

Is our Department of Homeland Security trying to use fear to scare people to engender support for preparations in the event of terrorist violence? Is it safe to rely on media advertising consultants to motivate Americans to be prepared at home and have a good mental attitude also? Or will they try to get us to buy more duct tape manufactured by a political party financial supporter?

P. ALTRUISM AND PEACEMAKING

The emotions of fear and hate attract more attention from the television viewer, book reader, or radio listener than do the emotions related to altruism. I believe that is one reason why TV dramas and the news programs, as well as the newspapers, focus more on fear and hate. Sharon Begley has written four excellent pages in Newsweek's December 24th issue (page 37) expanding upon how our brains respond differently to fear than to positive emotions. She wrote "Words that evoke images rather than abstractions are powerful triggers of fear, too." This idea fits well with a very popular book by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson entitled Animals in Translation. Begley described several pre-election events that changed outcomes by evoking the fear response.

The emotions of feeling happy, and sharing the joy of one who overcomes a challenge, can bring tears to the eyes of spectators and the one who overcame the challenge. The emotions associated with that kind of joy are very different from those associated with the emotions of fear and hate.

I believe that altruistic behavior is closely tied to identifying with another person or a member of a group to which one is closely associated. For example, a person seeing a little girl wandering out in the road in front of an oncoming car might associate her with his own daughter, and risk his life to pull the girl out of the way without thinking about the risk to himself. The vet who pulled a comrade to safety on the battlefield identified very closely with his buddy. Thus some altruistic acts appear to be as automatic a reaction as conditioned responses to fear. Fear for survival of the person with whom one identifies is what contributes to the speed of action. Other altruistic acts do not appear to be automatic reactions. An altruistic act such as helping an old woman cross the street seldom involves the physiological reactions such as quickened heartbeat and breathing rate, perspiration, blood pressure increase, constricting blood vessels in the stomach to force blood elsewhere, and so on.

Consider the former type of altruistic behavior, the type with strong emotions, and how it relates to any dramatic aspect of performances on stage or on television. What makes them so attractive is that one becomes closely familiar with, and in a way identifies with, the characters whom the actors are portraying. Identifying in this way includes experience at taking the perspectives of others and empathizing with the characters before one can sense the dramatic emotions that the actors might portray. When it comes to attracting viewers, the murder mysteries and coverage of awful world news events seem to be much more exciting and are likely to attract more viewers. But, I believe that they do not expand the perspectives of their viewers as much as altruistic and peacemaking stories do.

The traditions of religious institutions have, for centuries, engendered altruistic behavior by use of stories that exemplified altruistic behavior and told the benefits that accrued to the individual and the community. However, religious leaders have also responded to the challenge of guiding followers to be altruistic, by putting the stronger and deeper emotions of fear of hell into their followers. This approach persists because the idea of one's final judgment occurring in heaven cannot be verified or disproved by our senses.

Marc Gopin included four references to altruism in a religious sense in the index of his book, Between Eden and Armageddon. He discussed the good moral values inherent in most of the faiths that have passed the test of time and how these values led to the raising of children who as adults followed these good values. By their example they showed others what kindness and caring can accomplish, even at the risk of one's own life. Gopin described, (footnote # 12 on page 268) two examples; of Mennonites in France during World War II, and of Christians, saving Jews from the Nazis. He listed a number of questions (on page 55) that if researched properly could help peacemakers build upon particular religious traditions that foster altruism.

A Quaker journalist, Kate Maloy, in her book, A Stone Bridge North (pp. 252-255), analyzed the Columbine High School Disaster in Littleton, Colorado in a section entitled Hollow Children. She wrote: "The jocks in cars who throw beer cans at nerds on bicycles...can't know the effects of their divisive cruelty in advance." They trod others down to raise their own ego. "...When teenagers can lose friends and their standing in their community just for wearing the wrong clothes or talking to the wrong person in the lunch room, [it indicates that] outward symbols and trappings have become everything to them. It means our children have learned emptiness - they have been hollowed out."

In the terms that I use, these children have not received adequate guidance in experiences that involve learning to relate to and empathize with others who are different in some way. They have not learned to see past the superficial exteriors to the human soul deep inside the other person. In other words their self-concepts are hollow and superficial rather than filled with authentic experiences of relating to others who are different. If one lives in a pluralistic society, sharing experiences with diverse others is a necessity. Maloy described how she handled her son's playing computer games that target others. It does not take much effort for a compassionate person or parent to monitor the attitudes that their child conveys while playing and redirect management of fear and aggression toward socially constructive ways. But, the parent needs to be with the child to monitor and guide effectively.

In sum, the challenge of giving television viewers equal opportunities to watch altruistic and hope-engendering behavior rather than killing and violent behavior, seems to be an impossible challenge to surmount, except occasionally on PBS. The way the human body responds to each of these two types of experiences is so different, that it is difficult to have altruistic experiences counterbalance the hateful violent ones. A dynamics engineer would say: "This is not a linear process." See Begley's article in Newsweek magazine referred to above.

One of the few theoreticians who wrote about altruism over 50 years ago was Pitirim Sorokin, who started the Sociology Department at Harvard University. Barry V. Johnston has written an intellectual Biography of Sorokin, published in 1995. Sorokin wrote The Crisis of Our Age in 1941. He believed that the postmedieval Western period of sensate values (emphasizing empirical, utilitarian, pleasurable, dependent on and encouraging a scientific perspective) was in its last stages. The opposite extreme is a period of ideational values (emphasizing relationships that climb the spiral staircase toward a relationship with God). (I inserted the parenthetical descriptions of sensate and ideational emphases.) In some ways this reminds me of the spiral dynamics oscillation between Me and We emphases that I discuss in Section C in the next chapter of this book.

Sorokin believed that the study of nonsexual altruistic love as a science was needed to avert worldwide chaos. In his view, this necessity followed from his principle of polarization, according to which the moral difference prevailing under ordinary circumstances is supplanted, for the duration of a crisis, by the extremes of selfishness and altruism.

I see Sorokin's use of the term "selfishness" as being evident in the form of protecting ones fragile identity in times of change, often by regressing to simpler traditions which to some degree restrict progress in a globalizing setting. Altruism requires broader perspectives and to overcome focus on self, spiritual activities must be guided to help in developing transcendent relationships.

Q. CONCLUSIONS

The foregoing discussion implies that a good, broad, multicultural religious education, coupled with experiences gained from living, interacting with, and relating to diverse others in a pluralistic setting are essential for supporting a strong democratic community. This kind of community can prevent followers from being misled to becoming mere pawns in the hands of charismatic leaders who can brainwash them to hate diverse others. Once the hatred is present, it becomes easy for such followers to commit violent acts against others. Religious scholars have to lead an effort working together with the common people to reorient the interpretations of sacred writings and de-emphasize the destructive memories generated from memorializing violent acts from the past. People must learn and display sincere, active listening to the aggrieved other. They must respond in ways that build hope for better futures. Authentic and sincere compassion is essential. There are stories of success. Our media need to present these stories to all kinds of people.

The following section lists some recent sources that open new avenues of thinking about peacemaking.

R. RECENT BOOKS, POSTINGS, AND CHAPTERS THAT ARE HELPFUL

Two great websites that I found follow.

1. A Review of Peter Senge's book The Fifth Discipline by John Paul Fullerton of the Library Classified Staff at Texas A & M.(139)

2. An Interview with Peter Senge, Learning for a Change by Alan M. Webber; To learn more about the evolving landscape of organizational learning. Fast Company interviewed Peter Senge in his office on the campus of MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.(140)

Peter Senge introduced the idea of the "learning organization." Now he says that for big companies to change, we need to stop thinking like mechanics and to start acting like gardeners. From: Issue 24 | May 1999, Page 178 By: Alan M. Webber Photographs by: Rodney Smith.

"It's been almost 10 years since Peter Senge, 51, published The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization (Doubleday/Currency, 1990). The book was more than a business best seller; it was a breakthrough. It propelled Senge into the front ranks of management thinkers, it created a language of change that people in all kinds of companies could embrace, and it offered a vision of workplaces that were humane and of companies that were built around learning. Along the way, the book sold more than 650,000 copies, spawned a sequel -- The Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization (Doubleday/Currency, 1994) -- and gave birth to a worldwide movement."

3. Two recent books that describe research on peacemaking are one by James Waller and another edited by Chirot and Seligman. They are listed under Waller, James; and Chirot, Daniel, in my Bibliography. Waller, a Psychology Professor at Whitworth College, describes, in his book, Becoming Evil, detailed examples of how ordinary people can be led to commit violence by being influenced by group pressure. He explores social-psychological aspects ranging from considerations of personal identities and identifying with a group. He also considers how historic acts of violence committed against one's ethno-religious group centuries in the past contributed to hatred and traditions that perpetuate false images of the other group.

4. Chirot's reader Ethnopolitical Warfare - Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions, provides many good examples of research and applications to help understand the many complex factors that can contribute to causes of warfare and what can be done to build bridges to peace. On page 357, Clark McCauley of Bryn Mawr College updated the 1954 work of Gordon Allport's contact hypothesis which predicts that under certain conditions "...members of two groups will react positively to one another as individuals and thereby reduce intergroup prejudice..". Contact between members of two groups wherein one discriminates against the other reduces prejudice, if the group members are similar in status and several other key characteristics. Contact overcomes erroneous thoughts about the other as the two share experiences.

5. Ervin Staub wrote three very helpful books and/or chapters on Violence. Staub is a Psychology Professor at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. One writing is an 8-page Chapter 17 by Ervin Staub, entitled Breaking the Cycle of Genocidal Violence: Healing and Reconciliation, in a reader - Perspectives on Loss: A Sourcebook, edited by John H. Harvey. The second is Chapter 18 in a reader listed in my Bibliography under Chirot, Daniel. Staub has an excellent summary of his career of over forty years in examining what causes some people to be helpful and other people to do harm. The third is Gil Bailie's book, Violence Unveiled - Humanity at the Crossroads also listed in my Bibliography.

Staub covers a wide range of actions that can help healing and reconciliation. He outlines: how victims of violence, either directly to themselves or to their ethnic group, are affected; the needed behaviors of bystander nations, tribunals and truth commissions; and many more actions that are needed in a coordinated manner to work toward peace. In both chapters, he lists several of his other articles and books that describe the foregoing in much more detail. Staub's book entitled The Psychology of Good and Evil became available in August 2003. Chapter 5 in his book discusses basic human needs and, in my view, relates to the idea of hardwiring that I discuss in Section D of Chapter 1 herein. The importance of attachment is discussed in his Chapter 10. I wish that Professor Staub had incorporated in his research some of the ideas related to levels of perspective-taking that I got from James Fowler's work, Faithful Change, and describe in Chapter 1, Section P, herein.

My own experiences interacting with other persons are that unless persons share constructive experiences with each other, have similar interests, have similar status in general, and unless there is institutional support for mixing among the two groups, interactions will not lead to permanent reduction in mistaken beliefs about the other. I have led international folk-dance groups for fifty years and through that activity, I learned much about overcoming misinterpretation and prejudice against others. Some of the folk dance leaders gave special instruction about ethnic differences and on how to be respectful of different habits of dress, manners and so on. This was done before a group of dancers who demonstrated dances from many cultures went as a group to a summer festival sponsored by one particular ethnic group.

Summer camps in Canada and the USA for Jewish and Palestinian kids or Irish Catholics and Protestants are helpful, but unless the parents and other adults also engage in learning about the other - their differences and the many similarities - success is minimal and not long lasting. Relations between Afro-Americans and whites in the Southern USA improved slowly after the national government and federal agencies presented a consistent and coordinated set of policies that changed the minds of many citizens about what was the right and good thing to do. The federal support and associated laws gave the whites courage to change their discriminatory ways. Yet, after four decades, much racial prejudice persists.

6. Bruce Feiler, in his book Abraham, on page 184, described the ending of a long talk with Sheikh Yusef Abu Sneina, "the imam of El-Aksa Mosque, one of the most vocal leaders in Jerusalem". Their discussion, starting on page 161, was stilted at first, but the mood lightened after a half hour. The ending of their talk follows.

"The situation we are facing is that people are living their daily lives far away from the truly faithful, and from Abraham. If we look beyond the details, which we may disagree about, and follow the principles of Abraham -- truth, morality, and coexistence -- then most of out problems will disappear."

This statement, in my view, and I believe in Feiler's view also, implies that the Sheikh also believes that it is possible for Islam and Christianity to exist peacefully together in a modern pluralistic society. The United States, with proper leadership could be an incubator for the changes in emphasis that the religious scholars propound for religious stories and interpretations.

7. Karen Armstrong, in her book The Battle for God, wrote about fundamentalists in the three religions. On page xii, she discussed different uses or interpretations of the term - fundamentalist. American Protestants were the first to use the term and they wanted to go back to basics, reemphasize the fundamentals of the Christian tradition and an acceptance of core doctrines. She described the 1920 Northern Baptist Convention definition on page 174. On page 191, she summarized Mittleman's description of Jewish fundamentalism. I highly recommend Armstrong's book.

On page 370, she wrote: "When they created these alternative societies, fundamentalists were demonstrating their disillusion with a culture which could not easily accommodate the spiritual."

"Because it was so embattled, this campaign to re-sacralize society became aggressive and distorted. It lacked the compassion that all faiths have insisted is essential to the religious life and to any experience of the numinous ...Secularists and fundamentalists sometimes seem trapped in an escalating spiral of hostility and recrimination. If fundamentalists must evolve a more compassionate assessment of their enemies in order to be true to their religious traditions, secularists must also be more faithful to the benevolence, tolerance, and respect for humanity which characterizes modern culture at its best, and address themselves more emphatically to the fears, anxieties, and needs which so many of their fundamentalist neighbors experience but which no society can safely ignore." (Type changed to bold font by Notess.)

8. I recommend Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr's book, The Heart of Islam - Enduring Values of Humanity. His last few chapters are a most appropriate background for the foregoing. I highly recommend his book as well as Karen Armstrong's, John Shelby Spong's, and Bruce Feiler's books.

9. Another book that I recommend concerns developing the economic, political and justice systems of third world nations in a balanced way. This has to occur in ways that are unique to each nation. Fareed Zakaria in his new book The Future of Freedom outlines trends in such development that in some cases are making progress, though in many cases are out of balance and seem to be unable to reduce corruption and authoritarian control. Some of those nations that are progressing seem to rely on a constructive aspect in the authoritarian rule. To go into detail about these trends is important, but is beyond the scope of this book.

10. Another reference is one that I describe in a posting that includes a summary of work being done using "The Village Earth Model". It is entitled: An Example of Expanding One's Conceptual Frameworks.(141) The following quote from my web posting is most relevant.

"In the Village Earth Model, for example, an important key to success was found to be coordinating several technical assistance projects such as providing clean water, waste treatment that will provide energy for electricity, improving agricultural productivity, and improving the quality of education and health care. Unless all of the many needs were met in a coordinated manner, the projects floundered."

"I believe that the same applies to the non-technical or soft-science areas such as political and social areas. For example, severe problems from overpopulation result from improving medical care without reducing the birth rate in many poverty-stricken societies. Problems caused by high birth rates are exacerbated when war and violence kill young men, who in those cultures, provide key support for their widowed mothers and sisters, while the society lacks adequate social welfare policies and resources that can fill the gap in the support system."

An International Institute for Sustainable Development offers training courses. Check their web site. (142)

11. A powerful book that emphasizes the need for coordinating efforts in many areas of economic development with education, healthcare and the like is The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs (2005). Sachs focused on Economic Development at the national level and provided detailed information about many African, South American and Asian nations. He described successful progress in several countries and very slow or no progress in others. On page 365, he listed components of a strategy for success. His strategy is derived from a transcendent perspective of a nation's economy, geography, educational level, labor force, and more. He described fiscal strategies for countering high inflation rates. On page 256 he listed five types of capital that are needed to make progress. He does not mention social capital, which is very important in some, if not all situations. (See his check lists on pages 84 and 87, and pages 244-245.)

12. An article that relates well to broadening perspectives is one written by Colin Duriez in the magazine Christian History and Biography, in Issue 88, Fall 2005, entitled: The Way of Friendship (pages 37-38). This article discusses C. S. Lewis' ideas about friendship.

13. An International Best Seller and a book that supplements mine is one by Sardar, Ziauddin and Merryl Wyn Davies entitled Why Do People Hate America?.(143) Sardar and Davies are writers and broadcasters. He is a cultural critic, and she an anthropologist who present European perspectives with emphasis on America's impacts on the cultures around the world - imposing its morals, military and economic power upon the rest of the world. The book describes the very limited knowledge most Americans have about world opinion and criticism of American policies and movies, and their impacts on the rest of the world. Most Americans are unaware of the many ways our government restricts the media. It has not been widely publicized in America, but has sold well on the international scene. It describes the bias that exists because of the restrictions on the media in America. I recommend this book highly and also a new book by Lawrence Harrison entitled: The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It from Itself. Media is discussed on pages 78-85 and 221-223.

14. A website "dedicated to modern systems thinking in all its various forms" is "an on-line educational activity of CALResCo, for scientist, artist and humanist, young and old". It provides a basis for a much broader perspective than I used herein.(144) A quote describing the foregoing website follows.

"CALResCo was set up in 1996 to fulfill a perceived need on the Internet to integrate the information about Complex Systems, in all its various guises, and present it in a way useful to both beginners and those already familiar with one or more of the fields. As an educational resource it provides comprehensive links to tutorial materials around the world, as well as to more technical papers and resources. A large part of our efforts is dedicated to raising familiarity about the concepts of Complex Systems within the traditional scientific and human disciplines, and to this end we present interdisciplinary papers introducing and relating these concepts to more familiar subjects and situations. Many of the fields that we consider go back many years, yet it is only with the advent of cheap computer resources that we have seen their blossoming into mainstream research. Simulations and iterations on a computer are the essence of Complex Systems research, and allow us to explore the infinite space of possible systems in a way not previously possible." (145)

A. INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, I discuss aspects of peacemaking, building on ideas based on the writings of Marc Gopin, Scott Appleby, Benjamin Barber, Hugh Sanborn, and others. I summarize Gopin's two basic human needs influencing how persons respond to peacemaking and I include information from the Bible and Qur'an on peacemaking. I also discuss relevant work by Noam Chomsky, Emmanuel Todd, and Walter Wink. I have inserted some of their ideas in early chapters of this book, but present more details and comments subsequently.

I present eight considerations that apply to working for peace. I also present a checklist that can be used to guide constructive intervention in the complex of systems that make up Western societies. It can help show how humans manage their identities and their commitment to communities within the complex of interacting religious, political, and economic systems in which we all are embedded. I describe some aids that can lead to constructive and creative group discussions about peacemaking. Some of these are: scenarios, information technology, and learning-based approaches to institutional change. I end this chapter with a detailed Conclusion.

B. IDEAS ON PEACEMAKING GENERATED BY MARC GOPIN AND R. SCOTT APPLEBY

I developed the following ideas from reading Marc Gopin's last chapter in his book Between Eden and Armageddon. His concluding chapter describes several areas in which he recommends non-violent interventions. Interventions can help resolve contemporary conflicts. I believe that religion can resist becoming evil by practicing an inclusiveness that allows each tradition to retain its own distinctiveness, while they work together for the common good in our increasingly pluralistic world. Gopin showed that it is the exclusionary conservative expressions of religio/political traditions that present the greatest challenge to peacemaking. He concluded that the pro-social inter-communal values that are inherent in established religions can become vital components of an in-depth negotiated reinterpretation that can make peacemakers of most followers. The bold type expression above, made me think of Benjamin Barber's idea that the Articles of Confederation might be a better model for developing democracy in pluralistic places, such as the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, than a federal form of government like we have in the USA.

Before discussing more of Gopin's work, let me digress to igion's Violent Accomplicesapter 2 of R. Scott Appleby's book Ambivalence of the Sacred page 70 he described the historical background of Serbian ethnic violence against ethnic Bosnian Muslims in Kosovo in 1989. Approximately a million Serbs had gathered to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Prince Lazar, who was associated with the battle of Kosovo in 1389. Milosevic orchestrated the ceremony and by displaying his hatred of the Muslims from the podium, won the support of the Serbs who chanted "We love you..." "Kosovo is Serb." Three years later, the Serb army destroyed libraries and records in Sarajevo, Mostar and other Bosnian cities. Ethnic cleansing reduced the Muslim population to a small fraction of its former size. On page 69, Appleby wrote: "The ritualized reenactment of a tragic injustice suffered by the community in the near or distant past often accomplished the desired result." Such actions serve to "...demonize "the other," to solidify and channel extremist passions, and to extend a sacred canopy over the whole dubious process."

At one time much of Kosovo was Serb, but high Muslim birth rates expanded the Muslim population. In the Second World War and after, antagonisms between the Serbs and Croatians led to killings by both sides. Tito had kept the lid on this struggle for years. In the 1960's, I saw that hatred between some Serbs and Croatians spilled over into America in the Buffalo, New York area. The two immigrant communities lived side by side in Lackawanna where their men worked in the Bethlehem Steel plant. Their churches were only a few blocks apart.

Appleby's book has much that supports Gopin's discussion of sacred violence.

Marc Gopin, on pages 6 & 7 in his book, Between Eden and Armageddon described the Old Testament concept of "ger" - applying a wide range of moral and emotional obligations to a stranger who is different from the majority group. I first mentioned "ger" in Section L of Chapter 2. In today's world, there is definitely a need for more "ger", and compassion should be given to others who are neighbors in today’s globalizing world. It is difficult to be compassionate when one is reminded of acts of sacred violence from the past.

Gopin described two human needs on page 5.

1. The first human need Gopin mentioned is a need for integration, merging into or relating to a larger world to reach an overarching unity to our existence. Integration requires sharing experiences with others who have different ethno-religious backgrounds. Such experiences broaden one's perspectives and deepen one's own faith as one learns about universal guidelines that are present in all of the major faiths. It enables one to develop a broader mental framework that interrelates concepts and ideas related to living peacefully in a pluralist society. This need is a response to the question: "How should I act to be a good citizen?"

2. A need for uniqueness and a bounded, distinctive IDENTITY, based on many alternatives such as dress, habits, or allegiance to a special group associated with one's occupation, school, church, a Bronco fan or an Elvis fan. Some personalities, who have difficulty managing broader, more complex bases for their identities and faiths, feel it necessary to exaggerate identity boundaries to strengthen how they are viewed by others. This need is a response to the Question: "Who am I?" To satisfy this need, some join extremist versions of faith, either regressive or progressive. Advertisers use this need to exploit consumption-oriented consumers.

How one balances, simplifies, and interprets his or her responses to these two needs, is based on past experiences of parental support, nurture and love on the one hand, and communal support and caring on the other hand. Unfortunately in our modern competitive society, many young people lack adequate compassionate and caring support from parents and their communities.

Gopin considered such considerations as: young believers try to balance being creative at building bridges in a pluralistic society with limits imposed by the hierarchy of their religion. These individuals feel restricted by the authority of leaders in high positions. Some try to be creative without violating the principles of their faith.(pages 42-48 in Gopin's book).

Professor Edward W. Said presents different views on the topic of remembering in his book Culture and Resistance. On page 182 he stated: as a Palestinian: "When we remember and when we forget is something for ourselves to decide, and not for (other) people to tell us." "Memory is a powerful collective instrument for preserving identity." Is remembering a past victory different from remembering persecution or remembering an altruistic act?

In his Chapter 8, - New Paradigms of Religion and Conflict Resolution, Gopin used a case study of Judaism to describe how centuries of persecution have led to formalization or mourning for the death of loved ones and for persecutions throughout history. To change the emotion-generating stories one must devise ways that reach deeply into the emotional structure of individuals, conscious and subconscious, and reinterpret the history to reduce blaming present-day persons for centuries old violence.

On pages 184-185 he discussed some ancient rabbinical approaches to peacemaking and then raised a question about whether the anger and rage can be reduced by discussion and reason. I believe that much of the rage is suppressed into our unconscious memories. To reduce such rage requires approaches that treat unconscious memories.

Gopin summarized the fact that sacred texts will forever include verses about revenge and war against enemies. If this is so, peacemaking must be based upon interpersonal and communal values derived from ethical ideals. These should be applied in today's contexts under the leadership of good charismatic leaders who have the skill to reach down into the subconscious of people and arouse not only compassion, but also point out appropriate nonviolent actions.

On pages 186 - 187, he described an example from Palestine of the difficulty in even providing gestures of compassion to others with whom any relationship involves considerable hatred and fear. This example involves the use of cognitive dissonance to breakdown the stranglehold of hatred. I believe that such actions would generate, over time, cognitive dissonance that could help decrease fear and hatred. These actions would have to involve groups of orthodox and reform Jews. The Arab community would have to act in their own ways to replace enmity with mutual trust. I have heard isolated stories of Israeli settlers helping a Palestinian family who had car trouble, but such efforts need to be widespread and coherent. By coherent, I mean that in addition to such acts of helping, it is necessary to halt the destruction of Palestinian homes for the purpose of expanding Israeli settlements. Lands in the West Bank that are occupied by settlers would have to be returned to their Palestinian owners. Some would say that such an expansion of compassion on the part of the different Israeli factions and the different Arab factions is politically not feasible. Some political leaders, in my view, cannot expand compassion for a number of reasons. Rabin made a start until he was assassinated. His death points out that leaders making reconciliative agreements, should consider the attitudes of all segments in the population. Are the more violent-prone groups ready to accept reconciliation? Are there nonviolent ways to vent their rage? Mandela made progress with reconciliation.

A short, but succinct summary of reconciliation is accessible on the web. (146) Musalaha, a word in the web address, is an Arabic word that means forgiveness and reconciliation.

On pages 42-48, Gopin considered such aspects as: how young believers balance being creative at building bridges in a pluralistic society with limits imposed by the hierarchy of their religion. Some try to be creative without violating the principles of their faith. On the other hand, some persons will think and act independently to resolve conflicts even though they might violate limits imposed by the hierarchy.

People with verbal skills and higher levels of education are likely to dominate the discussion in dialogue groups. In Section J of Chapter 4, I summarized Gopin's description of the marches for getting out the vote that occurred in Cambodia in the 1990's. Martin Luther King’s marches were similarly influential. However, other situations need different approaches to peacemaking and Gopin discussed the difference between personal needs, human needs, and community needs on pages 50-51 and in footnotes 26 and 27 on pages 250-251. People vary as to which of these needs they consider primary. For example, does one violate the need not to work on the Sabbath in order to keep one's job and support his or her family?

How do we relate individual citizens to civic actions for peace. The following section discusses recent trends in the global context in which we as citizens are immersed. Then the subsequent sections examine the roles of religious institutions and provide checklists to help manage the complex problems that require us to conceptualize the many interconnections among political and economic institutions, the family as a societal institution, and religion as an institution.

C. THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, GLOBAL CORPORATIONS, AND CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT

I wonder how many persons, lack sufficient involvement in civic activities that would enable them to understand the implications of Professor Benjamin Barber's work on governance. To illustrate, I have worked a number of years with local governments that included working with community leaders and citizen boards. In addition, I was a Board member of a non-profit social service agency and of a United Nations Association - USA chapter. These experiences, plus doing the reading that underlies the writing of this book, have all been most helpful in expanding my mental framework so that I can understand what Barber wrote about. Yet, a decade ago, his work would have been over my head.

With the foregoing in mind, my impression is that those people who rely only on the mass media for their worldviews and lack the experience to think critically, yet are concerned about trends in world affairs, will have difficulty understanding causes of societal problems. Many of them tend to be susceptible to being misled by simplistic and at times distorted information and interpretations of events and sacred writings that have withstood the test of time. They maintain a simple and clearly bounded worldview, which has the advantage of relieving stress generated by complex issues, but it makes them easily exploited to support single-issue policies of self-oriented power seekers that are often harmful to our democracy and our global societal system.

In Presidential election years, both candidates have their groups of supporters, provide them with oversimplified information, and slant the facts in their campaigns. They do this mainly to increase the number of their supporters, rather than inform the voters about the several different views about issues. People with a broad framework of political and religious concepts have a better chance of seeing through these simplistic distortions. Relying upon what the League of Women voters publish about the different views is insufficient. Newspaper readership has declined recently and this further removes citizens from critical discussions.

In his 1995 book Jihad vs. McWorld Barber described a yearning for the simpler life of parochially based traditional cultures [Jihad], and exploitation by global corporations and big government [McWorld]. Both overwhelm the type of citizen involvement that is so essential for a functioning democracy. In my view, many large corporations and bureaucratic government agencies rely upon their market-based political ideologies to justify policies. They avoid contributing to broadly based and well-informed citizen involvement. Management seems to focus their strategies on the bottom line and particular organizational goals, while giving little attention to impacts of their policies upon the common people and the environment. This is irresponsible.

Barber described a Global Civil Society starting on page 276 in Jihad vs. McWorld. It "occupies a middle ground between government and the private sector".(p. 281). Scott Peck described civility from another point of view in the first 27 pages of his book A World Waiting To Be Born - Civility Rediscovered. As I see it, both Barber and Peck accuse those corporations of acting irresponsibly and of being unconcerned about how their actions affect or impact the populations they claim to serve.

I especially liked Barber's section Democracy and Confederalism starting on page 288. He favors the Articles of Confederation over the Federalist Papers as a model for democracy suitable for some developing nations. He wrote, on page 289, Article III of the Articles of Confederation

"... provides for the full autonomy of the member states and honors their independence (indispensable to those pursuing a politics of identity), but also declares that the states enter a league of friendship for their common defense and "mutual and general welfare".

Will this work in Iraq, when the Kurds and Shiite sectors have access to most of the oil wells? A negotiated settlement for sharing the wealth from oil could be worked out.

He followed with: "This would seem to offer a starting place to defend against the depredations both of Jihad and McWorld." He relates the foregoing to efforts in Switzerland, Quebec, the European Union, and United Nations Trusteeships. There is much from which we can learn. I believe that we are not far from working solutions, if the McWorld perspectives can be redirected toward more humane and more broadly considerate and compassionate solutions.

Barber wrote: "When the ethos of Disney becomes synonymous with the ethics of liberty and when consumers come to be seen as identical with citizens, genuine democratization is derailed." Free markets and democracy are not as closely interrelated as America's plans for Afghanistan and Iraq seem to imply.(p. 156)

He discussed briefly, the problem that global citizenship is needed to counter global power, yet citizenship has mostly been at neighborhood levels.(p. 205)

It is interesting to supplement Barber's ideas about civility with those of M. Scott Peck in A World Waiting To Be Born - Civility Rediscovered. Peck wrote about individual civility, and civility of organizations. On page 10 Peck wrote: "To become more civil, humans must become ever more conscious of themselves, of others, and of the organizations that relate them together." The civil person is aware of the impacts that his or her actions have upon self, others, and society as a whole. On page 14, he ends a chapter with a description of genuine civility. He wrote:

"unlike the superficial politeness we use to smooth ruffled feathers or gloss over problems: (often a popular use of the word civility) genuine civility is a form of healing behavior that demands often painful honesty".

Civility, as Peck describes the term, is more than a courteous act. I'd say it is a constructive act in which, at times, the painful truth must be made clear.

Returning to Barber, on page 206 of Fears Empire, Barber described, as an example of one citizen leading a global action, how Jody Williams, a New England activist, and her many citizen partners working together with a number of engaged NGO's, developed an international campaign to ban land mines. This led to the Ottawa Convention and won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. She said, at the treaty signing convention: "It wasn't until the voice of civil society was raised to such a high degree that governments began to listen, that change began to move the world, with lightning and unexpected speed." (the United States' refusal to sign notwithstanding). The Internet makes global-scale citizen action feasible and less dependent upon the mass media that fear to upset their corporate owners, sponsors, and their government reviewers.

Barber wrote that when citizens become immersed in fear of terrorist acts, and they feel helpless, their fear is increased, or as he said on page 215-16, it is sharpened. If citizens are active in overcoming the effects of terrorist acts, the psychic toll is decreased. After 9/11 the President urged people to continue to go shopping. I believe that his focus was on stabilizing the economy. Barber wrote: "Where citizens yearned to be responders, their government asked them to be consumers." "To relinquish fear people must step out of paralysis." People longed to help the war effort and " ...were told not to worry." They longed to share in (the costs of the war in Iraq) and were offered a tax reduction." On page 218, he wrote: "Democracy defeats terrorism because democracy makes imagination into a tool of empathy and action, depriving it of the anxieties that beset it when it is otherwise idle or taken in by fear's grim games." He quoted Ikenberry in American Imperial Ambition: "a rule-based international order, especially one in which the U.S. uses its political weight to derive congenial rules, will most fully protect American interests, conserve its power, and extend its influence."

Sharon G. Thornton, in Chapter 2 of The Prophetic Call, edited by Hugh Sanborn, wrote: "Our public life is in jeopardy as our public institutions falter and we face the end of a sustaining social fabric."( p. 25) This description is especially relevant to the feelings that many in our country experienced when, after the election of 2004, it seemed that their community was torn asunder. Throughout history, exploitation, domination, occupation, violence and war, corruption, and a mal-distribution of wealth have fractured communities and effectively or literally exiled tens of thousands and even millions of people. Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Sudan are but a few recent examples.

Chapter 4, by Ann Bragdon, in The Prophetic Call is another that I highly recommend.

Marcus Borg wrote in The Heart of Christianity, on pages 136-7, that in the book of John, verses 12-13 and 17-18 the serpent represented the Roman Empire that threatened to plunge the world into chaos. He wrote: " (The Roman) empire is the embodiment of avarice, the incarnation of greed. That's what empire is about. The embodiment of greed in domination systems is the root of all evil." Unfortunately, as I see it, in today's world the dominant empire is America.

Returning to my comment at the start of this Chapter, I believe that in this electronic age, with reading skills declining, a significant proportion of our population lack the background experiences, knowledge, and skills to think critically. Almost half of them seem to prefer to accept as factual, the opinions of clerics, and most but not all of the radio-talk-show hosts, and political propagandists. Many accept their statements as: "the absolute truth". While watching the 2004 pre-election responses to speeches by President Bush, I noticed several occasions wherein followers seemed to be unaware of glaring incoherencies between statements in his talks. Thornton wrote on page 23: "By limiting what we are told, and by whom we can be informed, we are cultivating a climate conducive for conformist thinking." That is sad news for the survival of democracy.

The following few paragraphs present some preliminary ideas that point to needed reforms in systems of governance and justice.

What are the improvements needed in the management of America's and European economies, polities, and systems of justice to lead the world toward a peaceful, pluralistic coexistence? One improvement would be to reduce our consumption of energy resources and our production of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases. I know that a significant portion of the US economy (approximately one fifth) is dependent upon production of private automobiles, trucking, related support industries, and drive-in businesses. Our economic leaders fear the rising cost of oil because they cannot visualize how our economy would survive the impacts of scarce and costly oil. We could cut oil dependency and pollution significantly, if our society were to make substantial improvements in commuting to work, shopping, and education, toward the direction of European rail and bus transit, and fuel efficient small cars. I believe that stalling is a copout. Suburban sprawl that now isolates families in their homes to be saved only by oil-dependent automobiles and the Internet, is a big obstacle.

One example is redesign of land use patterns in our cities to favor the use of public transit and other modes of transportation. In Amsterdam, Holland, in the mid 1960's half of the commuters to downtown rode bicycles. Our sprawled suburbs are not designed for bicycles, transit, and pedestrians as was Vallingby, in Sweden. If we were to switch to small cars and transit, we would lose a number of jobs in the auto industry, but solutions to that problem are available and must be examined. Consider that a very significant proportion of the vehicles we drive are now made overseas. Thus we have lost a substantial number of those jobs, yet unemployment has not increased. There are ways around the predictions of economic collapse if we were to lose a substantial number of jobs in automobile related industries.

To transition to a spatially more efficient society will affect the location of residential and work places in the long run. We would have to redesign our cities and suburbs to be more like Toronto, Stockholm, Vallingby, and other European cities, where high-density residential development is clustered around the stations of rapid transit lines. We would have to develop a culture that permits safe travel on such transit networks, which implies that we would have to educate people to live in a more pluralistic society.

A new book entitled: The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism And Economic Collapse by Richard Heinberg, September 2006, discusses "Peak Oil" (the imminent decline in oil resources). There is an increasing demand for oil in China, India and the USA. There is a growing need for sustainable solutions to the problems of declining oil resources and associated problems in world economies. See also Terry Tamminen's The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction for considerably more detail.

There are some very recent examples of relying on technology to solve the problem of access to fossil fuel and related innovations. The fuel example is based upon Brazil's reliance on sugar cane instead of corn to make ethanol. Volkswagon was the first to develop a way for automobiles in Brazil to calculate the ratio of gasoline to ethanol in one's fuel tank and adjust the combustion process in the engine so that the engine would run smoothly. The price of their ethanol is almost half the cost per gallon of gasoline. A PBS program describes very clearly the development and success of this response to the high price and coming shortage of oil. The PBS program transcript is accessible at: [http://www.pbs.org/e2/episodes/204_growing_energy_trailer.html]. See also related web sites: [http://www.pbs.org/e2/episodes/202_energy_developing_world_trailer.html] and [http://www.pbs.org/e2/episodes/203_paving_the_way_trailer.html]. The first of the latter two web sites refers to the work of Muhammad Yunus and his micro loan programs. The second refers to the work of Amory Lovins with new light-weight and very strong plastics. They provide a glimpse into the future of relieving poverty and the start of new economies.

For a good description of the effects of decreases in manufacturing employment, see the work of Jeremy Rifkin in his book The End of Work, first written in 1995, but updated in 2004. Rifkin provides a good historical background on this topic and looks into the future. He also defined a third sector of the economy, a volunteer sector that provides services not supplied by the public or private sectors. With reliance upon automation and the computer, it is possible that America will eventually follow the European example and decrease the number of hours in the average work-week. By so doing, people will have more leisure time so they can volunteer to serve in ways that strengthen local communities, increase social capital, and improve the quality of life for all.

Our polity would have to be changed in conjunction with our system of justice to reduce the corrupting influence of large global corporations. Global corporations have taken over our election process and cowed political candidates of both major American political parties into selling their soul to the devil (accepting their bribes to flood the television programs with distortions of the truth). I view corporate support for election campaigns as bribery, even if circuitous routes for money flow get around some of the slipshod restrictions. This problem is aggravated by the political far-right which seems to rely on minor single-issue topics to get their religious followers to elect candidates who have closed minds and thus are less capable of governing wisely in our increasingly pluralistic society.

There is a need to follow the intent of our country's founders with respect to freedom of the press, media and speech. Our founding fathers lived in a world wherein modesty in public was a popular virtue, where there were no loudspeakers to blast forth the speech of extremists with closed minds, and where there were no commercials entering our living rooms via television, and the Internet. The latter are strongly biased toward addicting our young to relying on all sorts of pills for any ache or pain, sex-drive magnification, violent computer games, crime stories, and the like. The leaders of churches need to get off their complacent duff and push for better monitoring and guidance of businesses and government by private and governmental watchdog agencies. Stricter regulation is needed because, the dominance of bottom-line thinking cuts severely into the moral stature of overly competitive businesses and the advertising industries. They have spread the disease of "Affluenza".

Improved monitoring by citizens and regulation by government require a justice system that limits conflict of interest wherein elected officials in town, county, and state governments are also subdivision developers. Similarly, automobile manufacturers influence decisions to expand highways. Oil industry officials dominate foreign policy boards, and officials of pharmaceutical firms dominate the Food and Drug Administration. In sum, narrow-minded conflicts of interest abound.

Can Americans find the vision and the courage to accomplish the changes implicit in the foregoing without a charismatic leader of the stature of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and the like? This might imply the need for "a second coming" in the minds of some people. However, in today's complex world, it is more likely to require a well coordinated and committed team of leaders with broadly based experience in civic affairs.

To complete this section on global corporations and citizen involvement, consider how we can compare individual citizens managing their own identities through transitions to a society that needs citizens working together in groups to monitor and guide the society through stressful transitions in a globalizing world.

What motivates civic actions for peace on the part of common citizens? Some motivators and requirements are: hunger, thirst, wellness, fear of death, freedom, a constitution defining and allocating rights and responsibilities, trusted leaders and media, knowledge, skills, and access to opportunities. But other motivators are the need for acceptance in trustworthy groups and supportive communities, status, personal identity management, and choices for suitable roles. Management of personal identities becomes a problem for many persons in times of cultural change. Identity management is what advertisers exploit to sell symbols of status and signifiers of acceptance.

Motivators must not be overlooked. Tom Friedman, in The Lexus and The Olive Tree is relevant here. In a tribal culture, like one finds in the Middle East, the Olive Tree represents family, tribe, nation, communities, and religion, or, most of all a place called home. We find support, values and personal identities there. Olive trees are what give us the warmth of family, the joy of individuality, the intimacy of personal rituals, the depth of private relationships, as well as the confidence and security to reach out and encounter others." These are what motivate tribal peoples to fight over ownership of an olive tree and the land whereon it grows. Olives are a product that a small family can trade or sell to obtain the other necessities of a simple life. On page 32 Friedman wrote: "Few things are more enraging to people than to have their identity or their sense of home [and security] stripped away." I added the bracketed term. In contrast, Friedman's Lexus represents technology's contributions to modernity and increasing efficiency of production and distribution.

This leads me to describe a new concept - Spiral Dynamics - that, in a way, provides a paradigm for how civilizations progress toward peace. After reading Beck and Cowan's book on Spiral Dynamics. I believe that their ideas point to a new step forward, one that builds upon the cyclical theorists such as Pitirim Sorokin and historical studies that organize thinking about change, such as the 1997 work by William Strauss and Neil Howe, entitled: The Fourth Turning.

Their ideas also relate well to the idea of journey and pilgrimage so well described by Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell in his 2007 book School of the Pilgrim. (See pages 26-29 therein.) His chapter 7 discusses the role of leading a novice on a pilgrimage and how this affects both the leader or teacher and the novice. This is similar to what I have called sharing experiences as a way to broaden perspectives. His pages 86 and 87 discuss relating to the God within, or as I have said, an internalized image of God, and how progressing along the pilgrimage is equivalent, in terms that I have used, to progressing up the spiral towards a deeper relationship with God.

As I see it, Beck and Cowan described how dynamic social forces move societies up a spiral toward higher and broader levels of perspective-taking and faith development. Changes in commitment generate an oscillation between emphasizing primarily a concern for one's own self and one's status, a ME-orientation; and a primary emphasis based upon commitments to relationships with others within a community, a WE orientation. Generally individuals oscillate between ME and WE on their own, but at certain times a majority of the population in a nation might be caught up in either a ME or WE in synch with most other people in the population. (I believe that it is desirable to get more Iraqis into the WE mode.)

In other words, people and societies over time seem to oscillate between poles of Self-expression by an internally focused ME, (Survival, Power, Greed, Achievement, Flexibility, and Strengthening of Identities) to the pole of Commitment and Self - Sacrifice to an externally focused WE, (Kinship, Supportive, Purposeful, Service oriented, Consensual, Global). These oscillations between ME and WE is not only a cyclical pattern, but it generates the motivational energy for progressing up the spiral toward commitments to ever more broader, tolerant, and transcendent perspectives. This oscillation, in my view, is the basis for their theory of Spiral Dynamics.

This progression is viewed by some as a pilgrimage that can lead toward a good relationship with one's transcendent, yet internalized, image of God. Relevant here is a quote from Albert Einstein that I mentioned in an earlier Section herein. "The significant problems we face can never be solved at the level of thinking that created them."

Beck & Cowan wrote that life conditions might awaken memes that emerge, surge, regress, or fade in response to dynamic interactions between our internal states and external worlds. (p. 52 in Beck and Cowan) During the Presidential election campaigns of 2004, memes such as "pro-life", "freedom", and "democracy", were often used to corral and manipulate the thinking of voters. Memes are symbols that some people call "red flags" and others describe as like a catchy tune used by advertisers, a tune that sticks in your head.

Memes are used especially by talk radio hosts and in 15-second sound bytes. George Lakoff described how this is done. Lakoff's, Moral Politics analyzes how people react to certain key words and symbols that arouse emotions rooted in their unconscious. These reactions cause some people to close their minds and they become unable to listen and think critically. Often, they do this subconsciously, without realizing how they are being manipulated. Such words and phrases such as: salvation, substitutionary atonement, Son of God, heaven, and hell are memes representing very complex concepts..

Memes zig-zag between Express-self and Sacrifice-self themes (p. 56 in Beck and Cowan). As I see it, Zig-zag is merely another term for oscillation.

The concept of how memes combine together in our brains to influence the dynamic spiral could spread quickly via the Internet and improve ways of thinking about interpersonal relationships, ideologies, religious faiths and more. However, some societal and corporate leaders will use these ideas to corral our perspectives for their own advantage. Only a broad-based education system and a democratic system of justice and governance will save us from exploitation by such leaders.

The ideas inherent in Spiral Dynamics can be used to provide tribal societies, in today's world, with carefully chosen memes that will enable them to progress up the spiral to more progressive levels without getting trapped by self-oriented and/or paranoid power seekers. To corral the cowboys will be a formidable task. It might be up to the United Nations.

Is there a better metaphor than Me versus We, one that calls a reader's attention to the foregoing? We need to consider improved metaphors for personal perspective and faith development on the one hand, and the family, community, national, and global scales on the other hand.

In addition to the above, we need context metaphors that incorporate regressive and progressive dynamics as responses to societal and cultural change, the natural environment, natural disasters, and resulting uncertainty that affect both emphases - the ME's and WE's.

To spread peace, we must all work together to have people focus on being compassionate. We can do this if we expand our own worldviews or perspectives to include wider knowledge of diverse others. Only then can we be compassionate to others in their own context. Relationships with such others are essential to broaden one's own perspective. Thus, I believe that having relationships with people at higher levels of perspective taking usually precedes the broadening of one's perspective. In other words, improved relationships with other people who have broader perspectives than we have will help us climb the spiral staircase.

At the top of the spiral staircase is the Ultimate Perspective and to achieve this perspective we must first become committed to a relationship with the spirit of the Ultimate Other whom some call God. In other words, I believe that humans can only broaden their perspectives to the highest (ultimate) level by including as much of the Godly perspective in their own, even if this means anthropomorphizing the spirit of God in some way. We must internalize as much of the Godly Spirit as we can.

The next three sections focus on how Christianity and Islam approach civic action and peacemaking. The second section discusses the general interrelation of spirituality and institutions.

D. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHURCHES

In Chapter 2 herein, I discussed responses to the stress of managing one's personal identity in today's world of rapid change. We can reduce the stress by expanding and strengthening two commitments. They are:

1) Commitment to a religious belief that guides us along the path to a working relationship with transcendent powers or God, and

2) Commitment to a political-economic ideology that we believe will provide us the where-with-all to enable us to be better citizens, active, and involved in civic/government relations.

Religion ideally provides the universal values that aim to guide us all to work toward building "good societies", good-constructive and compassionate relations with other people, and to work toward world peace.

What religious organizations need to do for peace is to focus on topics that are appropriate for church study groups and public education. These topics are:

1) In the areas of education; improving skills for critical thinking, and providing experiences and stories that will help people broaden their perspectives, and be more tolerant of people from diverse ethnic, and religious backgrounds.

2) Reinterpretation and reform of religious writing, doctrines and Bible stories for the purpose of providing hope to overcome adversities and decrease chances for retreat, regression, and violent reactions to changing times. C. S. Lewis provided good examples in his stories for children, such as the Narnia series mentioned in Section J of Chapter 1 and Section N of Chapter 3 herein.

3) Respected leaders need to speak out when they see authoritarian political and/or religious leaders abusing people's rights at home and abroad. In Yugoslavia for example, leaders spoke out mainly when the other ethnic group committed violence, but did not speak out with the same vehemence when members of their own group committed violence against the others. In some cases they might have feared for their lives. If so, courage is necessary.

Religious communities must also contribute to explaining problems with systems of justice, politics, and governance. Religious organizations need leaders who will point out when governments and justice systems have strayed from the high goals of providing a proper balance of freedom and responsibility that serves the whole population. They have roles to play in bringing out the truth and reinterpreting the ancient wisdom in forms that relate more clearly to today's world. Religious organizations must act more responsibly and help us out of these dilemmas.

Alan Wolfe of Boston College surveyed three books; one by David L. Holmes, one by Peter R. Henriques, and one by Jon Meacham all of which included some discussion of the approach to religion by our founding fathers.(147) A one-line summary printed under the title is: “A Weighing of the evidence suggests that the Christianity practiced by most of the founders was lukewarm at best.” Near the end of the review Wolfe wrote: "[O]ur greatest leaders and thinkers knew where the work of God stopped and the need for human creativity began." I like that sentence and wish that we could find such leaders today.

Professor Sallie McFague, in her recent book Life Abundant - Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril presents a clear analysis of how Christian theology and our economic ideology might be integrated for the benefit of our global ecology and the good life. Her book complements that of Sanborn. Can we get churchgoers to celebrate Christmas each year by sharing our abundance with all people, rather than consuming "stuff"?

E. SPIRITUALITY IN PERSONS AND IN SOCIETAL INSTITUTIONS

I first discussed the basics of this topic in Chapter 2. The following ideas build on those basics and were precipitated by reading Walter Wink's book - The Powers That Be.

The spiritual side of a person, is the part of him that includes the conscious part of his personality, but also includes unconscious memories, fears, hopes, needs and desires. Spirituality also is centered around building a relationship with the Ultimate Power, God. This side of a person can be activated by ceremony, ritual, prayer, and sermons as well as by working with others to achieve success in extending compassion and even confronting others constructively, though the latter might create inner conflicts in the unconscious part of a person.

On the other hand, the spirit of a corporation and/or an institution can activate unconscious fears and other emotions within its workers and leaders as a result of roles and job descriptions that violate basic values. The are basic values of customers and workers of the corporation, and people affected by other institutions, such as religious and political institutions that sometimes mislead and exploit people. To humanize and redirect large institutions and dominating corporations one needs to reach the workers and leaders of the corporations and institutions and point out how the actions of the corporations harm their neighbors and customers, and also our natural environment. But also we need to connect the actions of workers on the job to the harmful side effects of the corporate actions. We need to have judicial systems and management seminars that can guide redirecting the powers to the good path and/or right path to a relationship with a transcendent force or God.

When those aware of the harm done by dominating institutions do not know how to be heard by leaders of those institutions, there needs to be instruction about how to facilitate communication, intervention and redirection. This includes critical thinking, and learning the perspectives of the other people and of the institutions by which their behaviors are guided. Reconciliation and redirection, reinterpretation and government assistance are all part of such constructive and compassionate redirection.

The last few chapters in Sanborn's book summarize the excesses of our "military industrial complex". President Eisenhower first used that term in 1961. Sanborn's book provides examples of churches and other groups that have developed detailed plans about how to work for peace, building on the work of Rev. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, The United Church of Christ, and others. These leaders emphasized with many stories and examples how to be successful in working for peace, and that "peace was not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice."(p. 176) Gerson's chapter, in Sanborn's book, discusses the slow erosion of freedom in our supposed democracy and gives examples of actions by the American Empire and its reliance upon military dominance. For example, Gerson wrote, referring to a confession by Dan Rather, that prime-time newscasters are intimidated to not ask probing questions of our leaders. This will be an eye-opener for many readers. (p. 145)

Sanborn, in the last chapter of The Prophetic Call, described five criteria for peacemaking.(p. 187) His criteria " ... consist of commitments to: (1) nonidolatrous living, (2) inclusion of all humanity, (3) the constructive humanization process, (4) continuity between constructive ends and means, and (5) nonviolent confrontation of all domination systems." He then provided examples of actions that contribute toward peacemaking. He wrote: Peacemaking will gain momentum when increasing numbers of congregations become engaged in informing themselves and others about the nature and scope of evil". He gave as an example the specific actions of America's domination system in Iraq, "not dissimilar to the domination system of ancient Rome in Jesus' lifetime." (pp. 188-190) Sanborn then used as an example of secret proposals, the proposed multilateral Agreement on Investment Act that would lead to secret trade agreements without congressional approval or public debate. "Activists obtained a copy of the draft and placed it on the Internet. Once the public and members of congress became informed about biases in the agreement, the agreement was not concluded." He quoted Noam Chomsky as writing: "The treaty was designed to undercut democracy and rights of citizens." several years before the disaster of 9-11. (pp.191-194)

F. RELIGIOUS SAYINGS RELATED TO PEACEMAKING

Islam and Christianity both contribute to peacemaking. I found the following Hadith related to peacemaking. (Hadith are the sayings and actions of The Prophet Muhammad.) The following verses from the Qur'an were obtained from a posting on the web by searching on the word "peacemaking". (148) One source is: A Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 49, Number 857 and Narrated Um Kulthum bint Uqba. I have also added two related verses from the Bible for comparison. A Hadith on peacemaking follows.

Consider the verse: "She heard Allah's Apostle saying, "He who makes peace between the people by inventing good information or saying good things, is not a liar."" How the inventions and sayings are presented is important. If they make the people think about the possible truth of the story, and its effects, then the story could be instructive and constructive.

This statement, in my view, supports the work of constructive redaction. Though many orthodox literalists might accuse redactive inserts as being a heresy of lies, my aim is to examine the intent of the original message from a more current context and perspective and to examine its contribution to critical thinking. Such stories, in my view, are not lies. I believe that those working on clarifying the intent of sacred writings can bring the followers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to understand each other better, to publicize the many values they hold in common, and to work together for a peaceful mutually supportive coexistence.(149)

"Once the people of Quba fought with each other till they threw stones on each other. When Allah's Apostle was informed about it, he said, "Let us go to bring about a reconciliation between them.""

I found the following Bible verses on peacemaking.

Matthew 5:9 - "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

Luke 6: 27-31 - "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you . . . "

Romans 14:19 - "Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building."

1 Corinthians 4:12-13 - "When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate;"

There are more verses about forgiving and being too quick to make judgments.

The writings of Asma Barlas, on page xii in her book Believing Women in Islam, are appropriate here. Her "myth of radical difference" is a defense that intolerant souls use to counter the threat of uncertainty and ambiguity in a diverse and fast-changing world. She wrote:

"… the myth of radical difference; that is, the false but comforting idea that they share absolutely nothing with others. To speak to such people simultaneously and in the same language is to threaten in some very real way the imagined borders that serve as the markers of their identities; it is thus to call forth unrelenting animosity against oneself, as I have discovered over the years."

To achieve mutual reconciliation and peacemaking is not impossible, but it is a most challenging task to get wide agreement on approaches toward reconciliation that do not weaken identity boundaries.

G. WORKING FOR PEACE

I believe that to achieve a true political and religious pluralism we need to publicize stories similar to those in Diana Eck's book A New Religious America to increase mutual understanding and shared experiences among the different religious and ethno-political groups. In addition to working to decrease fear and hatred among the different religious groups, it is desirable to reduce the uncertainties associated with modernizing tribal cultures. This requires: increasing effective education and economic opportunities, and organizing the societies to safeguard for all people the freedom to partake of the opportunities for a good life and to work toward a good society. By so doing, if the government and judicial system can win the trust of common people, then extremist responses to uncertainty could be reduced considerably.

To achieve a world with less uncertainty amongst all economic and social classes of people, it is necessary to make progress, on the following considerations in a coordinated manner involving all eight at the same time. These apply both to America and overseas.

1) Economic development must progress together with broadly based education, including a return to reinforcing the basic and universal ethical principles that appear in all three monotheistic religions. This education must include the kinds of shared experiences and a multicultural knowledge base that support appreciating, and being able to take, the perspectives of others.

Foreign assistance to the Middle East will be needed, but the donor nations should not impose their Western forms of "democratic" governance upon the nations that seek to progress. New forms of democratic governance appropriate to the local context and developed with inputs from the local people are needed. Benjamin Barber described some of these in his 1995 book Jihad Vs. McWorld and they are summarized earlier in this chapter. Colonialism or military occupation and the accompanying support of authoritarian regimes and/or exploitation by foreign businessmen are all too exploitive and domineering to win the trust of the common people.

Emmanuel Todd, on pages 16-22, in his book: After the Empire - The Breakdown of the American Order describes how liberal democracy appears to be changing to oligarchial forms. This, as I see it, is a result of America's increasing dependence on foreign oil and other resources, the increasing dominance by global corporations (Barber's McWorld), and the subjugation of the mass media by these large corporations. Another factor is the increasing separation between the very rich and the poor, as the middle class decreases proportionately. Todd wrote about increasing literacy around the world, but in my view our own literacy is not a literacy that includes literature, history, and enhances critical thinking. I guess that literacy without skills in critical thinking enables the distortions by the media to subjugate about a quarter of American voters by using conservative religious clerics and their education industry to convince the gullible that only they are right. The relative size of this voter group varies from state to state in the USA.

We can reduce this mutual intolerance by improving mutual understanding, and improving education and child-rearing efforts. We need to increase mutual tolerance of the other group within each group. We need to provide opportunities for them to share experiences and thus better understand each others relevant perspectives and commitments so that compromises can be made and good and bad impacts can by taken into account. Increasing social capita will help move this process forward.

The living standards of the rural and urban poor in the underdeveloped nations and the USA must be raised above subsistence levels so that a substantial middle-class, broadly educated, becomes evident. A well-educated middle class is essential for a modern democracy. It provides the specialists who help manage industrial, governmental, health-care, justice and other organizations.

Economic Development Can Help Curb Violence in Iraq is a very interesting example of economic development in Iraq and was described by Eric Davis in an interview on PBS.(150)

Davis described the following example.

"There is a palm frond industry in Iraq, which literally goes back to ancient Mesopotamia, in which temporary housing is made out of palm branches. And these houses, which are made out of palm branches and then propped up by sticks, are used to sell Coke, protect people from the sun on highways and during harvest in the heat of the day.

Many Iraqis who have been displaced from their homes have gone to the Iraqi suburb of Habbaniyah and have purchased these homes. They're very cheap. They're places in which people can live until hopefully they can return to their homes. And, lo and behold, without any intervention by the United States government, the Iraqi government, the International Monetary Fund, the artisans who made these palm frond homes have not been able to find enough young Iraqis to engage in the 24/7 activities that they're required to do in order to meet demand.

This is a perfect example of a labor-intensive industry which literally arose in the last few months -- unfortunately in a very bad context, that of people losing their homes -- but it's put hundreds of young Iraqis to work. And there is no shortage of jobs and no shortage of people to take these jobs."

2) I believe that people everywhere desire freedom, but when it is provided in ways that weakens responsibility toward the welfare of others, then, the freedom is not authentic. When the society becomes too complex for the average citizen to understand and he or she must navigate through a maze of legislation, bureaucratic rules, and laws, then there is a desire on the part of many to Escape from Freedom, at least our kind of complex freedom. Tribal and modern people both need clear guidelines to build democracy. People who sincerely work together with tribal people to develop solutions best provide these guidelines. As I see it, trying to impose universal values of compassionate action toward diverse others, while at the same time escalating the competition inherent in Western Market ideologies is naive, insincere, and incoherent. Many true-believer orthodox Christians lack the broad worldview that can develop creative forms of democratic economies that are compatible with important aspects of the ambient cultures. Some of them are so naive that their actions in cultures that differ from theirs often show great disrespect for the local people, their history, and their monotheistic/Abrahamic religious backgrounds.

It is important to maintain a balance between personal and community commitments. Too often in our competitive society, the self-oriented individualist overlooks commitment to communities that are affected by his or her actions. Balance implies compassion for diverse others in one's community, nation, region, and the world. It also implies tolerant acceptance of individual differences in talent, skill, and life experiences. It implies a broadly-based education that involves shared experiences that builds respect for, and trust in, the large majority of people from other backgrounds.

Our vast communication facilities could help much more in broadening and clarifying perspectives than they do now. Instead of relying on immorality and crime to attract viewers, they should develop programs that broaden experience of other life styles and are based upon good literary and dramatic styles as was done in popular American magazines over 40 -70 years ago.

Menocal described how in medieval Spain, Muslim scholars and leaders interacted with Jewish and Christian scholars and leaders to create "a culture of tolerance in areas of poetry, philosophy, and the arts." This coupled with the idea of social capital provides an example of what is possible among the three faiths. Menocal's work is summarized in Chapter 2, Section N herein.

3) Critical thinking skills must be improved at all age levels and learning experiences with the traditions and cultures of others must be increased to support bases for tolerance of diversity in pluralistic societies. This is as much a responsibility of parents as of teachers. See Chapter 3, herein, for stories and in Chapter 4, Section L above on social capital for more details. At this point, I wish to emphasize the importance of bilingual opportunities for students in high school, so that Hispanic Americans will have opportunities to read and discuss stories in their home and adopted languages, and not miss out on getting involved in the discussions. I believe that lack of adequate language skills hampers these students and leads to a high dropout rate.

4) Development of economic, political, and justice systems and their ideologies must be in more coordinated and democratic directions to enable young persons to map out career paths that lead to more hope-filled futures. Western nations need to assist the middle class and the youth to establish tolerant, democratic forms of governance that restrict the excesses of consumerism and regulate television and other communication systems so that they do not lower the moral standards of societies in their quest for consumers. Biased presentations of the news that we see now, in America, do not educate or contribute toward resolving conflicts and to maintaining an effective democracy. These systems might be court systems, bureaus of investigation, and agencies like those that check the safety of pharmaceuticals. These organizations need to have the power to enforce the media to present reality as viewed from the perspectives of all parties involved in a conflict to provide a base of information that will aid conflict resolution and reconciliation.

These agencies are needed to judge those guilty of horrible porno acts performed by some American prison guards in Iraq. The way American television and films are headed, with little effective prohibition of almost naked actors and sexual innuendos, is further indication of the need for a transcendent federal agency and an informed population to pass judgment. It appears that our government lacks the courage to clean up its own airways and the Internet. I believe that such immorality shows a great lack of responsibility on the part of filmmakers, actors, and sponsors. So-called freedom of speech has been carried too far from the original intent of our founding fathers, wherein it applied to areas of religion and politico-economics. This freedom did not consider the use of loudspeakers, radio, television, and other amplifying techniques that now invade one's mental privacy with no opportunity to counter and question the speakers directly.

The foregoing changes will be most difficult to realize. Tribal peoples show great resentment when they are exposed to media broadcasts that focus on low moral standards to attract viewers. Most people in Western nations are insensitive to this problem, thinking that their postmodern ways of life represent progress. It could take three or more generations to have enough people become aware of the importance of this cultural divide promoted by commercialism. Wide discussion across the generations and across cultures is needed so that debate can be broadened and this issue resolved.

5) It is desirable to maintain a separation of religion from politics so that the self-oriented power-seeking characteristics of politicians do not distort and disable the teaching of ethical principles by religious teachers. Remember that religion is the institution most responsible for safeguarding and propagating universal values essential to a good society. I provide an historical view of the development of systems for administering justice, an important aspect of the relation between politics and religion, in Chapters 3 and 4 herein.

An addition to this fifth consideration is the recent work of Bruce Feiler in his book, Abraham. See especially pages following page 198 in his last chapter.

6) We need to communicate to the world, the contributions of James W. Fowler that help interrelate the following ideas. They are: stages of faith development, how the idea of shame and/or guilt are handled by psychology and religion, and what is summarized by the idea of vocation, or a universal human calling to partner with God. Interrelating these ideas means participating in an expanding web of interrelationship with others from diverse backgrounds. This should involve struggling to expand our commitments from the small world of our family of origin toward real solidarity with, and authentic commitments to, a global community or commonwealth and the spiritual aspects that are implicit in such commitments.

Might it be that those cultures that still incorporate tribal responses of shame and honor, as I discussed in Chapter 3, Section I, will have to change to bring peace to a pluralistic-globalizing world? The reliance on shame and honor in patriarchal cultures was an early approach to providing justice within tribal communities. As societies become more pluralistic and the scales of communities increase to include global levels, especially for urban professionals, the need to expand the base of justice systems from tribal to national and global scales becomes essential. There is also a need to raise our young in ways that lead more children and adults to feel guilt rather than shame. There are other problems with persons who are dominated by excessive internal feelings of guilt. I discussed the difference between guilt and shame in Section L of Chapter 3 herein.

7) The most complex change to accomplish is that specialists in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have to examine history, traditions, and scripture to explore what changes in interpretation and context are necessary to enable these three faiths to coexist peaceably together in modern pluralistic settings while preserving the intent of their holy books. As far as American Muslims are concerned, reinterpretations need to be in English. There is no one interpretation that will be relevant to all Muslims in the world. Muslims in the West have the freedom to explore more relevant interpretations and could lead the world in de-emphasizing the patriarchal, tribal vestiges in the practice of their faith. This will not be a quick and easy task.

In the USA, Muslims and Christians need interpretations that are relevant to the American pluralist way of life. What does this mean? It does not mean that believers have to change the basic and universal values and the intent of passages that are in the Qur'an, Hadith, and the Bible. Future generations will not close their mind to new interpretations. These latter ideas are described in an interview with Dr. Maher Hathout.(151)

Another project for religious institutions in the three Abrahamic faiths is described in Hugh Sanborn's The Prophetic Call. Chapter 10 in that book goes beyond Benjamin Barber (discussed subsequently) in describing actions of the American Empire. Sanborn's Chapter 12, written by Lintner, outlines the steps for building a peacemaking church. On the back cover of Sanborn's book, is the following quote. "Of all the roles the church is called to fulfill, its prophetic mission is frequently the most neglected." Prophets were responsible people, pointing out to their fellow citizens what must be done to live with compassion, caring, and follow universal values. Sometimes they predicted dire consequences when selfishness and narrow perspectives held sway.

Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth provides an example of a modern-day prophetic role. Gore tells the viewer in very clear terms about the threat of global warming and how the industrial complex has distorted the urgency of changing our life styles to save Mother Earth. He shows us what we must do. This is the prophetic role - warning people when they are going astray and showing them how to regain a compassionate path.

Georgie Anne Geyer, a Universal Press Syndicate editorialist has written a very clear example of what a prophet today might write. (152)

8) To achieve the foregoing seven considerations, I believe that it is important to integrate into our thinking the work of George Lakoff and the ideas of memes, both of which I mentioned in Chapter 2. Some of these ideas were used to advantage recently by presidential election campaigners. We must have broadly based efforts to create constructive memes into our national and global vocabularies so that these ideas will contribute to new aspects of educating for true democracy. This effort must modify constitutions, including our own, and be woven into judicial systems in ways to protect us from selfish exploitation of memes by political campaigners, some corporate executives, commercial advertisers, hate mongers, and others.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf ends his book What's Right With Islam with a list of ten tasks that need to be done. Appendix 1, herein, lists the ten tasks, and I highly recommend reading his book.

H. RELATING THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE COMPLEX OF SYSTEMS IN WHICH WE ALL ARE EMBEDDED

In the following I discuss conceptual frameworks with help from a checklist in Appendix 2 that relates individuals and components of their identities to the larger systems in which we all are embedded. These larger systems are: community, economy, polity, and religion. Typical components of these systems are listed for each topic.

It is critically important to coordinate the actions of individuals and groups so that responsible actions of compassion are integrated and coordinated ranging from the levels of individuals to governments. Robin Lovin, in an article about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and ethics, quoted Bonhoeffer as follows. When called to " ... obedient and responsible action", (p. 27) the commandment of God ... "encounters us concretely in four different forms that find their unity only in the commandment itself, namely, in the church, marriage and family, culture, and government." " … not only each individual under one or the other, but all people under all four."(p. 29) "The practice of the Christian life can be learned only under these four mandates of God."(p. 30) Lovin continued in his own words: "One way to recognize a government or a political system gone wrong is that it tries to deny the authority of the other mandates, claiming all loyalty for itself and redefining responsibility so that the responsible person serves the state or the party by betraying family or church or culture." Lovin concluded: "Responsible action creates institutions that allow persons to maintain their integrity across all the settings that are essential to a full human life."(p. 30) See a Teach Yourself book entitled Ethics by Mel Thompson. It is very readable and has many clear examples.

For those interested in the role of economic institutions and how large corporations and their governments relate to personal identities, communities of various scales, religious, political and economic institutions, I refer the reader to a web posting, based upon an excellent talk by Professor James Roth of Regis University in Denver.(153) For a related description of how leaders of political and economic institutions work together to exploit the common people in America and the less developed nations read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. I mentioned some of his points in Section K of Chapter 3 herein.

There is an excellent paragraph by Clare Graves and a related chapter on pages 294 onward in Chapter 17 of Beck and Cowan's book on Spiral Dynamics. They relate well to this section of my E-book, although from a different point of view. The charts on pp. 300-301 describe the various stages of movement up the spiral and estimate the percentage of world population in each stage in the late twentieth century. Note that the percentages total 111.2%.

Graves spiral passes through four cycles of Me and We emphases. Very briefly, as I view the stages of progress up the spiral, the first stage is individualistic and focuses on the small family clans. The second stage (a We part of the first cycle) is tribal with an economic system that is based of strengthening a reciprocity within the clan and tribe. The third stage is more toward the feudal system wherein the leaders focus on power and exploitation of the poor peasants who are at lower stages in the spiral. The fourth stage is a form of democracy perhaps led by an authoritarian system that cares for the poor more humanely than in the second stage. It is important to realize that there will always be some persons living mainly in the lower stages, because they are held back by those at higher stages or they cannot handle the complexity of higher stages.

The fifth stage is an open status form of organization where achievement and success play an important role for individuals. The sixth stage focuses on a more equitable distribution of wealth, team work, a rising middle class and movement toward a more pure democracy. The seventh stage strives to function in a global arena with moral aspects deriving from a relationship with what I call an Ultimate Caring Other or the global eco-system. The eighth stage is one wherein the an ideal democratic form is reached and many relate to the Ultimate Caring Other and Care for the global eco-system. There is much more included in the description of each stage. For more detail, see: Graves.

Graves and Beck do not use the term perspective as much as I have done throughout this book. However, I believe that my eight levels of perspective taking are closely related to Graves eight stages, though the latter include perspectives about economy and polity to a greater depth than I do.

I. COMPONENTS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR BUILDING MUTUAL TRUST AND PEACE IN A DIVERSE INTERCONNECTED WORLD

The importance of interconnection was first brought to my attention by reading about the Village Earth model of community development used effectively in the poorest communities around the world. Item #10 in Section R above refers to that model.

From the individual's point of view, one's personal identity is influenced by the friends one chooses and the groups and communities in which one holds memberships. Communities differ in scale and influence, some having much more economic and political power than others. To avoid power struggles and build a peaceful global society, we need ethical and judicial systems that earn and maintain authority, trust, respect, and can control abuse of power.

A checklist, in Appendix 2 herein, shows some of the important interrelations among political, religious, economic, and other systems in any society. The components shown in the checklist are useful to assure that important elements and interactions in the whole complex system are not overlooked.

Douglas Dowd, in his Chapter 5 of Capitalism And Its Economics discussed in detail, and from a slightly different perspective, an example of how interventions in complex societal systems can get off the track. He described how Central Banks manipulated interest rates and monetary policies in ways that did not help economic development in third world nations.

Critical and essential needs for managing complex systems for peace include pressure points and entry points for controlling balance in the whole system, and management of those who would exploit the system for selfish ends. Social capital satisfies one of these needs. It is comprised of broadly based citizen activism, and interpersonal communications that are honest and reliable. (See item 10 in Chapter 4, Section R above.)

Jeffrey Sachs, on page 84 in his 2005 book The End of Poverty also emphasized interconnection. He provides a chart that is useful as a checklist. It is most helpful to compare Dowd's book with Jeffrey Sachs' book, and also with The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Tom Friedman. All three are using stories to help readers interrelate the many complex interacting systems and build in their mind a transcendent perspective to understand better the dynamics of a globalized world. Each reader will relate better to different sets of examples and stories. See especially pages 19-27 in Friedman's book.

Sachs' chart does not emphasize the dynamic forces of basic human needs that motivate individuals to work for socio-economic change, singly and in groups. These are important considerations. They play key roles helping people accept change, and to work to build supportive consensus on the ends, or goals, and the best means to attain the goals. People need timetables to monitor progress.

My checklist and Sach's chart are useful for helping teams of specialists and advisors develop broadly based and balanced scenarios. Scenarios are tools that the managers of complex systems (such as corporations, governments, and citizen action groups) use to evaluate long-range strategies and policies when conditions that will affect their system in the future are uncertain.

Scenarios serve to focus discussion of issues that are complex, and in this way can assure that everyone involved in a discussion is relying on similar mental or conceptual frameworks for evaluating proposed policies and/or actions. I believe that many citizens involved in peace and justice groups could benefit from use of scenarios in this way.

Ian Alexander has a summary introduction to scenarios.(154) He wrote: "Scenarios are a powerful antidote to the complexity of system development. Telling stories about systems helps assure that project stakeholders share a sufficiently wide view to avoid missing vital aspects of problems."

The foregoing quote is based upon a longer Introduction from a book edited by Alexander and Maiden listed in my Bibliography. Scenarios range from a small number of considerations to complex systems comprised of many interacting variables, managed by experienced supervisors.

For example, experienced observers can find actions that are inconsistent, yet these inconsistencies are overlooked by some decision-makers in the organization. Often, other variables or considerations may be completely ignored.

Scenarios are helpful to organize the perceptions of groups of persons who have experience with parts of the whole system and who are involved in exercises that simulate how the whole system is affected by possible external and internal forces. In this way, the group can fine-tune the simulations to enhance the forecasting of future outcomes.

Relying on scenarios and accompanying simulations can be a cost-effective way to test and improve management policies in areas of conflict resolution, economic forecasting, foreign policy, and military strategies. Some futurists believe that scenarios are best presented in story form. They describe alternative futures and challenge the conceptual models held by persons in the group. They open doors, tear down Berlin Walls, and open closed minds to new ideas about possible futures. In this way, they expand the creativity and resourcefulness of model builders for simulations and strategic planning.(155)

Steven Rosell has written about the idea of learning-based approaches to guide institutional change in a world with rapid change. See my Bibliography. What should such learning entail? Rosell's experience with the use of "Scenarios" provides a good focus for the discourse and planning necessary to create alternative futures. Scenarios are closely related to the kinds of stories that would set boundary conditions (external conditions) that influence the dynamics of a society or a community. We need more real and fictional stories to help persons, with different types of personalities, get involved and acquainted with responses to possible and practical scenarios.

In a 1995 book, Rosell, on p. 128-9, discussed New Tools for a Learning Society, in Information Technology. For example, We

"… can use information and communication technologies, and the new information infrastructure, to assist our efforts to build [strengthen] social cohesion and a learning society." ..."that information infrastructure can provide a more cost-effective and responsive mechanism for the delivery of public services ... information technology can be used to integrate service delivery not only across departments, but also across levels of government...Such an initiative would raise important questions of accountability and ... responsibility".

Another book that is helpful is one by Peter Schwartz The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World. Schwartz presents a series of steps that guide the reader in the art of constructing scenarios.

Two graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a PeaceMaker computer game that simulates the delicate political situation between Israel and Palestine. The game is an interactive simulation that educates young people, and others who play the game, about negotiations aimed at making peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Real news items, about events in the struggle, provide the players with experience in conflict resolution.

These kinds of games are much more constructive for high school and college-age persons than are the violent games that are marketed in this growing industry. College and high school teachers have expressed interest in the game.(156)

Accessible on the web is another informative posting that I recommend highly. The title is: Sharing Political Space in Peacemaking: The United Nations and Regional Organizations, The Case of Europe. The posting is based upon a conference at The Austrian Diplomatic Academy, VIENNA, 6 - 8 July 2000, Rapporteur: Dr. Waheguru Pal Singh Sidhu.(157)

J. BROADENING THE EDUCATION OF OUR YOUTH AND BRIDLING COMPETITION

A peaceful world depends upon parents and teachers working together to associate with and learn about people from different religious, ethnic, and social class backgrounds and who act with compassion toward all people and our natural environment. To be able to survive in the complex world we have today, children and adults need to develop skills for critical thinking so that they can manage their lives amidst the complex of commitments. Some persons require more structure in their lives and find complexity and inclusiveness stressful. However, such stress can be reduced with knowledge of the different perspectives of others, and the successes and failures of the others.

I end by pointing out implications of the idea of "Emotional Intelligence" and the need for more research into its application. Consider the ideas implicit in Daniel Goleman's idea of Emotional Intelligence. It involves leaders who present hopeful and positive images and ideas. In this way the leaders gain followers (employees, clients, and customers) who work better together, and become more creative as individuals and teams. This approach to management creates a problem. In my view, the problem is that some business leaders appear to be pressured to distort accounting information to make their corporation appear to be performing well when it is not doing so, (the Enron syndrome for example). In my view, such leaders can use emotional intelligence for evil purposes.

Other research on the limbic system of the human brain summarized by Daniel Goleman, et al in Chapters 2 & 3 of their 2002 book Primal Leadership - Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence supports my idea that caring and nurturing mothers play an important role in hardwiring. (Described in Section D in Chapter 1 herein.) Mothers might be using Emotional Intelligence without knowing it as such.

Daniel Goleman, in his new book, Social Intelligence - The New Science of Human Relationships outlines in his Prologue how many people seem to tune out interactions with people around them. Ken Gergen, in his book The Saturated Self might say that they are saturated by the complexity of life in a complex pluralistic society. Yet, on page 3, he provides an example of how a commanding officer overcame opposition from a group of Iraqis who feared that his soldiers were coming to arrest their cleric or destroy their mosque. Hundreds of people surrounded the soldiers and were threatening them. He ordered his men to kneel on one knee, point their rifles toward the ground, and to smile. "That quick-witted move was the culmination of a dizzying array of split-second calculations" by the commanding officer. The story is a good example of how most people are hardwired to read facial expressions and other actions to distinguish between threats and caring behavior. The actions that provided hope is what Goleman calls "social intelligence".

Goleman reinforces the idea of hardwiring in his latest book. These ideas got me thinking that Christianity and Islam both develop their religious stories, rituals, and practices in ways that bond followers, as though they were "wired to connect" to the supreme caring other. The benefits that Goleman describes accrue to the true believer.

In sum, education for effective styles of leadership in highly competitive environments requires: accompanying education about maintaining high standards of morality, systems that monitor morality, and provision for fair and equitable communications and justice. Such requirements apply to both developing and developed economies.

K. CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, I emphasize the need for changes in the cultural values of citizens around the world so that judicial systems can become truly independent and are founded upon the universal values of compassion toward all others and actions that emphasize fairness and equality of opportunity to live a good life. This implies replacing the tribal-scale systems of honor with larger-scale trusted systems of justice organized at state, national, and global scales. It is reliance only on clan and tribal systems of honor that often leads to violence, torture of others, and nepotism.

The foregoing considerations apply to peacemaking in the Middle East, in other third world nations, and in Western industrial nations, including America. Closed minds and tribal (small) scale commitments are found in all of these areas.

I believe that it is important to point out, early in this Conclusion, that many people who follow a simple path toward a relationship with God, a path that has changed little in the last thousand years, can find happiness for themselves, as well as being compassionate and caring to others in their community and beyond. In fact many young teens have an internalized image of God or Jesus as the care giver from the Bible stories; stories that they have heard, read, and discussed since childhood. However, since God is infinite, the image one has as a young teen will still broaden as one progresses up the spiral that some call a pilgrimage. As we become more experienced in our globalizing world, our perspectives will broaden, and our image of the Ultimate will become more Ultimate.

In terms based upon recent models of spiral dynamics, the simple path leads some up an ever more complex reality on the spiral staircase to a relationship with a more ultimate care-giver. Karen Armstrong and Don Beck and Chris Cowan have described the spiral path. I discuss spiral dynamics mainly in Chapter 5 herein.

Many of the people who follow the less complex path live in religio-ethnic communities in rural and urban areas. It is important to remember that one does not have to master complex justice systems, governmental agencies, think tanks, and the like to follow the old traditional path up the spiral.

Yet, in our complex globalizing world, we need some leaders, teachers, and researchers who can function compassionately. Their view of the spiral staircase might differ from that of the more common view, but the net results can be similar for both types of person.

Limited influence, power, and frustration at not knowing how to negotiate peaceably with ones oppressors and exploiters who are in power often lead to violent responses. Such responses are found in street gangs, rebellious outcasts from society with little hope in their future, regressive believers of orthodox religious and/or political beliefs, and the like.

Updating religious and political traditions to make them more relevant will not be easy. I believe that some kind of independent and trustworthy judicial hierarchy guided by universal moral principles is needed to provide checks and balances for the narrow perspectives that sometimes dominate religious, political and corporate organizations. For example, lack of a hierarchy in Sunni Islam leads to some independent clerics. They mislead their followers, especially those with little or no public education. They mislead them to use religious justifications to support evil actions. Somewhat similar problems arise among independent Christian churches in America wherein the clerics follow a selective literalist approach to theology, one that is often slanted by far-right political tactics. Where there is no religious hierarchy, political hierarchies find fertile ground. Once political perspectives dominate the religious ones, tactics such as single-issue politics can take over, especially before elections.

Dr. Jane Smith described, in Chapter 8 of her book, Islam in America and in a lecture she presented at the Iliff School of Theology on January 28, 2003, how Muslims should distinguish spiritual aspects of their faith, from those of old-world cultures and make a workable blend with a more modern culture. They should not throw out the parts of their culture that are related to their Islamic faith. For example, native villagers in South America have made similar blends of traditions and rituals over the years as they modified aspects and symbols of the Roman Catholic Church to incorporate some of their own customs.

An example of the difficulty in changing traditions is the following. Consider a problem that has been difficult for many Christian congregations to solve. It is how to satisfy the contrasting desires for music and wording of old classical hymns versus hymns in the new contemporary styles. Theological issues will be much more difficult to resolve than the choice of hymns.

The counseling and teaching of young persons and adults must include providing road maps that help each person navigate their own path of life with commitment to ever-increasing scales of perspective taking and community, climbing their own spiral staircase while maintaining a balance between commitments to personal development and community development.

Development of strong personal identities requires extending compassion to others and serving the welfare of others. Emotional energy should be channeled toward helping, nurturing and caring for others, not by dominating their lives, but by training and teaching for self-sufficiency within supportive communities. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) provide many opportunities for serving communities in positive and constructive ways.

Religious leaders need to learn how to build a sacred set of memories and stories about persons with good characters that their followers will internalize to some extent. They should let ties to place emerge naturally out of good memories and shared experiences, rather than trying to create symbolic attachments to place which often become a form of idolatry. Such sacred symbols can also be in the forms of songs and poetry, but they should not sacralize violent acts from the past, which often serves to perpetuate hatred, or lead to the idea that one's group is a chosen people. Marc Gopin made these latter points in his book Between Eden and Armageddon.

There are several paths that can be taken by immigrants to America, especially Muslim immigrants. Some paths are: assimilation, reorientation (rather than revivalism), and some mix of assimilation and reorientation. How much of the culture does one change through assimilation? What parts of the culture should be de-emphasized and which parts strengthened? Who will teach critical thinking - public schools, mosque, church, parents, or some combination of the four? How should parents control exposure to television and movies, pornography, consumer habits, credit buying, conspicuous consumption, and the like? How can the government help parents in the foregoing? Which interpretations of the sacred writings should be de-emphasized and which should be emphasized? How is this best accomplished? Which elements of laws and customs are mandatory for all faithful followers and which allow for flexible applications and interpretations?

The answers to these questions cannot be generalized, but must suit the particular needs of individuals and communities in their respective contexts.

If Americans were to take advantage of their great religious and cultural diversity and find the leadership to use this diversity to expand shared experiences with others, for children in school, and for adults of all ages, then we will move closer to living peaceably in an inclusive pluralistic society. We did this after the Second World War through NGO's such as the International Institute, which was a social service NGO that helped Japanese and German war brides adapt and assimilate into the American culture. In addition, the major religious faiths should reorient the interpretations of their sacred writings to place more emphasis on compassion toward others with stories of constructive actions that built bridges of relationships with others, and on working together to live in peace. They should train leaders of independent citizen groups to de-emphasize conspicuous consumption, sacred violence (as defined by Marc Gopin), and other outdated cultural traditions as did Dr. Martin Luther King.

Ingrid Mattson, PhD and President of the Islamic Society of North America has written an excellent article, that is posted on the web, about problems that some people in host societies present to Muslims who have emigrated to Western countries. She presents very poignent examples of cultural differences that can cause problems for people who are not familiar with particular customs. Her discussion supports and fits well with the contents of this book. I recommend her article highly.

A ray of hope for building a more peaceful world is one that aims to liberate Americans from the disease that some call "Affluenza". This hopeful sign is evident in the good response to the book Affluenza - The All-Consuming Epidemic, (Second Edition - 2005), by: John De Graff, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor. This book contains many stories that describe new approaches to simplifying our way of life to be less wasteful of resources, decreasing the clutter of "stuff", being stewards for Mother Nature, allowing more time for civic activities, and deepening relationships with other people. If Americans could succeed in achieving a cure for affluenza, we could become a true light unto the world.

Another ray of hope comes from the replacement of fossil fuels with ethanol produced from a number of sources other than corn, sources such as cellulose. Research on cellulosic ethanol is now being done in the USA. (See my summary of a PBS special program on ethanol in Section C of this chapter for the source of this information.)

All these changes need to be accomplished with patience, respect, and tender loving care. We should not tolerate abuse and exploitation of individuals, justified by reference to their tribal and clan scales of commitment.

Abuse and exploitation of individuals by: communities, and by corporations on national, global, and regional scales (such as neo-colonialism or ethnic cleansing) must not be tolerated. Such abuse is evil and requires a strong and immediate worldwide response, not only responses by local, national and regional politicians, leaders, and scholars. Too often the local leaders are not heard. An important point here is that both religious and community leaders of the ethno-religious group that is fomenting the cleansing or other form of abuse, should strongly speak out against their own cruel political leaders or dictators, even though they might risk their lives by so doing.

James Waller made this point well by use of examples in his book Becoming Evil. Too often, religious and governmental leaders do not speak out, for fear or lack of courage. Waller, on pages 268-9, wrote that the United Nations "...can call for the continued development of early warning systems that identify and monitor societies likely to resort to mass killing and genocide." I would extend this to say that early warnings concerning misuse of religion for selfish and evil purposes provided by a highly respected organization that has a global perspective, is perhaps a postmodern way of warning similar to that, which 2500 years ago, was done by respected prophets. The work of Charles Kimball is relevant here.

Professor Charles Kimball's book When Religion Becomes Evil was published in 2002, but still is very relevant today because it mentions many approaches to peacemaking. His book discusses situations wherein religion was used to justify evil acts and the topic of peacemaking. I used his book for two classes that I gave on Religion at Senior Centers in Ft. Collins and Loveland, Colorado in the Fall of 2003.

Barrie Hartman, a retired newspaper editor, has written an appropriate article in the Denver Post's Perspective Section on 10-03-04. He faults mainline Christians for "hardly a peep" in response to "distortions and fantasies" related to support of policies by leaders who claim to be "chosen by God" or are thought to be divinely inspired. The mass media and many mainline Christian leaders seem to be cowed by right-wing members in their own congregation and by the Patriot Act to the point of stifling dissent and debate, fearing loss of support, their job, and so on. Some of the mainline ministers could play the prophetic role.

I mentioned earlier in this section that some kind of judicial hierarchy is desirable, but also desired are forums for debate, dialogue, and reconciliation to assist governments, religious bodies, and communities in learning the perspectives of others around the world. Open discussion is an essential tool to provide transparency where secrecy is rampant. Examples of the need for widely publicized open discussions, are apparent in many international arenas and the so-called Presidential debates that were broadcast before the November 2004 election. In those debates, I do not remember anyone providing, in detail, information about one of the leading causes of dislike for American and Western foreign policies. The primary cause is neo-colonialism based upon America's need for oil, but also other nations' needs for water, and other natural and agricultural resources, and how those needs influence foreign policy and internal conflicts within Western nations. I believe that conflicts within Nigeria, Nagaland, and other nations are rooted in who will control and benefit from exploitation of the oil resources from these states. The media in America seldom mention this underlying cause of conflicts with Central Asian and Middle Eastern nations. It is easy to deflect analyses of the real causes by focusing on intertribal and religious conflicts.

We need safe and open forums and round-table discussions. The media need to carry such forums into prime-time programming. But how does one reach those who avoid such programs and are captured by sport broadcasts, and the violent and adolescent prime-time shows?

Charles Kimball, near the end of his book When Religion Becomes Evil quotes Harvey Cox urging us to actively shape the future of religion and our future in general. This is a "...call to action, to take the initiative".

Our world has become so interconnected by widespread application of new electronic communication technology, it makes learning the ethno-religious backgrounds and perspectives of others around the world much easier to accomplish as long as the media moguls do not censor out such constructive programs. I believe that these technology-induced changes could, and hopefully will, lead us all into a new age of mutual appreciation and tolerance of ethno-religious differences and enable us to work together for peace. Also, different interpretations of universal values and their application will lead to unification and reduction of differences in interpretation. Increasing activity in a global arena for learning and discussion; arenas such as the United Nations and the United Nations Association can help this unification over a period of many decades.

A book published in 2007, entitled: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, by Paul Collier, has gotten good reviews by Amazon.com reviewers. I recommend it for it's broad analyses.

Also contributing a ray of hope is the very detailed website of the CalResCO Group that I mentioned at the end of Chapter 4 herein.

Those cultural values associated with global business, travel and education will slowly change toward a more common language, though particular ethnic traditions and arts might remain as key parts of a society's historical and geographic base. The latter are likely to remain more important to those persons who prefer the support of familiar traditions.

A recent book that points to a hopeful future is Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed written by Jared Diamond, a Professor of Geography at UCLA. Diamond described the rise and fall of many civilizations, including Easter Island, the Anasazi, the Maya, and many others. He included a very detailed comparison of Haiti and the Dominican Republic which share the same Island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean. His last few chapters describe failures to anticipate, failures to perceive, failures to foresee the effects of significant abuse of the natural environment, rapid overpopulation, and more. Two key types of choices are critical in providing hope of success. They are: long range planning rather than short-term expedient decisions, and the courage to reconsider long-held values and/or cultural traditions.

Another recent book is one by Professor Lawrence Harrison entitled: The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It from Itself. This book builds upon research conducted by the Culture Matters Research Project administered by the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Some 60 professionals from around the world were involved in research and writing about how cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes interact with economic, political, religious, educational, and other institutions to advance and/or retard the evolution of human societies toward a good quality of life for all. His book complements my work, and this book complements Harrison's. I recommend his book highly for that reason. It is well written and summarizes much research from around the world that I have not included in herein .

I end this book with the mission statement from a website that examines how we can build a world beyond war. The "… mission is to explore, develop, and promote effective ideas, methods and actions that will build a world in which conflicts are resolved nonviolently." Their URL is: [www.beyondwar.org].

A book with the title: Peace is Possible is described in the website: [http://www.peaceispossible.info/]. I quote from that website:

"Peace, - who will invest energy and time in an impossible cause?

"This question was the one Fredrik S. Heffermehl, a Norwegian lawyer and Vice President of the International Peace Bureau, after over a decade of international peace work, identified as the main obstacle for peace politics."

"Everyone is for peace - and sees that it is a matter of survival. Why then, are so many so passive? Why do so few invest time and money in peace? Is the answer that, even with sympathy for these goals, people see the military sector as a too well established, too powerful opponent?" I mentioned near the end of Section I in Chapter 2 herein, that humankind must do God's work.

"People cannot be aware of the remarkable successes in the struggle for peace, Heffermehl thought, and decided to document a selection from the last couple of decades. For this purpose he contacted a number of peace luminaries around the world, asking them to: "Please, make the field understandable and interesting, don´t talk like a professor, but tell your own fascinating stories in simple, human terms."

"It is essential to make the successes and results visible".

In March 2008, I purchased the book The Power of Forgiveness by Kenneth Briggs. Chapter 8 in this book "Repairing Divided Houses" includes a good discussion of several examples of working toward Peace. They include recent progress in Northern Ireland and South Africa, but also discuss African Americans and Native American tribes in the United States and the long way we have yet to go in overcoming racial, educational, and economic inequalities. I recommend this book highly.

A book entitled Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond, by Abdulkader Sinno is summarized in an article by Steve Hinnefeld and appears in Indiana University's Home pages, accessible at: [http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/2008/03-28/story.php?id=1913]. It presents a number of good ideas that help understand actions in countries like Afghanistan and ends with a few sentences on forgiveness.

For those interested in viewing my other web postings related to the foregoing, a listing is accessible at: [www.notess.com/cn/index.html].

TWO TYPES OF ACTION MANAGEMENT BY HUMANS

The response of our government to the tragedy of 9-11-01 has brought to the forefront different types of responses by world leaders.

The first type of response is one by decisive responders who act quickly and face increased probabilities of making mistakes, choosing poor strategies, not having adequately prepared strategies, resources, and so on. The actions of President Bush and his team of advisors exemplified such a response after Saddam Hussein was captured. The Iraqis started to oppose the occupation and rebelled against the occupiers for a number of reasons. Bush's advisors all seemed to be dominated by the decisive responder type of personality. Their motivations seem to have been fear of losing access to oil and the promise of gain from assuring such access. They wished to steer Iraq toward democracy, but seemed to lack a broad-based knowledge of the different cultures in Iraq and how to implement development of an Iraqi democracy.

This is the type of response displayed by road rage. Many corporate CEO's react similarly since from their points of view or perspectives, their goal is to capture the market ahead of their competition and make a profit for their department or corporation. Those are their overriding concerns and they impose limits upon their perspectives. They often overlook compassionate actions toward customers and others impacted by their actions.

This Ego type of animal response was exhibited by Pres. G. Bush in the following article by syndicated columnist Georgie Anne Geyer in the Loveland Reporter Herald of 6-10-08. She wrote the following.

Consider: Now-retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the original commander of U.S.troops in Iraq writes in his memoir of the war, Wiser in Battle: A Soldiers Story, of Bush saying in a "confused" pep talk after four contractors were killed in Iraq: "Kick Ass! if somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! ,,, Stay strong! Stay the course! kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

Many who act without compassion in this way are seeking to satisfy self-oriented egoistic needs for power and/or to reduce fear, overcome threats, and reduce ambiguity. This type of fear reaction comes from the Amygdala, a part of the brain that evolved as animals lived in groups and fought to protect their turf, hunt of graze for food, and raise their young. It is associated with macho personalities. Along with modern weaponry and suicide bombers it can do much damage.

In sum, this age of instant communication, high-speed travel and weapons of mass destruction, leaders sometimes fear that they must act quickly. Communications with an opposing group pose an immediate threat and the egoistic response takes over control.

The second type of responder is the more spiritual humane-compassionate one. Two way relations with those that have different perspectives and interests are important to these leaders. Such relations provide learning experiences and an understanding of diverse others. This leader waits and acts cautiously to learn about the opponent. The opponents might be viewed as a threat or perceived as competitors, but compassionate responders do not wish to hurt the feelings and identities of these others within their community and outside their communities. They would rather cooperate and work together to achieve broader goals. Therefore, the second type of responder responds slower than the decisive leaders and they can lose some advantage by being cautious to guide all sides along toward a consensus. Therefore, such approaches require planning ahead to overcome the need for quick actions. Leaders must learn about the the different cultures and perceived needs of their neighboring countries and then they will be better prepared to negotiate balanced and peaceful solutions to differences.

This type of response is located in the part of the brain where spirituality develops. This part of our brains keeps unconscious memories of past events that have been repressed for various reasons. These memories are tied to relationships with other people, usually close two-way relationships. They might be repressed feelings of a need for acceptance into a supportive group or comunity, guilt feelings from hurting or breaking a working relationship from the past, or feelings from loss of a loved one. This area of the brain includes ways of communicating, that include art, music, language and is the creative part of our brains. It is where caring, compassion, love, and guidance with others in the community occur.

This relational part of our brains governs compassionate, artistic, and spiritual aspects of our lives. It produces caring, compassion, joy, and peaceful lives in family and community settings. An example of an unconscious emotion is when a person sheds tears or cries when viewing a drama that displays the group joy generated by efforts to help care for and show compassion to another. The emotion is a shared joy among all those concerned as the good doer is rewarded and accepted as a member of the group.

Another example is a time when I cried after being told that we might have to give up our beloved dog, because cancer in my spine, was affecting control of my legs. I cannot take her walking four times a day. The crying, in my view was from my unconscious feelings of guilt and breaking a great loving relationship with our dog and hurting my wife who also loves the dog dearly. These emotions had been repressed for some time. When feelings related to relationships have been repressed, they can come out as crying at funeral services and other ocassions very unexpectedly.

The ideal way to respond with the two different approaches is with a balanced approach based upon consideration of decisive responses, and approaches that include compassion for the other and strive for cooperation. If a quick response is needed, it is important to prepare adequately before the threat occurs. Careful planning will help reduce strategic mistakes. I believe that Presidents Abe Lincoln and F. D. Roosevelt were two leaders who exemplified fairly good balance. However, in today's world with portable weapons of mass destruction, cultural change and threats can arise too quickly. Climate changes that are overlooked can also require preplanning and decisive responses. The unexpectedly severe hurricane season of 2005 illustrated the need for planning ahead carefully and not skimping on budgets. When there is less time to manage a balanced approach in today's world, preplanning and advanced gathering of resources and expertise become essential.

The foregoing discussion leads to the following question. Is there a correlation between Republican leaders who tend to be involved in managing corporations more so than do Democrats, and therefore support a decisive mindset? On the other hand, is there a correlation between Democratic leaders with public service experience that emphasizes a more compassionate-cooperative, humane approach? Both of these approaches are risky, though the risks often are uniquely different in the two approaches. We need leadership that will depoliticize these concerns and emphasize balanced approaches.

Some people combine the two different types of response outlined above: the quick, sometimes Violent Ego response and the Spiritual Loving response. An example of this more human response is the very tight bond that develops among troops fighting the insurgents in Iraq. The small groups become more tighly bonded than many families do. A loss of ones buddy deeply hurts the survivor. Feelings of guilt in not being able to save his buddy and the feelings of loss become repressed deeply into ones unconscious, since the fighting must continue on and these men have to rely on their very quick ego response when the shooting starts up again.

Hopefully, with the end of the neo-cons that got us into the mess, we have seen the benefits of compassion finally win out, thanks to General Petreaus and the new Defense Secretary, Gates.

Some big questions that we might learn about in the next few years are:

1) What role does combinining these two responses so tightly and deeply repressing related feelings of guilt, shame, and loss have in strengthening problems of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder? The MayoClinic.com has a good web sight that describes the disorder. It is accessible at: Mayo-pstd..

2) How does the trauma affect one's religious trust that an anthropomorphic image of God will protect one and his loved ones? Such a loss of faith will also be repressed. I discussed relating to God and Images of God in Chapter 2 of my book.

AS PEOPLE BROADEN THEIR PERSPECTIVES AND CLIMB THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE TO THEIR POINT OF SATURATION HOW DOES THE ULTIMATE CARE GIVER - GOD - BECOME INVOLVED?

Consider externalities of egoistic actions and side effects from complex governmental and large corporate enterprises. They pollute our natural environment, and follow bottom lines motivated by profit and greed used as performance measures by their various departments. Both our government and the corporations do not monitor adequately the external impacts of their actions upon the human and natural qualities of life. As it is we humans are to do God's work, we need much improvement in this area. We humans have to be responsible to do the monitoring and protection. How do we do this? where does God fit in?

Consider how people relate to an invisible God, usually an anthropomorphic image which makes such a relationship easier. Often, the image is internalized similarly to how a child internalizes an image of his or her Mother. Children learn about God from hearing, and later reading, Bible stories. Relationships with caring others lead also to learning about what is important to the other, whether the other is Mom, a sibling, a family friend, a school teacher, a supervisor at work, or God. By sharing experiences with the other, one learns about their friend or co-worker, their worldview or perspective, their universal and basic values, their traditions and habits, their preferences and tastes, etc. These ideas can be grouped into religious belief systems, political beliefs systems, and economic belief sytems, etc.. All these traditions, values, and norms comprise what social scientists call culture.

There are many careers that contribute to God's work. Teaching children in small classes and getting them excited about learning is one of the best. Farming and giving tender-loving care to plants and animanl helps the young relate tt being patient, compassionate and caring. Nursing and medicine, research and simulating economic development, for planning and monitoring justice are other careers that help God's work. Sharing experiences helps people broaden their perspectives so that they can more easily relate to those in other careers.

However, what is not doing God's work is accumulating wealth and power to control and distort information to one's own selfish purposes. It is my impession that FOX News, Rupert Murdock, and his lackey, Riley, exemplify such evil people. They immediately, upon meeting someone people, classify them as liberal or far-right and can not listen to what they have to say about their perspective. They are bigots who have corrupted our news and information media and are threats to the future of our democracy.

On 6-09-08 on channel 12 at 6:00 pm I listened to Democracy Now and heard an excellent talk by Bill Moyers at the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform, organized by the group Free Press. It was entitled: Democracy Only Works When Ordinary People Claim It As Their Own. Transcripts are available and I recommend them highly.

In Biblical times, the perspectives were limited, for most people. They were based upon commitments to family, clan, tribe, and only centuries later to city, state and nation. Nowadays the levels of perspectives to which we commit ourselves extends to federal government research about drug side effects, monitoring production of drugs, food products, car safety, and so on. However, any one person can not become familiar with the complexity of departments in large organizations and business corporations. We become saturated.

Remember that perspectives include a hierarchy of universal community values, occupational traditions, other cultural traditions such as: approaches to child rearing, and the like. They include music, poetry, literature, technical items such as radio, television, cars and tools. Persons incorporate these aspects or components of perspectives in their memories through shared experiences from working and recreating together.

To prevent saturation, every person must erect some barriers that limit commitments. The media do not help us much to broaden perspectives and manage identities as they have been increasingly subjugated, in recent years, by corporate sponsors and governmental administrators who sponsor television shows and the like.

THE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS GUIDE US TO OVERCOME SATURATION AND SIMPLIFY RESPONSES SO THAT WE CAN DO GOD'S WORK?

In the First Great Commandment of God, according to Jesus, said that we should "Love thy God with all thy heart, mind and soul." Love is a two-way street. It is a relationship between the two lovers, a relationship that emphasizes caring, compassion, guidance and the like. It is best represented by how a loving Mother responds to her child as I discussed earlier in Chapter 1 of this book. Its characteritics are spiritual rather than egostic.

The Second Great Commandment of God tells us to: "Do, in their context, unto others as you would have them do unto you, in your context." Here I have added phrases that include the word "context" to emphasize that one considers persons outside one's own group, in their context and changing environmental situations. These two commandments imply that we rely upon in the spiritual rather egoistic mode of response.

I believe that we should interpret the two commandments as doing God's work by following spiritual guidelines that reside in the spiritual part of our brain and emphasize being loving, kind, caring, compassionate, and a guide to peaceful living as all humans would prefer to live. Today's world is too much dominated by the egoistic part of our brains.

I have listed a number of Bible references that point out the compassionate actions that Jesus, God, and St. Paul, in his letters, seem to prefer to be used to do God's work here on Planet Earth. It is accessible at: Bible References.

SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW WE SHOULD BE DOING GOD'S WORK

With this in mind, it should be a responsibility of the creator of a business or industrial product or process to check the impacts of externalities, rather than rely upon governments to do it with insufficient motivation and funds. Environmental Impact Statement Processes, The Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Aviation Authority are examples of such governmental monitoring agencies.

Only in this way can the common people do God's work. Where are the Prophets of Old? Our media, the sponsorship of which has been taken over by large corporations, often overlooks or is forbidden by its sponsors to present timely prophesies to the general public.

In relating to people with ever broader perspectives, some people have the opportunities to climb "The Spiral Staircase" to a good relationship with ultimate caring other and reach the Ultimate One - God. It is important to note that the Spiral Staircase is a long one and many people do not reach the top, but still find God at the level they do reach. We had a neighbor who had a perspective that focused on a literal following of a simple Biblical fundamentalism and held a job as an accountant. She was very efficient at following the rules. She was a good friend, a kind and caring friend and mother of two children. I know a number of engineers, computer scientists and workers, health care service workers and others who held similar perspectives. There are people in government and large corporations with similar characteristics. As they gain shared experiences with co-workers in other departments, with neighbors, classmates, church members, and club members all with different backgrounds, they broaden perspectives until they hit their own Berlin walls that protect personal identities and prevent saturation. Berlin Walls are also used to protect, in addition to personal identities; tribal, city, and state perspectives, and religious, political and economic belief systems.

I refer the reader to a paper that elaborates, from a slightly different perspective, an appropriate conclusion to this book. It is entitled: Philosophical and Religious Foundations of a Global Ethic by Ingrid H. Shafer, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. It is listed in my Bibliography.

By the Fall of 2007, changes in the political stances of the far-right in the USA indicated a ray of hope. It seems that a significant portion of the Republican voters seem to have tired of single issue politics and are broadening their perspectives.

A decrease in insurgent activity in Iraq provides support for the post-surge policies and perhaps the compassionate perspective will gain support.

I have discovered the research and writing of Dr. Clare W. Graves after completing work on this book. As I delve further into his work, see my bibliography, I expand upon descriptions of his work in Chapter 5 of my book. His ideas about stages of development are summarized in The Never Ending Quest which is listed in the Bibliography included in my E-book. See also the following web site for quotes from Graves' writing. [http://www.clarewgraves.com/neq/neq.html]. For some idea of Graves work, see also: [http://www.integralleadership.com/graves-quadrants.htm]. These ideas, which are new to me, are implicit in some of what I have written in Sections H and I of Chapter 5 above.

NOTE: This epilogue replaces the one that is printed in my book, entitled: COUNTERING POLARIZATION and has been taken from my revised web posting, with the same title, that is accessible at: Countering Polarization. .

© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2004-8. "Fair use" encouraged.

INTRODUCTION

This bibliography contains over 170 references related to classes that I have led since the year 2000. Some of the references are annotated briefly. The text for my course on "When Commitments Become Dangerous, was entitled When Religion Becomes Evil by Charles Kimball. The text for my course on "Approaches to Islam" was "Islam in America" by Jane I. Smith.

Readings from Kimball's book were supplemented by others from Marc Gopin, Scott Appleby, Jessica Stern, and Omid Safi. These explore topics related to Peacemaking.

Smith's book has a good breadth and a fair depth. Another book by Asma Hasan American Muslims, focuses more on the areas that concern a young woman, born in America of Pakistani parentage, and discusses several important issues from the point of view of one individual. Other books that provide information at greater depth and in some cases are more academic, are in ascending order of depth and degree of academicity are: Muslim Minorities in the West by Haddad and Smith, and Muslims on the Americanization Path by Haddad and Esposito. More specialized books are Political Islam edited by Esposito and Islamic Values in the United States by Haddad and Lummis.

In the early part of 2004, I incorporated ideas from recent work in applied sociology - such as knowing in organizations, developing social capital, and practice-based approaches to transforming organizations. The organizations are transformed to be more creative in facing new markets, competition, and situations. Authors include William Bridges, Francis Hesselbein, Etienne Wenger, Peter Senge, Davide Nicolini, and Pedro Conceicao.

NOTE: The format of this book provides a number of short quotations from relevant authors. I include them to show, in their own words, how others think about the many topics interwoven in my text and as support for my ideas.

NOTE: The following includes some website URL's. After some time they might no longer be posted on the web. However, they might be published with the same title. Therefore, I include them herein.

• Abraham, Nabeel, and Shryock, Andrew, Editors. Arab Detroit: From Marin to Mainstream Great lakes Books, 2001;
• AbuKhalil, As'ad, Bin Laden, Islam and America's New "War on Terrorism", Seven Stories Press, 2002;
• Ahmad, Eqbal; Eqbal Ahmad, Confronting Empire Interviews with by David Barsamian", South End Press, 2000. This book is one that I recommend highly. He was creative in a positive and non-violent way. This book has many interesting vignettes that give the reader a broader perspective on events in the Middle East and the whole world.
• Ahmed, Akbar S., Islam Today -- A Short Introduction to the Muslim World" I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1999;
• Ahmed, Leila, Women and Gender in Islam - Historical Roots of a Modern Debate. Yale University Press, 1992;
• Ajami, Fouad, Stranger in the Arab - Muslim World, Wilson Quarterly, Spring 2001;
• Alexander, Ian and Maiden, Neil, Scenarios, Stories, Use Cases Through the Systems Development Life-Cycle, John Wiley, 2004;
• Anderson, Walter Truett, Reality Isn't What It Used to Be, Harper & Roe, Publishers, 1990;
• Anderson, Walter Truett, The Future of the Self", Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997;
• Anglin, Gary J.,Editor, Instructional Technology, Past, Present, and Future, Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Englewood, Colorado, 1995;
• Appleby, R. Scott, The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000; I highly recommend this book for those students of Islam, and peacemaking in general, who are interested in learning about how to work for peace. Non-governmental organizations provide a range of examples. Appleby provides many examples of successful conflict resolution and other modes contributing toward peace. He also organizes the different modes and describes each one.
• Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, Ballentine Books, 1993;
• Armstrong, Karen, The Battle For God, Ballentine Books, 2000;
• Armstrong, Karen, Holy War - The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World, Doubleday, 1991;
• Armstrong, Karen, The Spiral Staircase - My Climb out of DarknessAlfred Knopf, 2004;
• Asad, Muhammad, The Road To Mecca Max Reinhardt, 1954;
• Asad, Muhammad, The Message of the Quran Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad. Dar-al-Andalus, Ltd. 1980 Gibralter reprinted in 1993;
• Aswad, Barbara C. and Bilge, Barbara, Family and Gender Among American Muslims, Temple University Press, 1006;
• Awde, Nicholas, Women in Islam -- An Anthology from the Quran and Hadiths, St. Martin's Press, 2000;
  This book covers 20 relevant topics from Hygiene, Divorce, Widowhood, Modesty and Clothing, Marriage, to Prayer, Sex, Status & Rights, Mothers & Children, and Family & Care. It quotes from the Quran and from al-Bukhari's collection of hadiths.
• Baali, Fuad and Wardi, Ali, Ibn Khaldun and Islamic Thought-Styles - A Social Perspective G.K.Hall and Co. Boston, 1981;
• Bailie, Gil, Violence Unveiled - Humanity at the Crossroads. Crossroad Publishing Co., 1995; A whole new perspective on interpreting the spiritual crisis of our times. Based on the work Rene Girard published in the early 1970's.
• Barber, Benjamin R., Jihad Versus McWorld - How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping The World, , Times Books - Random House, 1995.
• Barber, Benjamin R., Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy, W.W. Norton & Co, 2003.
• Barlas, Asma, Believing Women in Islam - Unreading Patriarchial Interpretation of the Qur'an, University of Texas Press, 2002;
  This new book by Associate Professor Barlas presents a knowledgeable analysis of gender study techniques and methods of applied textual analyses. She has taken on the difficult task of explaining how each person interprets a text in slightly different ways. There is no one right interpretation, but to interpret a verse from the Qur'an removed from a holistic context is dangerous. The truth can only be approached in the light of the whole text and knowledge of the contextual background.
• Barresi, John, On Becoming a Person, Philosophical Psychology, 1999, 12, pp. 79-98; also on the web. Go there now.;
• Barsamian, David, Eqbal Ahmad - Confronting Empire" Interviews with by David Barsamian, South End Press, 2000;
• Beck, Don Edward and Cowan, Christopher C., Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change, Blackwell Business, 1996.
• Begley, Sharon, The Roots of Fear, Newsweek, (pp 37-40) December 24, 2007.
• Bellah, Robert N.; Madsen, Richard; Sullivan, William; Swidler, Ann; and Tipton, Steven, Habits of the Heart, Harper & Row, 1985; Updated and republished in 1996;
• Bellah, Robert N.; Madsen, Richard; Sullivan, William; Swidler, Ann; and Tipton, Steven, The Good Society Alfred A. Knopf; 1991. This book has a good chapter on the Public Church in America.
• Bellah, Robert N. and Tipton, Steven M., Editors, The Robert Bellah Reader, Duke Univ. Press, 2006;
• Berger, Peter, The Sacred Canopy, Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1996;
• Blackmore, Susan, The Meme Machine, Oxford University Press, 1999;
• Borba, Michele, Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues that Teach Kids to Do the Right ThingJossey-Bass, 2002;
• Borg, Marcus J., The God We Never Knew -- Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Contemporary Faith, Harper San Francisco, 1997;
• Borg, Marcus J., Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Harper San Francisco, 2001;
• Borg, Marcus J., The Heart of Christianity - Rediscovering a Life of Faith, HarperSanFrancisco, 2003;
• Borg, Marcus J., and MacKenzie, Ross, Editors God at 2000. Morehouse Publishing, 2000;
  A millenial Conference with essays by: Borg, Eck, Kushner, Chittister, Nasr, Armstrong, and Tutu.
• Boston, Robert, Why The Religious Right is Wrong - About Separation of Church & State, Prometheus Books, 1993;
• Bowen, Donna Lee and Early, Evelyn A., Editors; Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East, Second Edition, Indiana University Press, 2002; This book includes 35 short essays about life in the Middle East. They present the universal human aspects of Muslims and counter the violence and conflict portrayed by American media. A content analysis, by Brian Barber (a Univ. of Tennessee Child and Family Studies professor) over a 17-year period, from 1980-1997, about U.S. media coverage of life in Gaza "showed that 69% of the references to Gaza described conflict and violence.". Topics include attitudes toward abortion, activism, weddings, funerals, newspaper editing, the veil, the internet, film-making, etc..
• Bridges, William, Jobshift - How to Prosper in a Workplace Without Jobs. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1994;
• Briggs, Kenneth, The Power of Forgiveness, based on a film by Martin Doblmeier, Fortress Press, 2008.
• Brooks, Geraldine, Nine Parts of Desire - The Hidden World of Islamic Women, an Anchor Book, Random House, Inc., 1995;
• Brussat, Frederic and Mary Ann, Spiritual Literacy - Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life, Scribner, 1996;
• Bulliet, Richard W., The Crisis Within Islam, Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 26, Issue 1, Winter 2002, Page 11, 9 pages. This Journal article summarizes several crises (periods of uncertainty) that occurred throughout the history of Islam. These were crises resulting from the lack of a

  "..central institution for determining what is good or bad practice.." between an overly legalistic and impersonal interpretation guided by scholars and madrasas, "obeying the sharia and little else." Sufi brotherhoods arose that "...provided religious guidance and paralleled rather than opposed the authority exercised by the established scholars and madrasas."

  Bulliet goes on to describe several developments in Islam that give hope for solving this type of crisis.
• Burton, John, An Introduction to the Hadith, Edinburgh University Press, 1994;
  See also: Information about Hadiths that is accessible by clicking on the following: "500 AHADITH", 1996; and also a list of Hadiths entitled: HADITH A RE-EVALUATION By Kassim Ahmad; Translated from the Malay original by Syed Akbar Ali; 1997.
• CALResCo Group, Chris Lucas, founder and Director of Research. Website accessible at: (http://calresco.org). the CalResCO Group. For a brief description of Lucas' website, see Item 14. in the last Section of Chapter 4 of this E-book.
• Canham, Elizabeth, Heart Whispers - Benedictine Wisdom For Today, Upper Room Books, 1999. Her chapter on Prayer discusses how parental care influences one's image of, and relationship with, God. (page 75).
• Caplan, Mariana, Halfway Up the Mountain, Hohm Press, 1999;
• Carroll, Jackson W. and Roof, Wade Clark, Bridging Divided Worlds - Generational Cultures in Congregations, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Company, 2002;
• Carroll, B. Jill, A Dialogue of Civilations - Gulen's Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse, The Light, Inc. & The Gülen Institute, 2007. I highly recommend this book. It is very clearly written and provides a good complement to my book. Carroll compares similarities among the writing of Gülen and Kant, Plato, Confusius, J. S. Mill, and Sartre.
• Carter, Jimmy, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid , Simon & Schuster (November 14, 2006)
• Carter, Stephen L., Civility - Manners, Morals, and Etiquette of Democracy Harler Perenial, 1998.
• Cederblom, Jerry and Paulsen, David W., Critical Reasoning Wadsworth Publishing Co. 3rd edition, 1991.
• Chirot, Daniel and Seligman, Martin E. P., Ethnopolitical Warfare - Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions, American Psychological Association, 2001; An excellent book with over a dozen contributors and covering background and the latest research and knowledge about the topic.
• Chomsky, Noam, On Power and Ideology - The Managua Lectures, South End Press, 1987. Chomsky, a linguistics professor at MIT is widely known and respected for piercing the ideological shell of the American Empire. He writes well and clearly, but, it appears, that the powers that dominate American ideology restrict the size of his audience. A must read for anyone interested in American foreign policy;
• Ciaramicoli, Arthur P. and Ketcham, Katherine, The Power of Empathy, Plume, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2001;
• Cobb, John B. Jr., Grace and Responsibility - A Wesleyan Theology for Today, Abingdon Press, 1995;
• Cohen, David, The Secret Language of the Mind, Chronicle Books, 1996.
• Cohen, Joshua & Lague, Ian, Editors The Place of Tolerance in Islam, Beacon Press, 2002. This book has 12 writers, including El Fadl, Amina Wadud, John Esposito, and R. Scott Appleby who have written about Islam and terrorism. El Fadl has a long introductory article and at the end a Reply to the other writers. In all El Fadl has written about 40% of the book. I recommend it highly. (See also El Fadl, below.)
• Coles, Robert, The Spiritual Life of Children, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990;
• Coles, John B. Jr., The Moral Intelligence of Children, Plume Books. 1998;
• Collier, Paul, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, Oxford University Press.
• Conceicao, Pedro; Gibson, David V.; Heitor, Manuel V.; Sirulli, Giorgio; and Veloso, Francisco; Editors: Knowledge For Inclusive Development, Quorum Books, 2002.
• Cox, Harvey, Religion in the Secular City - Toward a Postmodern Theology, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1984;
• Cox, Harvey, The Seduction of The Spirit - The Use And Misuse of People's Religion, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1973;
• Cox, Harvey, Many Mansions - A Christian's Encounter With Other Faiths, Beacon Press, 1988;
• Dalai Lama,[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/100/story_10007_1.html]
• Dalai Lama,[http://www.beliefnet.com/story/132/story_13252_2.html]
• Dart, John, "Paul: Female Hair Too Sexy To Go Unveiled" in Christian Century, May 4, 2004, page 16;
• Davis, Chuck, Raising the Sparks A film about " Personal Search for a Spiritual Home in Judaism". The URL for information about the film is: (http://www.raisingthesparks.com/aboutfilm.htm)
  Go there now.
  This is an excellent film about reform Judaism that illustrates the universal spiritual principles that one also finds in the other great monotheistic religions. Throughline Productions and Delphi Productions, 2001;
• Dawkins, Richard, The Selfish Gene - 30th Anniversary Edition with a new Introduction by the author. Oxford University Press, 2006;
• De Graff, John; Wann, David; and Naylor, Thomas H., Affluenza - The All-Consuming Epidemic, Second Edition, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005;
• Diamond, Jared, Collapse - How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking Penguin, 2005;
• Diamond, Louise, The Peace Book - 108 Simple Ways to Create a More Peaceful World, Third Revised Edition, The Peace Company, Bristol, Vermont (www.the peace company.com) 2003;
• Dowd, Douglas, Capitalism And Its Economics - A Critical History, Pluto Press, 2000;
• Dykstra, Craig and Parks, Sharon, editors, Faith Development and Fowler, Religious Education Press, Alabama, 1986
• Easwaran, Eknath, Nonviolent Soldier of Islam - Badshah Khan, A Man to Match His Mountains, Nilgiri Press, California, 1984, 1999;
  The life of Badshah Khan shows the compassion, love and bravery that true Islam engenders.
• Eck, Diana L., Encountering God - A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Benaras, Beacon Press, 1993, 2003 with a new Preface; This book presents a very clear discussion of how the different ways of thinking, of Hindu and monotheists influences their perceptions of God. The monothinkers (my term) tend to believe that their view of God and/or political ideologies is the one and only true or right belief. Those who realize that no humans can grasp the whole of God or the ultimate reality in their mind weave into their perspectives and conceptions ways of relating to the whole through a variety of symbols and conceptions. They are not polytheists, but rather are aware of the limitations of vocabularies and languages and thus use many headed signs or pictures or statues to remind them of the multiplicity of perspectives that exist among fellow believers in their own community and also in communities of those following different faiths. Such thinking becomes essential in a pluralistic, global environment.
• Eck, Diana L., A New Religious America, Harper, San Francisco, 2001 (with a good post 9-11 Preface); Her book has a number of stories about violence and fear between two groups of people in American cities and examples of how this was turned around into the two groups working together to spread mutual awareness and understanding throughout the areas. The stories in her last hundred pages are heart warming and show a hopeful path toward a multireligious society and world.
• Edelman, Gerald M., Wider Than The Sky - The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness Yale University Press, 2004;
• El Fadl, Khaled Abou, with Editors: Joshua Cohen and Ian Lague; The Place of Tolerance in Islam, Beacon Press 2002. This book includes a well received statement, by El Fadl, about Islamic responses to impacts of colonial and neocolonial exploits in the Middle East and South Asia. Responses to El Fadl's statement provide a dialogue that helps clarify the range of perspectives from puritanical responses on the one hand and to reinterpreting Islamic sacred writings in the context of today's world, on the other hand. The major economic, political and religious forces involved in this struggle are discussed. I would like to have seen a discussion of how the systems of honor and shame relate to the scale of systems of justice that range from tribal and patriarchal scales to global scales. The cultural system of honor contributes to energizing the conflict, as personal identities and group identities are an important consideration in these struggles.
• El Fadl, Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Great Theft - Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, HarperSanFrancisco, 2006;
• Erikson, Erik H., Young Man Luther, W.W.Norton & Co. 1958, Paperback Edition 1962.
• Esposito, John L., Editor, Political Islam -- Revolution, Radicalism, or Reform Lynne Reiner Publ. 1997;
• Esposito, John L., Unholy War -- Terror in the Name of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2002;
  This new book provides a well-written framework for viewing Islam and Unholy War. The author, John Esposito, is a University Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University. He has written extensively and this book provides a framework and checklist of the many different considerations that should influence the opinions of people in America. The problem is a complex one and this new book is the first one that I have found which covers the complexity in a neat and well organized form. It should be required reading for anyone concerned about policies toward Islam. There is much room for hope, yet the American media and politicians (the latter concerned mainly about the 2002 and 2004 elections) do not help to enlighten the American public and appear ill informed themselves.
• Etzioni, Amatai,Creating Good Communities and Good Societies in Contemporary Sociology, January 2000 (p. 188). Go there now.
• Etzioni, Amitai, Deliberations, Culture Wars, and Moral Dialogues, The Good Society, A PEGS Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, (Winter 1997), pp. 34-38.
• Fay, Brian, Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science: A Multicultural Approach, Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 1996. A very good book that discusses many of the ideas in my book, Countering Polarization from an academic perspective aimed at undergraduates and grad students.
• Feiler, Bruce, Abraham - A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, HarperCollins Publishers, 2002;
  Feiler includes a very readable and interesting discussion of problems associated with interpreting and reinterpreting the Old and New Testament, and the Quran. See especially the section starting on page 128.
• Findley, Paul, Silent No More - Confronting America's False Images od Islam; Amana Publications, 2001;
• Florida, Richard, The Rise of the Creative City - and How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life Basic Books, 2002;
• Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn, Islamic Society in Practice Univ. Press of Florida, 1994;
• Fluehr-Lobban, Carolyn, Editor, Against Islamic Extremism: The Writings of Muhammad Said Al-Ashmawy, 1998;
• Fowler, James W., Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian, Harper Row, 1984; Updated and now in paperback, 1999.
• Fowler, James W., Faithful Change - The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life, Abingdon Press, 1996.
  For example, "vocation" is a key concept that is an important building block in Fowler's work. I believe that it is this book wherein he wrote: "The human calling - which we take to be universal - is to undergo and participate in the widening circle of those who count as neighbor, from the narrowness of our familial beginnings toward real solidarity with a commonwealth of being." This book is one that could be designated, some day as a "Postmodern Testament". It was written in a somewhat academic style, but could not cover the broad range of considerations relevant to his topic in another style. It does lack an index, but every time I have opened its covers during the past four years, it adds depth and breadth to my slowly evolving conceptual framework.
• Fowler, James W., Weaving the New Creation, Harper San Francisco, 1991;
• Friedman, Thomas L., From Beirut to Jerusalem, Anchor Books Doubleday, 1990;
• Friedman, Thomas L., The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Anchor Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 2000;
• Fullerton, John Paul, A Review of Peter Senge's book "The Fifth Discipline" at: The Fifth Dimension
• Gergen, Kenneth J., The Saturated Self - Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, Basic Books, 1991;
• Gergen, Kenneth J., Realities and Relationships, Harvard Univ. Press, 1994;
• Giddens, Anthony, Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives, 2000, Routledge, 2002 (Revised);
• Godfrey, Bill, A Review of a book by: Wenger, E. et al Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Accessible at: (http://www.change-management-monitor.com/fullreviews/020502Wenger.html)
• Goleman, Daniel, Richard Boyatzis, & Annie McKee, Primal Leadership - Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Harvard Business School Press, 2002.
  This book provides many instructive examples of the use of Emotional Intelligence (EI) by CEO's and other leaders. The following key aspects are taken from Appendix B. Emotional self-awareness, Accurate self-assessment, Self-confidence, Self-control, Transparency, Adaptability, Achievement, Initiative, Optimism, Empathy, Organizational awareness, Service, Inspiration, Influence, Developing others, Change catalyst, Conflict Management, and Teamwork and collaboration. On page 6 & 7 the authors summarize research on the emotional centers of our brain (the limbic system). The comforting presence of another person lowers a patient's blood pressure and slows the secretion of fatty acids. This book has many good reviews.
• Goleman, Daniel, Social Intelligence - The New Science of Human Relationships, Bantam Books, 2006;
• Gopin, Marc, Between Eden and Armageddon - The Future of World Religions, Violence, and Peacemaking, Oxford University Press, 2000:
• Gopin, Marc, Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East, Oxford University Press, 2002:
• Grandin, Temple, and Johnson, Catherine, Animals in Translation A Harvest Book - Harcourt, Inc. 2005. She has several well written sections on the power of images, on the responses to fear.
• Graves, Clare W., (Author), Cowan Christopher & Todorovic, Natasha (Editors), The Never Ending Quest: Dr. Clare W. Graves Explores Human Nature.. ECLET Publishing, 2005. See also the following web site for quotes from Graves' writing. [http://www.clarewgraves.com/neq/neq.html].
• Habermas, Jurgen, Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, translated by Lenhardt and Nicholsen, MIT Press, 1995;
• Haddad, Yvonne Yasbeck and Esposito, John, Editors, Muslims on the Americanization Path, Edited by Scholar's Press, 1998.
  The Introduction and first four chapters of the latter book go into striking a balance between Muslim law and the laws of the Christian majority. The problems encountered by Fiqh Councilors and identity politics are also discussed. Choosing how to mix, or whether to mix, elements of the two cultures are presented in a way that clearly points out the difficulties Muslims in America face. When their background ranges from third generation Americans of Muslim immigrants to recent immigrants from a very strict legalistic background, there are bound to be disagreements.
• Haddad, Yvonne Yasbeck, and Loomis, Adair T., Islamic Values in the United States, Oxford Univ. Press, 1987. This book is based on surveys of about 80 leaders of mosques and 347 attendees and non-attendees at these mosques. The geographical areas were the Midwest, upstate New York and the East Coast. The authors wrote, on page 22: "The research for this study has been focused on liberal and moderate Muslim communities, primarily because we were unable to obtain access to other centers."
• Haddad, Yvonne Yasbeck and Jane I. Smith, Editors, Muslim Minorities In The West Altamira Press, 2002;
• Haddad, Yvonne Yasbeck and Jane I. Smith, Editors, Muslim Communities in North America, SUNY Press, 1994;
  This book has many examples of local Muslim communities asking questions and/or struggling to answer questions such as the following. How should Muslims in America organize so as to strengthen their identity as Muslims? How do they handle the diversity that results, in an Islamic community, that includes members from different ethnic backgrounds? How can they become American Muslims while retaining some of their particular ethnic customs? How do they mix issues in America with issues back home - overseas?
• Haneef, Suzanne, What Everyone Should Know About Islam and Muslims, Library of Islam, 14th Edition, 1996;
• Harris, Jonathan M., Wise, Timothy A., Gallagher, Kevin P, and Goodwin, Neva R., A Survey of Sustainable Development - Socal and Economic Dimensions, Island Press, 2001.
• Harrison, Lawrence E., The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics Can Change a Culture and Save It from Itself, Oxford University Press, May, 2006. This book complements my E-book: Depolarizing a Hostile World and my E-book complements Harrison's. I recommend his book highly for that reason. It is well written and summarizes much research that I have not included in my E-book.
• Hasan, Asma Gull, American Muslims: The New Generation, 2001. Hasan has written this book in a very personal style that is easy to read. She was born in Chicago and raised in Pueblo, Colorado. She is very much American and covers a range of perspectives toward Islam in America; ranging from a very strict, orthodox-literalist interpretation to a liberal-progressive interpretation. Her book is a good introduction to Islam in America, covering: the problems that Muslims face, some success stories, and how these are likely to change in the future. She has ten pages on wearing hijab, (head or hair covering), starting on page 35. She discusses dating in America and the old traditions of Pakistani culture. She discusses Islamic schools that blend some of American modernity with a good Islamic background.
• Heinberg, Richard, The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism And Economic Collapse, Publisher: New Society Publishers, 2006;
• Hermansen, Marcia, How to Put the Genie Back in the Bottle? - 'Identity', Islam and Muslim Youth Cultures in America, Chapter 13 in "Progressive Muslims", Edited by Omid Safi; Oneworld Press, 2003;
• Hesselbein, Francis; Johnston, Rob; and Editors, On Leading Change - A Leader to Leader Guide Jossey-Bass, 2002;
  The ideas that underlie this book are, in some ways, congruent to the ideas in my e-book. The Peter Drucker Foundation included this book in a series of "Leader-to-Leader guides. In January 2003, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management transferred its ongoing activities to the new Leader to Leader Institute.
• Hesselbein, Frances; et al., The Community of the Future; Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998;
• Hicks, Esther, [http://www.goodworksonearth.org/channeler-estherhicks.html]
• Hooker, Richard, Principal Editor, World Civilizations, Washington State University, 1996;
• Howell, Leon, United Methodism @ Risk - A Wake-Up Call, Information Project for United Methodists - Kingston, New York, 2003; This book outlines clearly the struggle between ecumenical Protestants and a coalition of a number of conservative and regressive groups who use distortion, character assassination and other methods to infiltrate a number of major Protestant denominations and take over control.
• Hunt, Morton; The Compassionate Beast - What Science is Discovering About the Humane Side of Humankind, William Morrow & Co, Inc. 1990;
• Hunter, Shireen T., Islam, Europe's Second Religion - The New Social, Cultural, and Political Landscape, Praeger, 2003;
• Jacobs, Alan, The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S.Lewis HarperSanFrancisco, 2005;
• Janis, Sharon, Spirituality for Dummies, Hungry Minds, 2000;
• Karabell, Zachary, Peace Be Upon You - The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. This book complements the one by Maria Rosa Menocal.
• Kaufmann, Walter, I and Thou - Martin Buber Charles Scribner's & Sons, 1970;
• Kepel, Gilles, Allah in the West -- Islamic Movements in America and Europe, Translated from the French by Susan Milner, Stanford Univ. Press, 1997;
• Kepel, Gilles, JIHAD - The Trail of Political Islam, Translated by Anthony F. Roberts, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002;
• Khouri, Norma, Honor Lost - Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan, Atria Books, 2003;
  The Amazon reviews of this book provide an interesting example of three different ways to interpret a story, when interpretation is affected by one's worldview.
• Kimball, Charles, When Religion Becomes Evil, Harper SanFrancisco, 2002;
• Kovner Kline, Kathleen, Hardwired to Connect: - The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities, Institute for American Values 1841 Broadway, Suite 211, New York, NY 10023; Tel: (212) 246-3942. 9-2003. This report presents" "New scientific findings shed light on why large numbers of American children suffer from emotional and behavioral problems." Inst. of American Values web posting.
• Lakoff, George, Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think,, University of Chicago Press, 2nd edition 2002;
• Lamm, Claus, Batson, C. Daniel, and Decety, Jean,The Neural Substrate of Human Empathy: Effects of Perspective-taking and Cognitive Appraisal,Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2007;19:42-58;
• Lang, Martin A., Acquiring Our Image of God, Paulist Press, 1983;
• Lerner, Michael, The Left Hand of God - Taking Back Our Country From The Religious Right, HarperSanFrancisco, 2006
• Lester, Toby, What is the Koran?, Atlantic Monthly January 1999, page 43;
• Lewis, Bernard, What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East, Oxford University Press, 2002;
• Lindsey, Gene, Saudi Arabia. Hippocrene Books, 1991;
  Lindsey managed a consulting firm in Saudi Arabia in the 1980's and describes in a very readable manner the historical and geographical, religious and cultural background of the people. He also described the education, economics, foreign affairs, sharia, and business experiences he had in working with people at many levels.
• Lovin, Robin, Ethics for this World - What Would Bonhoeffer do? Christian Century, 4-19-05. pp. 26-31.
• Mackey, Sandra, The Saudis - Inside the Desert Kingdom, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1987. Sandra has done an impressive work of gathering information and writing it in a very readable style. She was an underground journalist from 1978-1980 and 1982-1984 in Saudi Arabia. Her chapter seven on women and the psychology that underlies Saudi upbringing of both men and women helps one appreciate how difficult is the confrontation between the Saudis and the West. Some reviewers 15 years later, imply that the Saudi culture of some of the Saudis has changed.
• Malle, Bertram F. and Hodges, Sara D., Other Minds - How Humans Bridge the Divide Between Self and Others, The Guilford Press, 2005;
• Maloy, Kate, A Stone Bridge North, Counterpoint Press, 2002;
• Manji, Irshad, The Trouble with Islam Today : A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith, St. Martin's Griffin, 2005;
• Al-Marzouqi, Ibrahim Abdulla, PhD, Human Rights in Islamic Law, First Edition, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. 2000;
• Mattson, Ingrid, Respecting the Qur'an http://www.isna.net/articles/News/RESPECTING-THE-QURAN.aspx. Published in 2008 by the Islamic Society of North America. Mattson is President of the Society. This article is an excellent discussion about problems with assimilation of Muslims in Holland and elsewhere. It separates the cultural aspects from the basic values expressen by the whole Qur'an.
• McFague, Sallie, Life Abundant - Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril, The Fortress Press, 2001;
• McKenna, Andrew, Scandal, Resentment, Idolatry: The Underground Psychology of Terrorism, Anthropoetics 8, no. 1 (Spring / Summer 2002);
• Menocal, Maria Rosa, Ornament of the World - How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, Little Brown & Company, 2002; This book, by a Yale University Professor and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center who now lives in New York, describes a period of 700 years when Muslim were in Spain and ruled parts of that country. She provides examples in the arts, literature, poetry, and government wherein persons of the three faiths lived and worked creatively together. The tolerance among persons from the Abrahamic religious faiths provide a model that many in the world today aspire to emulate. The book is well written with illuminating anecdotes that help get her points across and captivate the reader. The author, in an interview and reader's guide at the end of her book, describes why for so long, Westerners were unaware and could not fully appreciate the underlying forces that led to tolerance. They lacked the background perspective to appreciate that way of life. Menocal has overcome this obstacle. I highly recommend this book.
• Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972;
• Miller, Peter, Swarm Theory, National Geographic magazine for July 2007. Also accessible at:
  [http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0707/feature5/index.html].
• Miller, Robert J., The Jesus Seminar and its Critics, Polebridge Press, 1999;
• Monk, Robert C., Hofheinz, Walter C., Lawrence, Kenneth T., Stamey, Joseph D., Affleck, Bert, and Yamamori, Tetsunao; Exploring Religious Meaning. Fifth Edition. Prentice Hall, 1998;
  That book is a popular text in the area of comparative religion, religion in general, and sociology of religion. I recommend it highly. Twenty-five years of use and student input have been used to update and improve the 21 Chapters. I first started reading the book after developing my related web postings and a manuscript based upon my postings.
• Muravchik, Joshua, Heaven on Earth, The Rise and Fall of Socialism, Encounter Books, 2002.
• Myers, David, Chapter 11, in Psychology and the Christian Faith, edited by Stanton L. Jones, Baker Book House, 1986.;
• Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Knowledge and the Sacred - (The 1981 Gifford Lectures), Crossroad Press, 1981;
  Nasr is the first Muslim to receive the honor of being asked to give the Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh in 1981. At the University level in America, knowledge has been separated from the sacred and the spiritual. Recently the right and left sides of the human brain have been associated with spiritual thinking and rational, analytical thinking respectively. As I see it, modernity's emphasis on reason and measurement has led to excessive half-brained thinking. Nasr contributes much, and in depth, toward reuniting our Western brains.
• Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, The Heart of Islam - Enduring Values for Humanity, Harper San Francisco, 2002;
  A good book for those who have gone through a beginner's book such as Jane Smith's "Islam in America". This book is a very readable book that covers in clear language such topics as: Shari'ah, Jihad, The various approaches to Islam from the distortions of extremists on the right and left, the traditionalist majority and others in the middle. Published in 2002, it provides important background to counter the biases and distortions of Christian extremists on the far right, and Muslim extremists such as bin Laden and Al Queda.
• Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, God: The Reality to Serve, Love and Know" in the book "God at 2000, edited by Marcus Borg and Ross Mackenzie, Morehouse Publishing, 2000.
• Nasr, Seyyed Vali Reza, Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism, Oxford University Press, 1996;
• Nawwab, Ismail Ibrahim, Berlin to Makkah - Muhammad Asad's Journey Into Islam, pp. 6-32, Saudi Aramco World, January/February, Vol. 53 No. 1, 2002;
• Newberg, Andrew, Newberg.
• Nicolini, Davide; Gherardi, Silvia; and Yanow, Dvora - editors, Knowing in Organizations - A Practice-Based Approach, M.E.Sharpe, Inc., 2003.
• Notess, Charles, Notes on the Quran, posted at: (www.notess.com/cn/koran1.shtml).
• Notess, Charles, Introduction to Muslims and Islam, accessible at: (http://www.notess.com/cn/handout9.htm);
• Notess, Charles; A list of my web postings related to peacemaking and depolarization by the author is accessible at: [notess.com/cn].
• Nyang, Sulayman S., Islam in the United States of America, ABC Int'l Group, Inc, 1999;
• Orens, Geoffrey, Editor, The Muslim World - Volume 75, No. 1 of the Reference Shelf Series, The H. W. Wilson Company, 2003.
  I recommend this book highly. The Reference Shelf series contains reprints of articles and excerpts from journals and books that discuss current issues and trends in religion, politics, and related social issues. As with any brief summary of such a complex topic, there are some chapters have some weak paragraphs. I recommend, chapters by: Foer, Fukuyama & Samin, Asani, Millett, Stille, and Rauf.
• Pagels, Elaine, Beyond Belief - The Secret Gospel of Thomas Random House, 2003;
• Paris, Roland, At War's End - Building Peace After Civil Conflict, Cambridge University Press, 2004:
• Patai, Raphael, The Arab MindRevised edition, Hatherleigh Press, 2002. This book includes a detailed 466-page description of the language, sexual traditions, psychology, emotions, fantasy, conflict resolution, stagnation, and other considerations that contribute to the Arab mind set.
• Peck, M. Scott, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1987;
• Peck, M. Scott, A World Waiting To Be Born - Civility Rediscovered, Bantam Books, 1993;
• Peck, M. Scott, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety, Simon & Schuster, 1997;
• Peck, M. Scott, People of the Lie - The Hope for Healing Human Evil, Simon and Schuster, 1983;
• Perkins, John,Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2004.
• Poston, Larry A. with Ellis, Carl F. Jr., The Changing Face of Islam in America, Horizon Books, 2000. This book provides a brief summary of some of the considerations that influence the norms followed by various clusters of Muslims in America with reference to the norms of evangelical Christianity. There are many similarities in approaches to faith and a few important differences that are rooted in the holy writings of the two faiths. Poston does not present a straight-forward definition of jihad. After introducing jihad as a holy war, only later does he mention the primary meaning of jihad to most Muslims and that is a striving to control inner desires that can cause one to violate good moral behavior. In chapter 4, Poston does not site verses in the Quran for many statements that he uses to describe what Muslims believe. He does site a few verses from the Bible as sources to support his statements.
• Putnam, Robert D., Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon & Schuster, June 2000;
• Putnam, Robert., Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, 1993;
• Raschke, Carl A., Kirk, James A. and Taylor, Mark C., Religion and the Human Image, Prentice Hall, 1977;
• Rashid, Ahmed, Taliban - Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, Yale University Press, 2000;
  Ahmed Rashid, a correspondent in the area of Central Asia for two decades, described the events of the past 15 years in detail. This is an excellent book. His perspective transcends that of the Taliban and the Northern Coalition, to include economic, military, policing, and other concerns. In his concluding chapter he outlines what he believes needs to be done. It should be required reading for all in the US government who are trying to help rebuild civil society in that area. Reading the book will make one pessimistic, but enough details are presented to show the obstacles that must be surmounted and eventually dissolved. These involve the United Nations, the Northern Coalition, neighboring nations, Islamic denominations, drug and transportation Mafia, tribal warlords, ethnic groups, etc..
• Rashid, Ahmed, Jihad - The Rise of Militant Islam in central Asia, Yale University press, 2002;
• Rauf, Feisal Abdul, What's Right With Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West, HarperSanFrancisco, May 2004;
• Rawls, John; A Summary of Rawls' Ideas. A Summary of Rawls Ideas. Prepared by Peter Jedicke in 1996. Last modified in 1997.
• Rawls, John; Political Liberalism, Columbia University Press; 1995;
• Rawls, John; A Theory of Justice, (1971) Belknap Press; Revised edition (September 1, 1999).
• Reimer, Joseph; Paolitto, Diana P.; and Hersh, Richard H.; Promoting Moral Growth -- From Piaget to Kohlberg, Longman, NY, 1983;
• Riesman, David, in collaboration with Reuel Denny and Nathan Glaser, The Lonely Crowd Yale University Press, 1950.
  See Robert Fulford's column about David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd, FROM: http://www.robertfulford.com/LonelyCrowd.html - (NOTE: The capital letters in the URL are needed.)
• Rifkin, Jeremy, The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, Jeremy P. Tarcher, August 19, 2004;
• Rifkin, Jeremy, The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era, Jeremy P. Tarcher, (Updated edition - May 1, 2004;
• Roof, Wade Clark; Carroll, Jackson W.; and Roozen, David A., The Post-War Generation and Establishment Religion, Westview Press, 1995
• Roof, Wade Clark, Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers & the Remaking of American Religion, Princeton University Press, 1999; Also, Roof presented results from an earlier survey in A Generation of Seekers Harper, San Francisco, 1994;
• Rosell, Steven A. et al, Changing Maps - Governing in a World of Rapid Change, Carlton University Press, 1995;
• Rosell, Steven A., Renewing Governance - Governing By Learning in the Information Age, Oxford University Press, 1999;
• Rosell, Steven A., Changing Frames: Leadership and Governance in the Information Age, a 33-page report, posted on the web and accessible through Google, entering the title. October 2000.
• Roth, George, The Learning History Project, Directed by Roth at MIT. New work in the area of learning to take the perspectives of others is summarized by the project at: (http://ccs.mit.edu/lh/overview.html), (http://ccs.mit.edu/lh/21cwp002.html), and (http://ccs.mit.edu/lh/roth.html). Related work on Communities of Practice is summarized in: (http://www.change-management-monitor.com/fullreviews/020502Wenger.html).
• Roth, James, The UN and WORLD TRADE, A Professor at Regis University in Denver, CO. Posted on his web site at: (http://academic.regis.edu/jroth). A very well received talk, given to the United Nations Association of Northern Colorado 1-15-05.
• Rushdie, Salman, Crossing Boundaries; Writer Salman Rushdie discussed Islamic terrorism in an interview on the PBS Newshour program of 10-14-02; URL: ;
• Sachs, Jeffrey D., The End of Poverty - How We Can Make It Happen In Our Lifetime, Penguin Books, 2005. Sachs is a Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. He has travelled widely advising governments on economic development with special emphasis on reducing poverty. His writing is very readable because he was deeply involved in conferences, workshops, research, and meetings about at economic development. Plans for each particular country are unique, although he learned from earlier projects in other countries. Learning about the uniqueness of each country's resources, capital, and geography helps the reader build a comprehensive model and checklist in his or her mind. A good complement to Sach's book is one by Douglas Dowd, listed in this Bibliography.
• Safi, Omid, editor: Progressive Muslims - On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oneworld Press, 2003. This book has 14 good chapters, almost all written by Muslim professors in American Universities.
• Said, Edward W. and Barsamian, David, Culture and Resistance, South End Press, 2003; An interesting description of Said's experiences during many visits to Palestine, including many events related to music and other aspects of a people's culture and identity that one does not see in American media.
• Sanborn, Hugh, Editor, The Prophetic Call - Celebrating Community, Earth, Justice, and Peace, Chalice Press, 2004;
• Sardar, Ziauddin and Merryl Wyn Davies, Why Do People Hate America? MJF Books, Fine Communications, NY, NY, 2002;
• Schaeffer, Francis A., How Should We Then Live? - The Rise and Decline of Western Culture, Crossway Books, 1983;
• Schwartz, Peter, The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World Currency, 1996;
• Selznick, Philip, The Moral Commonwealth - Social Theory and the Promise of Community, University of California Press, 1992;
• Senge, Peter, Learning for a Change. An Interview with Peter Senge by Alan M. Webber; Interview.
• Shadid, Anthony, Legacy of the Prophet - Despots, Democrats, and the New Politics of Islam, Westview Press, 2001. This book, though written before 9-11-2001 by a seasoned reporter, with sensitivity and the depth of a scholar presents a hopeful view of trends in the Muslim Middle East. These trends may be diverted for a few years by the actions of naive misguided and militant true believers. However, I believe that they will survive and digest the extremist, terrorist threat. People at all levels of society are searching for new identities. This book provides a background for how "outdated interpretations of the Quran and Sunna" (p. 252) will evolve toward a new form of democratic pluralism consistent with the intent of Legacy of the Prophet.
• Shafer, Ingrid H., Philosophical and Religious Foundations of a Global Ethic, The paper was prepared for: Celebrating the Spirit: Toward a Global Ethic, University of California, Berkeley, 20-21 June 1995. It is accessible at: (http://astro.temple.edu/~dialogue/Center/shafer.htm).
• Shipler, David K., Arab and Jew - Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land, Penguin Books, 1987, Updated edition, 2002;
• Sinno,Abdulkader, Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond, Cornell University Press, 2008;
• Smith, Huston, The Religions of Man, HarperSanFrancisco; Rev/Repr edition, 1991;
• Smith, Jane I., Islam in America, Columbia University Press, 1999;
• Somé, Malidoma Patrice, "Of Water and the Spirit", A Jeremy Tarcher/Putnam book, 1994;
• Sorokin, Pitirim A., The Crisis of Our Age", A Dutton Paperback, 1941;
• Spellberg, D.A., Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past -- The Legacy of 'A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, 1994;
• Spickard, James V. and McGuire, Meredith; Religion and Social Activism: Narratives of Commitment, an unpublished paper presented at the 1995 International Sociological Association meeting in Bielefeld, Germany.
• Spong, John Shelby, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, HarperSanFrancisco, 1998;
• Spong, John Shelby, A New Christianity For a New World - Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born, HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. This book is a sequel to Why Christianity Must Change or Die and provides a clear perspective for viewing the need to update the Christian story. As one reviewer, Robert W. Funk, wrote, this book is "... filled with trenchant insights, searing honesty, and boundless hope."
• Spong, John Shelby, The Sins of Scripture, Harper San Francisco, 2005. This book has several chapters that describe the progression of epic stories and the history of epics, starting with the Iliad and Odyssey and then the Prophets in the Bible. The contributions of Hosea and Amos were significant in broadening the perspectives and consciousness of the Jewish people at that time. On page 294, Spong wrote that Jesus "was heir to the budding universalism that appeared in the latter days of the Jewish story when the Jews' God consciousness began to grow past the model of the tribal deity." The kingdom of God was within us - in our midst, yet humans can only be conscious of part of this God within.
• Spretnak, Charlene, States of Grace - the Recovery of Meaning in the Postmodern Age, Harper San Francisco, 1991;
• Staub, Ervin, Breaking the Cycle of Genocidal Violence: Healing and Reconciliation, Chapter 17 in "Perspectives on Loss: A Sourcebook", Edited by John H. Harvey, Brunner.Mazel - Member of the Taylor & Francis Group, 1998;
• Staub, Ervin, "Ethnopolitical and Other Group Violence: Origins and Prevention. Chapter 18 in a reader listed in this Bibliography under Chirot, Daniel and Seligman, Martin E.P..
• Staub, Ervin, The Psychology of Good and Evil Cambridge University Press, 2003. Almost 600 pages of Staub's work on topics ranging from children to genocide.
• Steffen, Lloyd, On A Mission - The Uses of American Power Christian Century, April 5, 2005, pages 33-38. This article summarizes and contrasts four recent books, including Saving Christianity from Empire by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. For anyone interested in the books by Hugh Sanborn and by Walter Wink, this article provides other perspectives on the issue of empire and religion in America.
• Stern, Jessica, Terror in the Name of God - Why Religious Militants Kill, HarperCollins Publishers, 2003. This book, based on many in depth interviews, presents a different view than that by Charles Kimball, there is overlap. Interestingly, there are few, if any, of the authors in this bibliography who are mentioned in her index.
• Strauss, William and Howe, Neil, The Fourth Turning - An American Prophesy Broadway Books, 1997.
• Tamminen, Terry, Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction, Island Press, 2006;
• Tangney, June Price and Dearing, Ronda L., Shame and Guilt, The Guilford Press, 2002;
• Taylor, Daniel, In Search of Sacred Places - Looking for Wisdom on Celtic Holy Islands, Bog Walk Press, 2005. Professor Taylor writes beautifully about spirituality in this book. He writings has taught me much about spirituality.
• Teixeira, Ruy and Judis, John, The Emerging Democratic Majority, Scribner, 2004;
• Terry, Deborah J. Hogg, Michael A.,Editors, Attitudes, Behavior, and Social Context 2002; See Chapter 2 by Manstead;
• Thayer, Nelson, Spirituality and Pastoral Care", Fortress Press, 1985;
• Thompson, Mel, Ethics, NTC Contemporary Publishing, 2000; a very readable book with straight forward examples.
• Thornton, Sharon, has a chapter entitled; The Failure of Community in: The Prophetic Call - Celebrating Community, Earth, Justice, and Peace, Chalice Press, 2004. I especially recommend her chapter. It clearly presents an understanding of how the narrow and biased focus-of-the-media in America contribute "a climate conducive for conformist thinking."
• Timpson, William M., Teaching and Learning Peace, Atwood Publishing, 2002. Timpson has spent his whole life working for peace and now teaches at Colorado State University.
• Todd, Emmanuel, C. Jon Delogu, and Michael Lind, After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order (European Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism) , Columbia University Press, 2003;
• Van Biema, David, Missionaries Under Cover, pp. 37-44 in Time Magazine, June 30, 2003. This article raises important concerns about the mission work of Evangelicals in Muslim countries, which appears to ignore the differences in culture between Muslims and Middle-Class Americans. Some appear to follow a simplistic worldview that displays an ignorance of cultural differences, and is seen as arrogant and disrespectful.
• Waller, James, Becoming Evil - How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing, Oxford University Press, 2002; A well written description of research and recent cases of genocide and/or violence.
• Walsch, Neale Donald, The New Revelations - A Conversation With God, Atria Books, 2002.
• Watts, Alan W., This Is It, and Other Essays on Zen and Spiritual Experience, Collier Books, First Edition 1967.
• Webb-Mitchell, Brett, School of the Pilgrim - An Alternative Path to Christian Growth, Westminster John Knox Press, 2007. This new book describes pilgrimages and how they influence faith development and ones relationship to the transcendent - God. It presents different ways to look at Armstrong's The Spiral Staircase and Beck and Cowan's Spiral Dynamics. See especially his pages 26-29. His page 86 includes a discussion of relating to the God within in the last paragraph.
• Wenger, Etienne; McDermott, Richard; and Snyder, William M., Cultivating Communities of PracticeHarvard Business School Press; 2002; See Godfrey, Bill; in this Bibliography for a good 2-1/2 page summary of the book by Wenger et al
• White, Stephen K., Editor; The Cambridge Companion to Habermas, Cambridge University Press, 1995;
• Wilkins,Ronald J.; The Religions of Man, William C. Brown Co., 1974.
• Winell, Marlene; Leaving The Fold - A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion, New Harbinger Publications, 1993;
• Wink, Walter, Editor; Peace is the Way - Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Orbis Books, 2000. This book is a collection of over 50 articles written by leaders of nonviolent movements for peace.
• Wink, Walter; The Powers That Be Galilee Trade, 1999. This book is a condensation of an earlier book: Engaging the Powers. Two other related books by Wink are: Unmasking the Powers and Naming the Powers.
• World Bank, Social Capital for Development A web posting accessible at: (http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/) and (http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/whatsc.htm). [Social Capital Initiative Working Paper No.1, The World Bank, April 1998]. These 3-4 pages of postings define the term "Social Capital" clearly and provide interesting examples.
• Zakaria, Fareed, The Future of Freedom - Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad. W.W.Norton & Co., 2003; editor of Newsweek, International has summarized Democracy and Freedom as it has developed through history and, recently, around the world. He writes well and presents some interesting ideas about problems that arise in so-called democracies over time. Developing nations have to balance growth in economic, political and judicial systems in ways that suit their history and traditions, their place in the world and the tendency, as the scale of organizations increases, for corruption and narrow self interest to override freedom for rich and poor alike.
• Zakaria, Fareed, The Saudi Trap, Newsweek magazine, 6-28-04, pages 30-33. This article provides a good update on the religio/political struggle going on in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
• Zarabozo, Jamaal,Translator, Religious Extremism - In the Lives of Contemporary Muslims, Al-Basheer Company for Publications and Translations, 2001;
• Zarabozo, Jamaal, How to Approach and Understand the Quran, Al-Basheer Company for Publications and Translations, 1999;
• Zogby International --Project MAPS Survey Muslims in the American Public Square

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf includes ten tasks in the above-mentioned book that can contribute to Peace. I shall not summarize them, only list them here. I highly recommend his book.

"What the United States Government: Design a Weapon of Mass Peace." (p. 252)

What American Muslims Can Do: Evolve From "Muslims in America" to "American Muslims."" (p. 257)

What Educators Can Do: Forge the Next Generation of Muslim Citizens." (p. 260)

What American Jews Can Do: Redouble Efforts for Peace in the Holy Land." (p. 261)

What American Christians Can Do: Vigorously Pursue Interfaith Dialogue." (p. 265)

What the American Media Can Do: Cover Islam, Don't Veil It." (p. 266)

What the Business Community Can Do: Replace "Dying to Kill" With "Dying to Make a Killing"." (p. 268)

What Dialogue Among Civilizations Can Do: Wage the War Against Terrorism". (p. 271)

What An American Imam Is Doing: The Cordoba Initiative". (p. 274)

What Interfaith Dialogue Can Do: Help Us See God's Image In One Another". (p. 275)

The following presents a checklist of components and considerations for building mutual trust and peace in a diverse interconnected world. Start with the following concepts and explore how they interconnect with each other.

Personal Identity and considerations that influence one's identity. Family, language, level of education, gender, age, careers, wealth, social status, political influence, and involvement with religious organizations.

Scales of Commitment to Communities range from: family, neighborhood, size of one's parish or an equivalent, city, metro area, state, region, professional associations and clubs, and global scale involvement.

Economic ideologies (belief systems), inputs by corporations and governments. market processes, government services and systems, small businesses, government regulation of commerce and advertising, court systems and their monitoring of ethics and administration of laws at local and national scales. For example, how does moral standards get reinforced by universal religious values in the business and industrial world? What standards constrain the greed of CEO's? Where are they taught and who regulates them?

Political ideologies and justice systems. Patriarchal and tribal aspects, town-meeting forms of democracy, effectiveness of checks and balances, constitutions, democratic guidelines, and so on. For example, how does religion get involved with election campaigns and politics in general?

Religious perspectives and systems as they influence: provision of traditions and rituals that contribute to spiritual relations with local people and transcendent concepts and forces. Unity in caring for each other, provision of relevant stories that generate hope for overcoming adversities, teaching universal and basic values and provide moral guidance in personal and group situations.

IDENTITY

Start with the concept of personal identity - how one is viewed by others. One's personal identity is defined in terms of his: family, language, education, gender, age, career, wealth, social status, and involvement in communities to which one is committed and has political influence. Identity influences one's life chances within the communities in which one holds membership, official or informal membership.

To manage development of a secure personal identity, one needs caring parents, teachers, mentors and most of all role models. The latter provide real life models for what one can become and thus generate hope that one can develop a fairly secure identity. The lack of hope of getting into a good career path stifles ambition. When supportive communities are lacking, young people resort to groups of friends and form gangs that can be constructive or destructive of the larger communities that do not provide hopeful paths for achievement and progress. In tribal societies where the traditional culture is based upon group honor as the main building block for a workable system of justice, such as one finds in the Middle East and in ethnic enclaves in our own cities, criminal gangs and terrorists provide destructive alternatives.

COMMUNITY

Communities of commitment differ in scale from that of immediate family, to neighborhood, to national professional association or labor union, to global organizations, such as the United Nations. They likewise differ in political influence and power and in economic resources. Many communities are exclusive and have a range of entry requirements. Examples are fraternities and sororities that start at the high school level and home owners associations. How does rapid changes in communication technology affect information transfer and investigative reporting about communities of all sizes?

GOOD GOVERNMENT

The effectiveness of government is important in areas such as: monitoring and enforcing justice, values, laws, traditions as guides to caring and compassionate behavior, investment resources - material, human, and social capital, access to: skilled labor, natural resources, private and other financial contributions to good and fair government.

How effective are top-down and bottoms-up considerations? Are they balanced in ways that strengthen democracy?

ECONOMY

Economic power resides in small and large businesses, and the industries and organizations associated therewith, such as labor unions, banks, investment organizations, advertising agencies, and the mass media. Benjamin Barber described how corporations and large government bureaucracies wield influence at the national and global levels, overwhelming citizen efforts at civic democracy. We see evidence of this especially at election time.

How are the influences of large corporations regulated to reduce bribery and corruption of elected officials and other overseers, and to reduce the tight control of the news media by special interests?

POLITY

Political power is used to influence elections and, after elections to pass legislation that confuses the public and is often biased to benefit special interests. Some key examples are: reduction of controls on industrial pollution influenced by industrial lobbyists, a variety of trade embargoes, corporations avoiding taxation by lobbying for loop-holes in legislation, and so on.

These kinds of corruption in government must be counter-balanced by monitoring agencies and the legal/judicial system. However, corporate and political lobbyists and media writers have helped pack the courts and often support agency directors who follow the narrow interests of powerful corporations.

RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES

The bases for legal and judicial systems is rooted in the history of religion. Religious stories in the sacred writings provide stories that generate hope within followers and believers that they can overcome adversities. Religion provides what believers view as time-tested traditions and rituals that when enacted together strengthen the solidarity and faith of community members. Those concerned about life after death and relationships with transcendent forces find solace from sacred stories. The large majority of humans become hardwired as their brains develop to relate to a caring other. This caring-other, initially their mother, later in life is replaced by the father, a teacher, mentor, supervisor at work, and societal leaders who, by example, show how to live a moral and constructive life. Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Martin Luther King, and others typify these moral leaders. Ultimately some few adults reach the highest stage of faith development, relating closely with the transcendent whole, that many call God, Gott, Deus, Allah, and so on.

PRESSURE POINTS OF ENTRY FOR CONTROLLING THE WHOLE SYSTEM

In the world today, there are several points where controls for the whole system are out of balance. Barber and others, in recent writings, describe how corporate power on a global scale seems to be dominated by the bottom line rather than how their organizations can maintain balance among the whole for the common good. They also describe how people committed to parochial subsystems find it easy to recruit followers who feel, in many cases justifiably so, that they are exploited and repressed by the more powerful economies and polities in the world. Barber envisions civic democracies grouped together in confederations as one of the best ways to maintain balance in the whole system.

NOTES

PLEASE NOTE: Authors and Titles are listed in my Bibliography.

1) Jonathan Alter: on page 53 of the Newsweek Magazine of 5-31-04.

2) Wade Clark Roof: on page 42 of A Generation of Seekers, Harper, San Francisco, 1994;

3) There is support for this idea found in the sacred writings and practices by followers of Islam. See Asad's translation of the Qu'ran, entitled: The Message of the Qu'ran, especially his footnote 27 referring to verse 30:30). See also Seyyed Hossein Nasr's reference to this idea in his book entitled: The Heart of Islam on pages 6 and 7 relative to the term "al fitrah". The Muslim word "al fitrah" points to a primordial knowledge deeply imbedded into our being and, in my view, implies that every child is born with an innate (hardwired) desire for a relationship with God.

4) For information on this research, see Dr. Kathleen Kovner Kline, of the Dartmouth Medical School, who was the principal investigator of the research. She wrote: Hardwired to Connect: - The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities, Institute for American Values 1841 Broadway, Suite 211, New York, NY 10023; Tel: (212) 246-3942; 9-2003.

5) M. Scott Peck: The Different Drum - Community Making and Peace, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1987. Genuine communities appear on pp. 40 and 51. I prefer the term authentic communities;

6) See also Elaine Pagels in her 2003 book, Beyond Belief – The Secret Gospel of Thomas, pages 34 and 41, which include ideas that I view as related to hard wiring of a quest for relationships with a caring other.

7) James W. Fowler: on page 56 in Faithful Change – The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life, Abingdon Press, 1996.

8) Weaving the New Creation, Harper San Francisco, 1991, page 18.

9) Anthony Giddens: Runaway World: How Globalization is Reshaping Our Lives, Routledge, 2002. The Reith Lectures mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by the BBC's first Director General.

10) Fowler in Faithful Change, page 61;

11) Carol Gilligan, in In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's DevelopmentBecoming Adult, Becoming Christian, pages 37-46.

12) Fowler on page 46 in Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian, Harper Row, 1984; Updated and now in paperback, 1999.

13) Scott Peck, on page 24 of: A World Waiting To Be Born - Civility Rediscovered, Bantam Books, 1993;

14) This note was removed.

15) Harvey Cox, on page 194 of his 1984 book, Religion in the Secular City - Toward a Postmodern Theology, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1984;

16)Check out: (www.teachingtolerance.org/words).

17) Walter Truett Anderson, on page 24, in The Future Of The Self, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1997;

18) Manstead referred to an extension of Kohlberg's work on moral development in Chapter 2 of a book edited by Deborah J. Terry and Michael A. Hogg, Editors, Attitudes, Behavior, and Social Context, 2002; See Chapter 2 by Manstead;

19) Ibid., Page 25

20) Fowler, on page 113, in Weaving the New Creation. Op. Cit.

21) Peck, on page 26 of his book A World Waiting To Be Born, Op. Cit.

22) Habermas, starting on page 116 of his book Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, translated by Lenhardt and Nicholsen, MIT Press, 1995;

23) Harvey Cox, on page 9 of his book The Secular City – Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective, The Macmillan Co., 1965.

24) Walter Truett Anderson, in his book, The Future of the Self, Op. Cit., p. 166.

25) For a more detailed discussion of conceptual frameworks, see Chapter 5 herein.

26) This idea is mentioned, relative to a different context, on page 6 of a 2003 book, entitled Knowing in Organizations - A Practice-Based Approach edited by Nicolini, Davide; Gherardi, Silvia; and Yanow, Dvora - editors, published by: M.E.Sharpe, Inc., 2003.

27) M. Scott Peck in The Different Drum, Op. Cit., and in a more recent book, A World Waiting To Be Born, Op. Cit.

28) Stephen Carter, in his book Civility - Manners, Morals, and Etiquette of Democracy Harper Perenial, 1998. Carter touches on some of the same ideas that Scott Peck wrote about in A World Waiting to Be Born, though Peck and Carter approach the topic from different perspectives (psychological and legal respectively).

29) Francis Hesselbein, et al. entitled On Leading Change - A Leader to Leader Guide, Jossey-Bass, 2002. Another good book on this area is one by Etienne Wenger. Bill Godfrey provides a clear summary of Wenger's writing in a web posting also listed in my Bibliography under Godfrey.

30) Books by Wade Clark Roof, Mike Regele and a paper on What is the Koran by Toby Lester, all listed in my Bibliography, provide evidence of such variability.

31) Generational differences are the topic of Wade Clark Roof’s recent book together with Jackson Carroll, entitled Bridging Divided Worlds –Generalional Cultures in Congregations, Jossey-Bass, 2002. They present survey data on Pre-Boomers, Boomers and Generation X’ers gathered from a number of different congregations.

32) See page 6 of a 2003 book, entitled: Knowing in Organizations - A Practice-Based Approach edited by Nicolini, et al, Op. Cit.

33) Fowler, on page 77 in Faithful Change, Op. Cit. William James, Reprint. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York Collier Books. Original edition, New York Longman's Green & Co., 1902.

34) Marcus Borg, on pages 61 & 62 in his latest book, The Heart of Christianity - Rediscovering a Life of Faith, HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. Borg defines sacrament on pages 14 and 97.

35) In Karen Armstrong's A History of God, Ballantine Books, 1993; pages 230-31.

36) Robert Coles in The Moral Intelligence of Children, Plume Books, 1998. See the story of a child called David on pages 175-7.

37) Robert Coles, The Spiritual Life of Children, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1990;

38) Karen Armstrong's book, A History of God, Op. Cit., a New York Times Bestseller, page 107.

39) Diana Eck elaborates on this idea on page 97 of her book Encountering God - A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Benaras, Beacon Press, 1993, 2003 with a new Preface. Her other book is entitled: A New Religious America, Harper, San Francisco, 2001.

40) Armstrong, Op. Cit. on page 385.

41) Thayer on p. 57 of his book Spirituality and Pastoral Care, Fortress Press, 1985;

42) Fowler, in Chapter 12 of Faithful Change, Op. Cit. (pp. 192-5).

43) Armstrong, Op. Cit. on page 338:

44) Joanne Ostrow provided a good summary of the second annual report from the Project for Excellence in Journalism, from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The report was written by Tom Rosenstiel and appeared on page 1-F in the Denver Post, 3-14-05.

45) Mariana Caplan, in her book Halfway Up The Mountain, Hohm Press, 1999.

46) Thomas Merton, in the revision to New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1972 (page 1).

47) Ibid., pages 9-11.

48) David Myers, in the book Psychology and the Christian Faith, edited by Stanton L. Jones, Baker Book House, 1986, page 223-5, in Chapter 11 - Social Psychology.

49) Ibid., p. 214.

50) An article entitled Study: Tots' TV Time Tied To Attention Disorder Later by Lindsey Tanner of The Associated Press appeared in the Denver Post 4-05-04, on page 1A.

51) See El Fadl, Op. Cit. on page 62 in his chapter in Omid Safi's book, Progressive Muslims.

52) Charles Kimball touches on the lack of critical thinking skills among "intelligent undergraduates" idea on the bottom of page 59 in his book When Religion Becomes Evil Harper SanFrancisco, 2002.

53) Chapter 6 in Marc Gopin's book Between Eden and Armageddon - The Future of World Religions, Violence, and Peacemaking, Oxford University Press, 2000.

54) Hugh Sanborn has edited a book published in the Fall of 2004 The Prophetic Call - Celebrating Community, Earth, Justice, and Peace, Chalice Press, 2004. This book has many relevant chapters that call for the Christian church and other faith organizations to fill the prophetic role today. (See also James Fowler in Faithful Change (Op. Cit.) at the end of his page 178 and his Chapter 11.)

55) Gopin, Op. Cit. on pages 5 - 7 in his book, Between Eden and Armageddon.

56) Ibid., pages 186 – 187.

57) An excellent film about Reform Judaism is that entitled: Raising the Sparks by Chuck Davis. Produced in 2001, it was shown in the fall of 2002 on selected PBS stations, and is accessible at: (www.raisingthesparks.com/aboutfilm).

58) The aforementioned books by Sanborn, Wink, and Todd all mention the actions and the decline of the Roman Empire as providing a framework that helps one analyze the workings of The American Empire.

59) See Muhammad Asad (in footnote 47 to surah (verse) 4.36 in his translation of the Qur'an) entitled: The Message of the Qur'an, published by Dar-al-Andalus, Limited, Gibraltar, 1984.

60) James Fowler in Faithful Change (Op. Cit.) has several chapters that discuss the idea of "shame". In Chapter 8, he discussed how the approaches to sin and redemption by Augustine and Irenaeus differ.

61) Marcus Borg, on page 128 of his book Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, HarperSanFrancisco, 1994.

62) Derek Flood discussed these concepts in the following web site: (www.sharktacos.com/God/cross1.html).

63) Charles Kimball, on page 97 of his book, When Religion Becomes Evil, Op. Cit.

64) The University of Michigan web site that contains a translation of the Qur'an and a word search capability is accessible at: (http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/Koran/).

65) Kimball, Op. Cit., on page 53 and my posting, Introduction to Muslims and Islam has basic information about Islam, Muslim practices, and quotes from the Qur'an, accessible on the web at: ("http://www.notess.com/cn/handout9.shtml" ).

66) The web site is posted by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance at: ("http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr10cisl.htm" ).

67) See Asad's footnote 83 to surah (3.112) in his translation of the Qur'an, Op. Cit.

68) On page xii, Haddad and Smith in their book entitled Muslims Minorities in the West, Altamira Press, 2002.

69) On page 156 of Grace and Responsibility, Cobb discusses the core of Christian Faith from the 1992 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church. The core is commonly called the Quadrilateral.

70) Karen Armstrong, on page 364 of her book A History of God, Ballantine Books, 1993.

71) Ibid., p. 386.

72) Asma Barlas See her Chapter 2. in Believing Women in Islam - Unreading Patriarchal Interpretation of the Qur'an. It was published by the University of Texas Press in 2002.

73) Toby Lester's article: What is the Koran? Published on page 43 of the Atlantic Monthly, January 1999.

74) See Maria Rosa Menocal's book, The Ornament of the World – How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, Little Brown & Company, 2002.

75) Armstrong, on p. 34 of The Battle For God, Ballantine Books, 2000;

76) Ibid., p. 35.

77) John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, (1971) Belknap Press; Revised edition (September 1, 1999).

78) Bruce Feiler, page 161, in his book Abraham - A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, HarperCollins Publishers, 2002.

79) Ibid., p. 184.

80) This note has been removed.

81) Todd, Emmanuel, C. Jon Delogu, and Michael Lind, After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order (European Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism), Columbia University Press, 2003; and Wink, Walter, The Powers That Be, Galilee Trade, 1999, pp. 25-31).

82) George Lakoff, Moral Politics - How Liberals and Conservatives Think, University of Chicago Press, 2nd edition 2002.

83) Glenn Grant in (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MEMIN.html). See also the work of Don Beck and Christopher Cowan, entitled: Spiral Dynamics: Mastering Values, Leadership, and Change, Op. Cit.

84) Feisal Abdul Rauf, What's Right With Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West,

85) This statement is a revision of one by Ronald Wilkins in: The Religions of Man, William C. Brown Co., 1974, (p. 19).

86) Lindsey, Gene, Saudi Arabia Hippocrene Books, 1991, pages 44-45.

87) Mackey, Sandra, The Saudis - Inside the Desert Kingdom, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1987, page 116.

88) Ibid., pages 109-121.

89) Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on pages 204-222 in his book The Heart of Islam - Enduring Values for Humanity, Harper San Francisco, 2002;

90) Poston, Larry A. with Ellis, Carl F. Jr., The Changing Face of Islam in America, Horizon Books, 2000.

91) To view writings both for and against the Wahhabis, see the book Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (2004) by Natana J. DeLong-Bas and comments by reviewers of Delong's book posted by Amazon.com.

92) His web site (www.ijtihad.org) is well received. I recommend it highly.

93) (taken from page 4 of the magazine, Teaching Tolerance - Spring 2002)

94) Bowen and Early, Editors, on page 227 of their book, Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East, Second Edition, Indiana University Press, 2002.

95) Their report, entitled: Fueling Poverty - Oil, War, and Corruption is accessible at: (www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/0305cawreport/fuellingpoverty.htm). Click on the PDF file for the complete report.

96) Omid Safi, in the Introduction to his book Progressive Muslims - On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oneworld Press, 2003; (pp. 19-21).

97) From: Khaled Abou El Fadl, page 46 in his chapter in Safi's book, Progressive Muslims, Op cit.

98) Karen Armstrong, page 34 in The Battle For God Op cit.

99) Seyyed Hossein Nasr's book The Heart of Islam, Op cit, Chapter 7.

100) The quote is from an Editorial Review of the book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins, Berrett-Koehler Publishers (November 9, 2004) posted in Amazon.com's web site. His book is highly recommended.

101) See Chapter 7 and page 128 in Sandra Mackey's book The Saudis, Op cit.

102) Raphael Patai, The Arab Mind, Revised edition, Hatherleigh Press, 2002.

103) Jeffry Gettleman of the New York Times, reporting from Iraq and published in the Denver Post, 4-11-04 on page 19A.

104) Emmanuel Todd, on pages 20-49 of his book After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order (European Perspectives: a Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism), Columbia University Press, 2003.

105) Professor Marcia Hermansen has written a chapter that describes identity problems faced by Muslim youth in the West. It appears as Chapter 13 in the book entitled Progressive Muslims and edited by Omid Safi, Op cit.

106) Ibid., p. 306.

107) Kahled Abou El Fadl, in Chapter 1 of Omid Safi's book, Progressive Muslims, Op cit.. See also a web posting on the Salafists by Assistant Professor Michael Doran at Princeton University – Oct. 2003. Doran's posting is accessible at: (http://web.mit.edu/ssp/fall03/doran.htm).

108) Ibid., in footnote #101, on page 75.

109) From a book entitled: Eqbal Ahmad - Confronting Empire, South End Press, 2000. Ahmad was interviewed by David Barsamian.

110) This note was removed.

111) Fowler, on page 162 in Chapter 10 of Faithful Change, Op cit.

112) Ibid., p. 178.

113) Gilles Kepel in his book JIHAD - The Trail of Political Islam, Translated by Anthony F. Roberts, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2002.

114) The PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer had a discussion of ethnic newspapers in California (10-14-02).

115) Their URL's are, respectively: Michael Dowd - (http://www.evolutionarychristianity.org/7revelations.html) and Marcus Borg – (http://www.explorefaith.org/LentenHomily03.24.00.html).

116) John Esposito, on page 74 of his book Unholy War – Terror in the Name of Islam, Oxford University Press, 2002. The author, John Esposito, is a University Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown University.

117) Huston Smith's book, The Religions of Man, page 447, 1971 edition, HarperSanFrancisco; Rev/Repr edition (September 13, 1991)

118) See John Shelby Spong in his book Why Christianity Must Change or Die, Harper San Francisco, 1998, pages xi to xvi.

119) Read about Asad in the January/February 2002 issue of the magazine Saudi Aramco World.

120) From a summary by New York Times reporter, Barbara Crossette, of a report entitled: Arab Human Development Report 2002, July 2, 2002. Crossette's article is accessible from: (www.middleeastinfo.org/article1088.html) and is entitled: UN Study Warns of Stagnation in Arab Societies.

121) Living in a Post-Factual World is the headline of an opinion article published on page 7-B of The Denver Post on 1-26-05. The author, Marc Weisbrot, indicated that the term came from a recent issue of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

122) Esposito - Unholy War. op cit.

123) An excellent source of information about Muslims is Paul Findley's book, Silent No More - Confronting America's False Images of Islam, Amana Publications, 2001. See page 35.

124) For more information on Peace Circles, see the following URL. (www.corr.state.mn.us/organization/commjuv/restorativejustice/rjpeacemakingcircleprocess.htm).

125) Salmon Rushdie in an interview 10-14-02 on the PBS - NewsHour

126) Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek magazine, 6-28-04, pages 30-33.

127) Understanding Forces Confronting Muslim Youth, accessible at: [www.notess.com/cn/append.shtml].

128) Georgie Anne Geyer (Universal Press Syndicate) had an article published in the Loveland Reporter Herald, 9-17-04.

129) Gans' paper is accessible at: [http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/views/vw249.htm] and is entitled: Two Concepts of Justice.

130) Time magazine, June 30, 2003 (pp. 37-44)

131) The article was written by Amitabh Pal and is accessible at: [http://www.progressive.org/0901/pal0202.html].

132) For more on Purim, see: Notes from Jerusalem on Purim Eve in: http://www.reckonings.net/notes_from_jerusalem.htm].

133) A short web posting by the World Bank describes Social Capital. It is accessible at: [http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/] and [http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/whatsc.htm]. (Social Capital Initiative, Working Paper No.1, The World Bank, April 1998).

134) Conceicao, Pedro; Gibson, David V.; Heitor, Manuel V.; Sirulli, Giorgio; and Veloso, Francisco; entitled: Knowledge For Inclusive Development, (2002)

135) These postings are accessible by clicking on: [www.cornerstoneforum.org and www.reckonings.net].

136) Andrew McKenna posted his paper: Scandal, Resentment, Idolatry: The Underground Psychology of Terrorism at: [http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0801/resent.htm].

137) It is accessible at: [www.notess.com/cn/append.shtml].

138) Hyman wrote, in an interview for Newsweek (2-24-2003)

139) The Fifth Discipline by John Paul Fullerton of the Library Classified Staff at Texas A & M. It is accessible at: [http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/jfullerton/review/learning.htm].

140) Learning for a Change is accessible at: [http://www.fastcompany.com/online/24/senge.html].

141) It is entitled: Expanding One's Conceptual Frameworks and is accessible at: [www.notess.com/cn/Conmodl2.shtml].

142) An International Institute for Sustainable Development offers training courses. Check their web site at: [www.colostate.edu/orgs/IISD] or call 1-800-648-8043.

(143) Why Do People Hate America? MJF Books, Fine Communications, NY, NY, 2002. It has been republished in 2003 with a new forward. The ISBN is: 0971394253.

(144) It is accessible at the following URL: [http://calresco.org], the CalResCO Group.

(145) (from: [http://calresco.org/info.htm])

(146) It is accessible at the following website: [http://www.musalaha.org/articles/stages.html].

(147) The review in the May 7, 2006, New York Times Book Review (page 26) is entitled: Keeping the Faith at Arm's Length.

(148) The URL is: [http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/].

(149) Another example follows from: Volume 3, Book 49, Number 858: Narrated Sahl bin Sad.

(150) Eric Davis in the PBS Newshour, October 30, 2006 by Eric Davis, professor of Middle East politics at Rutgers University and author of Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq. Professor Davis' interview is accessible at:[http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec06/iraq_10-30.html].

(151) Dr. Maher Hathout of Southern California broadcast by PBS' Frontline in 2001. See: [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/interviews/hathout.html

(152) Geyer's article appeared in the Loveland Reporter Herald of 9-05-05 and is entitled: Short-Sighted America Is Bankrupt In Face Of Disaster. Her article is accessible via: [http://www.uexpress.com/georgieannegeyer/].

(153) Roth's talk was given to the United Nations Association of Northern Colorado was posted on his web site, at: [http://academic.regis.edu/jroth]. Click on The UN and WORLD TRADE, which appears directly under his name at the top of his posting.

(154) Alexander's summary is posted on the web at:

[http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~iany/consultancy/scenarios_intro/scenarios_intro.htm].

(155) A web posting that provides a clear description of scenarios is accessible at: [http://www.wired.com/wired/scenarios/build.html]. It is entitled: How to Build Scenarios. I recommend it highly.

(156) One can access information about the game at:[http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/peacemaker/Publications/Intetain05.pdf].

(157) The URL is: http://www.ipacademy.org/Publications/Reports/Training/PublRepoSharPol_body.htm]. The IP academy stands for: International Peace Academy.

NOTE: I have separately posted an INDEX that is useful for this E-book and my printed version of this book with the same title. It is available now from Xlibris.com. The index is accessible at: INDEX.

© Copyright: by Charles Notess, 2004-8. "Fair use" encouraged.