THE NASHVILLE PEACE TALKS COMMENCE

I was charged by my friend David Drews, in the interest of peace and justice, to reach out to my minister with my views about the Israeli Palestine crisis. To sum up my views:  equal rights for the local Arabs and an end to the apartheid regime currently in power in Israel. 

 On Monday of this week (8/4/14) I met with my preacher and found him to be very curious and open to my views. He is a man who is interested in peace in this world. Though his analysis of the situation does not line up perfectly with my own we did find common ground on many issues. And he expressed an interest in exploring ways to broaden dialogue within our church.

Without David's suggestion I would not have approached my minister in this regard. If you desire to contribute to a "DUAL" narrative, so that both sides of the issue are heard, I would encourage you to do so based on my experience with my minister.

The idea of reaching out to our clergy in this country is a good idea whose time has come. It might be one of the best ways to insure the possibility of the narrative's expansion to include both sides of this dynamic situation.

Robert F. Howell
Nashville, Tn.


PS Today at weekly Wednesday morning prayer group, the minister brought up the issue briefly and indicated this will be topic of discussion next week.