Searching for Hope. 'Six years ago Tariq Aziz, then deputy PM of Iraq, invited me to visit the country to see the effect of sanctions. Having started to engage with the religious leaders of Ira...[More]

Searching for Hope. 'Six years ago Tariq Aziz, then deputy PM of Iraq, invited me to visit the country to see the effect of sanctions. Having started to engage with the religious leaders of Iraq, I became the point of contact between the Coalition Provisional Authority and these leaders after the war. We then started the Centre for Dialogue Reconciliation and Peace, which is the foremost organisation in Iraq for engagement with religious and tribal leaders and the new Government. We work under the patronage of the Prime Minister, and we also have a strategic role in hostage negotiations. 'It is a roller coaster existence in the new Iraq. Ecstasy and despair are part of life. There again, is not salvation history a narrative of ecstasy and despair? Behind the scenes there are real people working day and night to try and ensure that this experiment of rebuilding a rogue nation works. For the people of Iraq, who knows how long it will really be before they see a difference?' (publisher)

Canon Andrew White is Director of the International Center for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, England. He is the Archbishop of Canterbury's Special Representative to the Middle East, and Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Center for Dialogue, Reconciliation and Peace. (recommended by Lynn Green)[Less]

How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger caused by religious differences around the world. As the politics of identity begin to replace the po...[More]

How to Avoid the Clash of Civilizations. The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger caused by religious differences around the world. As the politics of identity begin to replace the politics of ideology, can religion, Sacks asks, become a force for peace? "The Dignity of Difference" is his radical proposal for reconciling hatreds. Sacks argues that we must do more than search for values common to all faiths; we must also reframe the way we see our differences.[Less]

Recreating Society Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social friction, is today reinforcing it, Rabbi Sacks advoc...[More]

Recreating Society Arguing that global communications have fragmented national cultures and that multiculturalism, intended to reduce social friction, is today reinforcing it, Rabbi Sacks advocates for a new approach to national identity.

He envisions a responsibility- rather than rights-based model of citizenship that connects the ideas of giving and belonging. We should see society as "the home we build together," bringing the distinctive gifts of different groups to the common good. Sacks warns of the hazards free and open societies face in the 21st century, and offers an unusual religious defense of liberal democracy and the nation state. The logical sequel to Sacks' award-winning See also Uncommon Decency[Less]