Make LDS part of Mideast solution, rabbi suggests

PROVO — LDS leaders could have a positive impact on the peace process in the Middle East, a prominent rabbi said Wednesday.

"If the (Quorum of the) Twelve were to approach the United States government and say, 'We really feel that the religious dimension should be engaged in any kind of process to seek a way to bring about peace in the Holy Land' … I think that would be very helpful," Rabbi David Rosen told an audience at BYU.

Rabbi Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs, said helping the United States push forward to mediate the Israel/Palestine conflict would be in the LDS Church's interest not only because of what it would mean for its religion but also because of BYU's Jerusalem Center, where Rabbi Rosen himself taught several years ago.

"In the past, those who have tried to bring about a resolution tended to ignore religion," he said. "But if you don't want religion to be part of the problem, the answer isn't to eliminate it. The answer is to ensure that religion is part of the solution."

As the speaker for the 2010 Truman G. Madsen Lecture on Eternal Man, Rabbi Rosen said coming to BYU was like coming home, because he was among so many friends and colleagues, including Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Madsen's widow, Ann, both of whom were in attendance Wednesday night.

Rabbi Rosen explained that a person's identity, of which religion can be a major component, not only tells them who they are but also who they are not.

When people begin to focus on those differences, it can lead to divisions and self-affirmation at the expense of others.

But getting rid of those differences, especially religion, as suggested by John Lennon in his idealistic song "Imagine," won't solve the growing problems, Rabbi Rosen said.

"By eliminating (components of identity), it leaves people rootless, floundering and seeking," he said.

Those people can then easily be snagged by drugs, abuse or terrorist groups that prey on an individual's yearning for identity, he said.

Thus the elimination of religion in an attempt to eliminate terrorism will only encourage radical offshoot groups that will offer members a distorted, but desperately craved, sense of identity.

Religion is beneficial in that it helps people develop a healthy sense of identity and purpose, which then makes them more able to reach out beyond themselves, Rabbi Rosen said.

That's a step that has yet to happen in the Middle East, he said, where most of the countries feel isolated, vulnerable and unable to reach out.

"The abuse of religion that continues to plague our planet is a manifestation of alienation of different communities in social and political contexts, where they do not feel accepted," Rabbi Rosen said.

But there are small signs of progress, he said. In 2002, a group of religious leaders from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian worlds met in Alexandria, Egypt, to discuss ways to bring peace and to condemn violence committed in the name of religion.

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