Article December 23, 1996 Issue

The Middle East conflict has to do with everyone

The Middle East conflict has to do with everyone. Whether facing brush fires at work or constant friction among relatives, most people have to deal with the deep-rootedness of mankind's belief in the necessity and endurability of conflict. And if there ever was a place where acceptance of conflict has ingrained itself in people's consciousness, it has been in the Middle East. Regardless of our generation, we've all grown up with some phase of this conflict in the background of our lives—brewing, flaring, mending, breaking, brewing....

The articles in this week's focus challenge the old perception that there is a deep, unhealable conflict at the heart of humanity and that man's love for God can become the avenue for strife rather than the healer of it. They invite all our readers to join together in forming an embrace of prayer around the people of the Middle East and to answer, through these prayers, this timely question: Is the birthplace of three great religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, a powder keg condemned to blow up, or a powerhouse of spiritual understanding and progress destined to be revealed?

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Removing the obstacles to peace in the Middle East