{"id":45,"date":"2010-09-12T00:48:00","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T09:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45"},"modified":"2010-09-13T05:34:25","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T09:34:25","slug":"45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Arguably the most famous words Jesus ever uttered were \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d That sentiment perfectly expresses the Christian gospel\u2019s message of love, forgiveness and redemption and those were lessons I learned many years ago when my grandfather and grandmother took me as a very young girl to our church in Damascus to attend bible studies at my Sunday school. In a small room in a modest Evangelic Church I learned the most important lessons of my life: To love unconditionally and to accept others even when they test you to the limits. For the rest of the week I put the lessons I learned at Sunday School into practice at my secular<span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\"> <\/span>elementary school where children from all of Syrian\u2019s diverse religious traditions\u2014Sunni and Shia Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christian and, yes, Jewish\u2014studied and played together and, as importantly, learned to treat each other as \u201cbrothers\u201d and \u201csisters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For any practising Christian the most fundamental tenet is love one\u2019s fellow humans no matter what the provocation&#8211;and it is a lesson I was reminded, again, a couple of years ago, in Damascus when Dr. Salah Keftaro, the son of the former Grand Mufti of Syria for over thirty years, invited an American cleric and a Jewish rabbi to speak at a mosque. Such inter-faith dialogue is, I believe, absolutely critical to promote understanding, tolerance and, yes, forgiveness, especially at this point in time in history when religious intolerance and bigotry seem to be sadly on the ascendant. Which is why I have been very disappointed, along with many others, at the reaction in many quarters of American life to the proposal to build a Muslim prayer centre and community centre near the site of Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan in New York City. To me there would be no greater way to honour Jesus Christ, a man who preached love and forgiveness on Calvary, the very ground on which he was murdered by his tormentor, than to build a place to glorify God near the place where the most monstrous evil was committed in his name. What better way to rebuke the misguided souls who acted mistakenly in his name than to build a holy place near Ground Zero. It is an initiative which, I believe, Jesus, himself, would endorse and, as importantly, it is an act that would reaffirm to the world that the ideals which made America great\u2014openness, tolerance, freedom of religion, freedom of expression\u2014are still alive and well in the face of even the most evil provocation. As Jesus said on the cross over two millennia ago, \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Hind Aboud Kabawat\/ A Syrian Christian Activist from Damascus.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arguably the most famous words Jesus ever uttered were \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d That sentiment perfectly expresses the Christian gospel\u2019s message of love, forgiveness and redemption and those were lessons I learned many years ago when my grandfather and grandmother took me as a very young girl to our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>- Two Seas Forum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"- Two Seas Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Arguably the most famous words Jesus ever uttered were \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d That sentiment perfectly expresses the Christian gospel\u2019s message of love, forgiveness and redemption and those were lessons I learned many years ago when my grandfather and grandmother took me as a very young girl to our [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Two Seas Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-13T09:34:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-09-13T09:34:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Islamcommenr-FB.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hind Kabawat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hind Kabawat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45\",\"name\":\"- Two Seas Forum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-13T09:34:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-13T09:34:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/14c79c777278d511a5f4cd82192f6d2f\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/\",\"name\":\"Two Seas Forum\",\"description\":\"Two Seas Forum\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/14c79c777278d511a5f4cd82192f6d2f\",\"name\":\"Hind Kabawat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8660750c206c03d71735f6768ddb5d3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8660750c206c03d71735f6768ddb5d3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hind Kabawat\"},\"description\":\"Hind Kabawat attorney, lives in Damascus and Toronto, and holds a BA in Economics from Damascus University, a degree in Law from the Arab University, Beirut; a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the University of Toronto; a Certificate in Strategy Leadership from the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy., Tufts University. Currently Hind is an International Adviser at Joseph Young and Associates, Toronto; Foreign Affairs Director for the Syrian Public Relation Association, President of the Syrian Canadian Women's Club, Toronto. Senior Research Associate in Public Diplomacy and Director of the Conflict resolution program of Syria in the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution CRDC ,George Mason University and Found member of the Syrian Canadian Women's Club and together in hope group in Toronto. Hind has led a variety of public diplomacy efforts in recent years in Syria to promote interfaith tolerance and cooperation, modernization and reform, as well as educational innovations in conflict resolution and diplomacy education. She was awarded in 2007 the Peace initiative from the Tanenbaum Centre in New York and also the Public Diplomacy Award from George Mason University in Arlington in 2009. In 2009, she was Appointed as the Ambassador of Conflict Resolution and member of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Middle East, World Economic Forum., Davos.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.hindkabawat.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?author=10\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"- Two Seas Forum","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"- Two Seas Forum","og_description":"Arguably the most famous words Jesus ever uttered were \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d That sentiment perfectly expresses the Christian gospel\u2019s message of love, forgiveness and redemption and those were lessons I learned many years ago when my grandfather and grandmother took me as a very young girl to our [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45","og_site_name":"Two Seas Forum","article_published_time":"2010-09-13T09:34:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2010-09-13T09:34:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Islamcommenr-FB.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hind Kabawat","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hind Kabawat","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45","url":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45","name":"- Two Seas Forum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-13T09:34:18+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-13T09:34:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/14c79c777278d511a5f4cd82192f6d2f"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?p=45"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/","name":"Two Seas Forum","description":"Two Seas Forum","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/14c79c777278d511a5f4cd82192f6d2f","name":"Hind Kabawat","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8660750c206c03d71735f6768ddb5d3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8660750c206c03d71735f6768ddb5d3c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hind Kabawat"},"description":"Hind Kabawat attorney, lives in Damascus and Toronto, and holds a BA in Economics from Damascus University, a degree in Law from the Arab University, Beirut; a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from the University of Toronto; a Certificate in Strategy Leadership from the University of Toronto, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy., Tufts University. Currently Hind is an International Adviser at Joseph Young and Associates, Toronto; Foreign Affairs Director for the Syrian Public Relation Association, President of the Syrian Canadian Women's Club, Toronto. Senior Research Associate in Public Diplomacy and Director of the Conflict resolution program of Syria in the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution CRDC ,George Mason University and Found member of the Syrian Canadian Women's Club and together in hope group in Toronto. Hind has led a variety of public diplomacy efforts in recent years in Syria to promote interfaith tolerance and cooperation, modernization and reform, as well as educational innovations in conflict resolution and diplomacy education. She was awarded in 2007 the Peace initiative from the Tanenbaum Centre in New York and also the Public Diplomacy Award from George Mason University in Arlington in 2009. In 2009, she was Appointed as the Ambassador of Conflict Resolution and member of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Middle East, World Economic Forum., Davos.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.hindkabawat.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/?author=10"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/48"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.islamcomment.com\/twoseas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}