Comments on: Should religious groups talk to Iranian president?

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:25:10 +0000

As i read some of these post I am amazed at how clueless people are. You people do understand that Ahmadinejad wants anyone that is not a of his faith dead. He denies what Hitler did. He wants to bomb Isreal off the face of the earth. I don’t know how any thinking person can even imagine one could talk to this man and make a difference. People get this and get it now. Ahmadinejad wants you dead if you don’t think the way he does. He wants America dead!

By: ibelieve

ibelieve — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:38:45 +0000

Talking to Darth Vader won’t make a real difference. The Dark Lord of the Sith is the one who really call the shots. That means every time the position of Dark Lord of the Sith is compromise or shamed any form of agreement or mutual understanding will be more painful to the Iranian population.

By: Spirited Dona

Spirited Dona — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:06:46 +0000

Spirited Dona says– I am non demominational, with Baptist and Episcopal leanings, to be fair! I have known Mennonites and Methodists, (my Hillary is a Methodist), but they would not be representative of the average American, who would kick his disrespectful butt for a quarter! What did he learn? We ‘re warm and toasty? What did they learn? He would rather be dining with Sarah Palin!

By: True Left

True Left — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 14:02:15 +0000

Since more people have been killed, maimed, and enslaved in the name of religion and God these last five thousand years than for any other reason, it’s long overdue for the saner leadership of these varied faiths to try and find some common ground in the spirit of peace, justice, and respect with each other. These self-professed people of faith better start choosing between the spiritual and social needs of their people -or- being blindly manipulated or willingly part and parcel of the political/military/industrial complex that thrives and promotes hate, war, and the divisiveness of the human species to further their own evil agenda. So yes, I stongly support meaningful dialogue with Ahmadinejad and the leadership of every country on this precious planet of ours, free of exploitation and belligerency, and conducted in the spirt of friendship, goodwill and the uplifting of all people living in harmony and free from want. The people must DEMAND nothing less from their respective secular and religious leaders NOW.

By: Michael Cecil

Michael Cecil — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:40:20 +0000

Something which is receiving *no* coverage whatsoever by the media (including Reuters) is the degree to which Ahmadinejad is going out on a limb (and is vulnerable) relative to the official Shi’ite religious establishment itself in Iran. In fact, his views are a lot more progressive than the orthodox Shi’ite theologians. And, from a strictly theological perspective, his approach is much more conducive to Peace than the position taken by the Shi’ite theologians.

One version of his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, published by Global Security, is *sharply* different than the version published in the Israeli newspaper Ha Aretz, (links to both are on my website)a link to which was then published on rense.com.

And the theological differences are quite telling and quite dramatic.

But the media of the Israel is unwilling to pursue these theological differences–simply broad-brushing everything he says as being “anti-Semitic”; while the media in the United States and other Western countries is following fundamentally the same approach…

All for the purpose of preserving the economic interests of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious ‘authorities’; which, for some reason, are considered infinitely more important than Peace itself.

By: marc germaine

marc germaine — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:48:03 +0000

Martin Buber, in his book, “Between man and man” encouraged dalogue between people of passionately conflicting views. Not talking is an immature reaction that children utilise when they can’t entirely get their way. Surely we can’t believe that not talking will produce anything but continued stalemate and increasing fear and mistrust.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:41:43 +0000

I believe that communication with Ahmandinejad is essential. His willingness to talk with these religious leaders show that his mind may be open-even if just a fraction-to changing. Dadina is correct in thinking that any progress is worth their time. Also, Ahmandinejad is not the only ears that are listening during these meetings. This type of communication breeds healthy relationships and a better understanding; something that this world desperately needs.

By: sid

sid — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:29:45 +0000

why shouldn’t they talk? in this age of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction that are capable of starting a world war 3 even if it’s used by 1 country, dialogue and debate are the key to tolerance and prevention of wars while still reaching a point of negotiations. this is especially important to middle eastern countries where muslims already feel that actions of the western countries are taken agains them for religious purposes.there is alot of misunderstanding and ignorance on the part of the west towards the middle east. there are hypocritical policies that lean against the middle east that have allowed islamic extremist to be able to use against the west and declare these fake holy wars. even muslims who are against the extremist begin to think that the west is out to oppress them and persecute them because of their religion and so they might turn to extremisim as the only option. often times, moderate religious leaders tend to be more knowledgable and aware of world affairs then politicans. they also tend to be more open minded and tolerant about the view of others. it might take the interventions of the pope, high level rabbis and imams to come together and force the political forces on all sides to come together and to a table and finally start talking. if they don’t then expect the start of a war that is going to have disastorous reprecussions on all sides.

By: Sara

Sara — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:20:02 +0000

You can read more background on the history and the Christian motivation behind this dialog with the President of Iran on Mennonite Central Committee’s web site. Go to

http://mcc.org/iran/meetings2008/index.h tml