Special to WJW

Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes has high hopes for the future of Islam.

"I am not a spokesperson of religion," the founder and director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum said last week at the two-day International Prayer for Peace conference at Georgetown University. "But I am a scholar of Islam and I have an optimistic message to bring about pluralism and religion. ... There is, of course, the poor treatment of non-Muslims in Muslim countries around the world, [but] I disagree with the notion that Islam and pluralism might not be compatible."

Speaking at a panel titled "Religions and Pluralism in Democracy," Pipes acknowledged there is massive work ahead "on the traditions, the faith, the historic understanding of Islam ... and there has been no time like the present."

Yet, he also maintained that Islam is changing.

"Notions of jihad, for example, are more attenuated than they ever have been ... but it is foolish to say the way it is today is the way it will always be," he said.

The International Prayer for Peace ‹Religion and Cultures: The Courage of Dialogue marked the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's interfaith gathering for peace in Assisi, Italy, and was organized by the host school, the Archdiocese of Washington, the Catholic University of America and the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Rome-based lay movement with an emphasis on the promotion of peace.

The event, which drew more than 800 attendees, boasted "approximately 80 religious leaders and 20 or so speakers and panelists ‹ some were journalists and some were professors or doctors," said Jacques Arsenault, Georgetown University's media relations officer.

The panelists came from across the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa, and represented the world's major faiths, including Judaism.

"Over the years, we have been able to gather together leaders who have found a way to speak to each other about their differences, recognizing that the road is long, but that peace is the common destiny of humanity," said Claudio Betti, a spokesperson for Sant'Egidio.

Sharing the panel with Pipes, Rabbi Israel Singer, chair of the World Jewish Congress, admittedly took a more pessimistic view of pluralism and religion than Pipes did, but concluded that change could come at any time.

"I have a doubtful view as to whether pluralism can be present in countries in which there is a state religion," Singer said. "[But] the Jewish book is an open book. We are just writing today's chapter."

In another panel, "Religions Facing Terrorism," the American Jewish Committee's Rabbi David Rosen discussed the types of actions he believes can help prevent terrorist activity.

"Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, embodied a special quality ‹ a quality of hospitality to everyone," he said. "If we can show that spirit of real hospitality, give a person that sense of welcome, we can provide not, perhaps, a whole answer, but a substantial answer to the bitterness and alienation that leads to the violence of which we are victims today."

Ayatollah Ahmed Iravani, an Iranian national who was also on the panel, gave a speech with a theme similar to that of Rosen's.

"Terrorism is clearly an aberration," he said. "It destroys the lives of everyone it touches, victims and perpetrators. Essentially, terrorism is a means, and hence, for its elimination, we must ask, 'Whence does it come and to what end is it directed?' ... To attempt to suppress religion is to provoke rather than suppress terrorism."