Jordan: The Meatier Stuff
As you probably guessed, the reason seventeen journalists went on a press trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was not just to enjoy its rich history, pamper ourselves in resorts, and eat olive-based foods (much as we loved these). We also had many discussions and two official meetings, both with high-ranking religion officials. In addition we had private interviews with our own contacts (in my case, two graduates of Dallas Seminary, one in Amman and one in Aqaba).
The first religion official with whom we met was former UN ambassador His Excellency Akel Biltaji with the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies (RIIS). The RIIS was established fourteen years ago to address interfaith and intercultural issues. They promote dialogue among the monotheistic faiths in particular, focusing on shared values.
Many Americans do not realize that Jordan considers 9/11 a terrible day in their own history. This is a common sentiment throughout much of the Middle East. A member of our team who was in Yemen some years back told us of women wearing American flags pinned to their burqas following our nation’s tragedy.
Then Jordan had their own 9/11 three years ago on 11/9—the anniversary of which was observed while we were there. Suicide bombers attacked three hotels simultaneously, in one case blowing up during a wedding party and killing the fathers of both bride and groom. The extremists were punishing Jordan for their cooperation with us. So Jordan has paid a high price for embracing good international relationships.
The hotel next to ours was hit as was another where I shopped. And all the large hotels I saw had security on par with airports, complete with blocked access to the circular drives and x-ray scanning of all incoming guests and their bags. I even saw a man with a mirror on a stick checking under cars for bombs in the parking lot. (See photo, where he's holding it upside down and leaning on the mirror.) Despite the in-your-face security, or perhaps because of it, I felt quite safe the whole time.
A core value of the institute is that contacts among the three monotheistic religions should be conducted in peace. They also use religion as a tool in politics for promoting peace. These values are of concern to His Royal Highness the king, who is a fascinating character. He attended Deerfield Academy in the U.S. and at the time he lived here, everyone thought his father planned to name someone else as successor to the throne. As a result, the current king has been known to say that he can switch from thinking like a Jordanian to thinking like a Westerner, being quite familiar with both mindsets. (We rented an interesting documentary of him taking tourists around his kingdom in which he said this.)
One of the DTS grads who lives in Aqaba told me he loves Jordan and is grateful for its stability in the region. A professor with the evangelical seminary in Amman with whom I spoke had only good things to say about the king and later described his father as an exceptionally rare man who was committed to truly caring for his subjects and seeking their good.
For centuries Christian and Muslim have coexisted in Jordan in relative peace. But the last half-century has seen great turmoil. As a result, many of the minority Christians (they comprise about 5% of the population), though they have an ancient history there, began to leave in high numbers. This is of particular concern to the king, and the Royal Institute exists in part to address this issue. No one, they believe, should feel their security lies only outside the region. More on all this to come.