Beyond Prayer

The Imperative of Moral Imagination

"Sustainable change that addresses the fears and roots of religiously motivated violence must come from within."

Abdul’s gold-capped teeth flash through the painstakingly slow English-Tajik translation. In his native Tajikistan we are delivering a course on conflict resolution. Over chai he relates his experience shuttling between government leaders and an opposition renegade considered a notorious warlord.

“We talked philosophy and religion. In this part of the world, you circle into Truth through stories,” Abdul smiles. “But I kept going to visit him,” he continues. “I wanted to persuade him to put down his weapons. It took time but when we had enough trust to speak Truths it boiled down to one concern.”

Abdul’s finger taps lightly on my arm posing to me the warlord’s question he had to face: “If I put down my weapons and go to Dushanbe, can you guarantee my life?”…