The odd couple of global spirituality

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JJ03Ak01.html


Miguel d'Escoto, the current president of the United Nations General Assembly, stole the torch from the world leaders attending the UN gathering in New York last week by single-handedly infusing a new and much-needed energy and importance into his role. It was a moment rarely seen before in the organization's history.

-snip-

Equally important, d'Escoto wants to pioneer a genuine spiritualization of the UN and, indeed, world politics. This is not so much because the priest in him dictates a perpetual evangelization, but because he is convinced that a cultural change, away from excessive materialism and insufficient spirituality, is a sine qua non for changing world politics in the direction of a more just and egalitarian system.

Indeed, this much was clear in d'Escoto's remarks at an interfaith gathering on the sideline of UN meetings where Iran's president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was a keynote speaker.

Both men echoed each other in their respective monotheistic beliefs, the prioritization of justice and the need for solidarity with the destitute and the needy. Ahmadinejad professes his own version of Islamic liberation theology that resonates with d'Escoto's liberation theology. This parallel is stronger than in the past given Ahmadinejad's new accent on the compatibility of Islamic and Christian messianism and in light of his UN speech in which he predicted the rise of the Hidden Imam "accompanied by Jesus".
-snip-
----------------------------------


the religiously insane flocking together is a dangerous thing.

women and children beware.

[lynnertic]

1. sigh

Indeed, this much was clear in d'Escoto's remarks at an interfaith gathering on the sideline of UN meetings where Iran's president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, was a keynote speaker.

The name of the meeting, the day this happened, where the meeting was held, who else was in attendance - none of these facts were reported in this story.