Jerusalem
and the Middle East
Church Association

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Bishop Azad answers some common questions..

How do you see Inter-Faith Relations?

“The Church needs to show that Christ is for the whole world, and therefore we serve people of all faiths. We cannot restrict Jesus to ourselves. We are there to serve. Out of our service comes relationships. There is no conflict between the desire to have inter-faith dialogue and to retain the integrity of the scripture and the Christian faith. The Christ we follow came for all. Whatever relationships we have flow from that given.”

What is the role of the Church in the Middle-East Peace Process?

“The Church is often caught in the cross fire. The Church cannot be for one or for the other side. It is for Jesus, the prince of peace. So the church is to be a bridge, bringing the communities together. Iran has often been demonized. The media often give negative images of Iran. But Iran is no different from many other Islamic countries where human rights violations are much more blatant. There are for instance Muslim countries where women are not even allowed to drive, whereas you can see many women drivers in Tehran. Women are very visible in all walks of life and seventy per cent of the university students are female”.

Is the Western Press balanced?

“The media tend to pick and choose. Western vested interests play a great role. When people demonise Iran, they do not look at the wider picture. They compare Iran with countries where vested interests want to maintain good relations. So they fail to raise the very proper questions which should be asked. My hope is that the Church will play a role in balancing this picture. We cannot always be harping on what happened almost thirty years ago. We must concentrate on the opportunity to build relationships with a population of 76 million, half of whom were born after the Revolution. We must demonstrate our great commitment and desire to build a relationship in dialogue and peace.”

We are grateful to the Friends of the Diocese of Iran for this interview.