Sweet Lemons and Sour Oranges: Personal Encounters between the Citizens of the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran
February, 2008
On a recent MCC learning tour to Iran, the participants came up with an expression that summarized their time in the country: “Sweet Lemons and Sour Oranges.” Although the title may sound strange to describe a journey through Iran, it was a fitting slogan for the one Catholic, ten Mennonites, and one Old Brethren pastors, scholars and students who spent two weeks in Iran learning about its history and culture while meeting with religious and academic leaders. The warm hospitality from the people of the “axis of evil” was as unexpected as the luscious experience of biting into an Iranian sweet lemon. Despite decades of bitterness between Iran and the West, the group’s Iranian hosts welcomed them with amazing warmth and kindness.
MCC UN Liaison Doug Hostetter was part of the delegation which visited Iran from December 30, 2007 to January 13, 2008. The tour was arranged by MCC in conjunction with the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, with which MCC has partnered for ten years. After returning from Iran, on February 1, 2008, Mr. Hostetter gave a report of his travels to his New York colleagues from other nongovernmental organizations working at the UN.
In opening the event, which took place at the Church Center for the United Nations, there was an initial presentation of the history of MCC’s involvement in Iran. The organization first started working in Iran in June of 1990, following a devastating earthquake in the north of that country. MCC’s response to the tragedy exemplified the organization’s commitment to meet human need in the hour of crisis, no matter where that need arises. As a result of its involvement in Iran, MCC built 15 village health clinics to ensure entry-level rural health care for populations who otherwise wouldn’t have access to medical help. Building upon this engagement, MCC helped the Iranian Red Crescent society (an affiliate of the International Committee of the Red Cross) resettle Iraqi refugees from the First Gulf War and Afghan refugees in Iran following the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
Mennonite Central Committee’s involvement with Iran has moved beyond the provision of material aid to include exchange programs that promote cultural and interfaith dialogue and understanding. The organization sent several North American couples to study Farsi and Shi’ia Islam at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute (IKERI) in Qom, Iran, while inviting several Iranians couples from IKERI to come to Canada to study English, Western philosophy, and Christian theology at the Toronto Theological Institute at the University of Toronto. This has since been succeeded by three theological dialogue conferences sponsored by MCC and IKERI which brought together Iranian Shi’ia and North American Mennonite theologians and scholars. MCC has also sponsored several Iranian students to participate in Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. The most significant recent achievement in this regard, however, is probably the series of three meetings which MCC facilitated from 2006 to 2007 between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and North American religious leaders.
Following the summary of MCC’s history with Iran, Doug Hostetter reported on his recent travels there. He explained that after some difficulty being processed into the country, the MCC delegation was allowed to enter and move freely without fear of harassment, leading to numerous positive encounters and interactions. When ordinary Iranians would find out where he was from, Mr. Hostetter reported, their initial reaction would be surprise, which would fade to a friendly smile and a hearty welcome. “We don’t like the policies of your president, but we do like the American people,” they would often say. This positive reception, which made him feel more welcome than in any majority-Muslim country he had previously visited, led Mr. Hostetter to conclude that current U.S. policy toward Iran was wasting a great deal of good will from the Iranian people.
Emblematic of this good will is a proposal that Mr. Hostetter and the delegation heard from faculty and graduate students at the School of International Relations in Tehran, Iran. The academics expressed their hope for a religious roundtable discussion to be organized by Peace Studies professors from Mennonite and other North American universities which would better inform Iranian graduate students on the subject of Peace Studies, a discipline which has not previously been taught in Iranian universities. The conference, to be held in Tehran, could be followed by a one to two week introductory course on Peace Studies that would be academically accredited by both a North American university and an Iranian university. Mr. Hostetter described being both excited by the Iranians’ vision, as they expressed their hopes that events like these would hopefully initiate a process of discussion about how Christian and Muslim theologians, philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists can act together to promote peace between their countries.
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n the behavior of these scholars and students, Mr. Hostetter noted a trend that runs throughout Iranian society. The country as a whole, he said, gives a great deal of deference to scholars and professors. In addition to the high status of the nation’s universities and its religious scholars, Iranian government is structured to reflect this respect for scholarly authority. Mr. Hostetter described it as a manifestation of Plato’s Republic in which policy is directed and screened by a religious council that resembles the “philosopher kings” of Plato’s treatise. Consequently, Iranian social order is more centrally structured than the democracies of Western Europe or North America.
Mr. Hostetter pointed out that nowhere is this government influence on society clearer than in relations between men and women. In Iran, women are required by law to wear a head covering such as an h?jab or chid?r. Rather than being seen as a way to limit freedom of expression, explained Mr. Hostetter, Iranians view this law as a way to protect men from the temptation of adultery. Islam is the established religion of Iran. While religions that predated the arrival of Islam to Iran, such as Armenian Orthodox Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism, are allowed to worship privately and have guaranteed rights, “newer” faiths are denied such rights. Furthermore, although forced conversion to Islam is forbidden, it is also against the law for a Muslim in Iran to leave the faith.
Doug Hostetter ended his presentation with a story an Iranian friend had shared with him. According to Islamic tradition, when Abraham destroyed the idols in his father’s home, the neighbors who worshiped those idols determined to kill him. They built a large fire and threw Abraham into the flames. But as Abraham landed, the fire around him smoldered and died. God had seen what was happening and ordered a flock of nightingales to bring water from the river to extinguish the fire. MCC and other peacemakers, Mr. Hostetter’s friend told him, are like the nightingales. Although each is small and ineffective by itself, joined together they can extinguish the strongest fires of hatred and war.
