Q&A: Tony Hall | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2007 > June

Christianity Today, June, 2007 |

Q&A: Tony Hall

Hall, a former Democratic congressman, directs the faith component of a new Middle East initiative sponsored by the State Department and members of Congress.

Interview by Rob Moll | posted 5/15/2007 04:20PM

Related articles and links |

1 of 1

What is this Middle East initiative?

The initiative connects people who are interested in peace and who come from the three major religions: Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We've tried diplomacy; we've tried might. Why don't we try asking God what he thinks and try to work through people of faith?

What exactly will you be doing?

Listen and listen more and listen more, and then respond. There's no roadmap for this. We're trying to seek God in this, and we're trying to follow what he wants us to do. There's a lot of helplessness and a lot of hopelessness in the Middle East when you start talking about the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

To accomplish much, this will have to be a long-term project.

The initiative runs for only 10 months. But it's going to have to go well beyond that. One major commandment of the three religions is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We're not under any illusions that we're going to solve the problem. It hasn't been solved in 50 years, or it hasn't been solved in 2,000 years. Maybe we can start preparing the way.

Should religion have been a component of the peace process much earlier?

It should have been done a long time ago. I don't think you can solve anything in the Middle East without having a strong spiritual sense. When you look at some of the major conflicts in the world in the last 50 years, the church played a major part in resolving them.

Do you sense God at work?

I sense it. We have a tendency to think, Let's get some leaders together, and let's get some laws together and maybe some money together, and let's go solve this problem. The fact is we often forget to check with God.

Related Elsewhere:

The new Middle East Initiative will be coordinated by the Center for the Study of the Presidency. Ambassador Tony Hall issued a statement about his role in the program.

In 2002, Weblog commented on Hall's appointment to the U.N.

Christianity Today published a profile of him in 1997.

The Dallas Morning News interviewed him about his book, Changing the Face of Hunger.

Hall spoke with PBS about his faith and world hunger.

Peace Corps (Hall was a volunteer in the 60's) has an announcement about Hall and his new position.

1 of 1

share this page

June 2007, Vol. 51, No. 6

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment

Reader Reviews are below

Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.

Click here for international orders

2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Displaying 1 - 3 of 4 comments.

See all comments

Carl E. Gabbard

Posted: May 29, 2007 11:13 AM

What a thrill to know that perhaps even in hindsight, some voices like Tony Hall are now being heard. How could all the free and civilized leaders of the world, both religious and political, only now realize that at the very core of almost, if not all, every conflict is religion? How now can any world or relgious leader be they Islam, Christian or Jew stand before their congregations of fifty or five hundred thousand and say, we are the only faith that should have freedom to worship our God? We are long overdue in holding our political and religious leaders accountable for their responsibility to take the risks and dedicate their efforts to this end. Our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and future generations deserve no less. Tony, I believe You are in the right place at the right time and You will do us proud. I pledge to you my prayers daily. My highest rating

H. D. Schmidt

Posted: May 17, 2007 4:33 AM

However, commandable this initiative by Tony Hall is, may I suggest that America, the Nation under God, is not in line whatsover with the the following: "Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to libertyand are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican liberty". By George Washington. Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke similar words in his farewell speech. He also said this: "Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket that is fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not clothed, from those who are cold and are not clothed". So, what is America all about all over the world now with a war machinery circling the globe more powerful than the rest of the world combined? Yes, sometime ago the WSJ reported that America has 50% of the world market in arm sales. Yes, while daily over 18000+ children die of hunger. Does America now honor God as the Founding Fathers hoped for? No way! 5

Esco	Posted: May 15, 2007 2:16 PM

I rate the article 3 stars. The author asked some good questions. About the issue however, I'd like to stand firmly against it. The answer to religious differences does not lie in bringing different faiths together to seek god (small g). The moderates from the faiths are not the problem and conservatives will not acknowledge each others God. I pray that we won't acknowledge Allah as God and true Muslims will not acknowledge God as God. The answer lies in loving our enemies and preaching Christ and Christ crucified. Anything less is nothing but deception and idolatry of human beings.

The allotted time for commenting has ended.