Saturday, March 15, 2008; B11

Each week, more than 50 figures from the world of faith engage in a conversation about some aspect of religion in "On Faith," an Internet feature sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. Below is an excerpt of a guest essay by Marc Gopin.

In the West, "A Mufti, a Christian and a Rabbi . . . " is often how a good interfaith joke begins. But I live inside this reality. I am a rabbi and my Syrian colleague, Hind Kabawat, is a Christian Arab. We have worked for four years with the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun, in both Damascus and Aleppo.

The three of us, along with many others of courage, have put on public events in Syria for four years that no one thought possible. No one believed Protestant, Catholic, Sunni, Shi'a, and Jewish clerics would sit together at a table, in front of cameras, working out the foundations of a tolerant civil society and making commitments to peace -- in the heart of Syria.

We did this not only in the shadow of American neo-conservative efforts to attack Syria but also surrounded by militants in the region. Neither the militants nor the extremists in America have faith that the people of this region can come together in respect and equality. But we proved that even in tough political environments we can galvanize religious and secular people alike to envision the future of a civil society at peace in the Middle East.

-- Marc Gopin, George Mason University professor

The essay was written for Common Ground News Service. To read the entire essay and see more "On Faith" commentary, hosted by Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn, go to newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith.