A profile of the Rev. Margaret A. Muncie, chaplain at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, by Jan Hoffman in the New York Times is moving and well-written. The Rev. Ms. Muncie is a skilled pastor who works with people who follow many different religious paths and she does so with respect and sincerity. She represents an example of the strength of a trained clergyperson who understands her own theology and the faith perspectives of others. She also demonstrates compassion that cuts across difference and gets to the humanity of people in compromised positions due to illness, grief and the uncertain health outcomes that weaken our hope and make us feel alone.

Jan Hoffman writes with an understanding that reveals the complexity and humanity of Chaplain Muncie. Despite my criticism of media in the post preceding this, I cite Ms. Hoffman’s work as an example of good journalism. I was emotionally moved by her profile while not feeling I had been manipulated or otherwise led to a place I didn’t want to go. It’s a good example of writing about a Mainline clergyperson and the expression of pastoral skills and personal faith written without taking us into the controversy or sensationalism that is too often the picture of the mainline church.

It’s good reading and inspiring work.

The world is more distrustful of U.S. leadership according to a survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project and the image of the United States continues to decline, a process that has been in motion for the past five years. In addition, attitudes toward President Bush continue on a downward trajectory.

Coming two days after the signing of an agreement between two of the leading humanitarian relief organizations in the world, one Muslim and one Christian, to cooperate on humanitarian service the importance of their pact stands out even more. Muslim Aid and The United Methodist Committee on Relief signed the agreement in the House of Commons on Tuesday with host MP Stephen Timms presiding.

The Pew research compliments an earlier survey about attitudes between Muslims and Westerners published last year. This survey reveals a great divide in understanding with Muslims feeling marginalized and unfairly characterized. They are frustrated that in the minds of many they are defined by the fundamentalists who capture headlines but don’t represent the mainstream of Muslim society or Islamic belief.

What I find remarkable about the agreement is that it comes not from visionary thinking alone, it also comes from extraordinarily hard-won experience. The two forged this cooperation on the ground in Sri Lanka over the past several months during civil conflict that put Muslims, Christians and others at risk of life and limb. However, I wouldn’t downgrade idealism. As MP Shahid Maliki said to the group, “Vision trumps division.” Idealism is important. It is rooted in the faith of the two great religious traditions that have given birth to these two organizations and they express their faith traditions in practical action.

This pact was birthed in blood and guts practice. Field staff from both organizations faced death threats as they met human needs in Sri Lanka. Rather than abandon the people they were working with they chose to engage with each other and continue humanitarian service. They didn’t pull back and seek safe haven when violence came. To hear the reports of the field officers of the two organizations is to hear heroic action which I don’t think they fully comprehend because they were too busy meeting human needs. It’s only upon reflection after the fact that the deeper significance of their actions becomes clear.

By working together they were more effective and inclusive than they would have been working alone. Their common mission–to serve–led them to collaborate in ways that identified commonalities rather than differences. Without intending it they witnessed to interfaith cooperation that opened doors and helped quell dangerous disputes among suffering people. They turned divisiveness on its head. This understanding is captured in the London agreement and the Pew research reveals how badly the world needs it.

We need to know that Christians and Muslims share belief in compassion and justice. We need to know we can work together to serve others. We need bridge the divide caused by stereotypes and mischaracterization. Of course we have our differences and we must acknowledge them, but not by neglecting what we hold in common. The Abrahamic faith traditions share many core values that lead to humanitarian service and concern for the poor. These common values can be the basis for conversation that could lead to a more tolerant global society.

I believe the agreement signed in London has the potential to start a global alliance that can led to wider action and promote peace and tolerance. It can help us see that what we have in common is powerful and healing. And we may learn that our differences need not divide us.

A landmark partnership between the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Muslim Aid was signed today at the House of Commons in London. The agreement formalizes cooperation already reflected in their operations delivering emergency assistance to victims of civil conflict in Sri Lanka.

In concrete terms, it could result in approximately $15 million additional for humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, but the history-making agreement opens the door for interfaith cooperation as part of strategic planning, not as an after-thought, according to Farooq Murad, chairman of Muslim Aid.

Chief Secretary of the Treasury, Stephen Timms, MP convened the signing ceremony in a meeting room in the Parliament building. Timms said this partnership demonstrates a better way to solve conflict than bullets and guns. He said the interfaith partnership will serve as a model for others.

After the signing ceremony MP Shahid Mahlik chaired a panel that included two dozen non-governmental organizations. Shahid said, “We’ve become experts at inclusiveness and that’s wonderful, but it’s not enough. We in this room know we must go further. We know that inclusion is wonderful but we come together because we have much in common. This (partnership) brings us closer together and holds promise for the world to see that we as a global community have more in common than we recognize.”

Shahid represents a district that included one of the young men who bombed the London underground and a transport bus several months ago. Referring to this event he said, “When people do evil things we must call it evil.”

He said evil challenges religious people is to uphold human dignity and assure that everyone has a voice in order to build a more tolerant community. Acts of violence betray the faith traditions partnering in this agreement, he said.

The Rev. Randy Day, General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries, the parent body of UMCOR, invited other religious organizations to join in similar partnerships. Rev. Day said, “I hope we will met around a similar table in the future and welcome many more partners as we work to eliminate suffering from poverty and toward a partnership for global peace.”

“What keeps us going?” Farooq Murad, Chairperson of Muslim Aid, asked a group of United Methodist Christians and Muslims at a meeting in London today.

“Our faith,” he answered.

The group, representing the United Methodist Committee on Relief and Muslim Aid, is meeting to sign an agreement to cooperate on emergency relief and long-term development to combat poverty. They have already successfully worked together to provide emergency assistance and long-term reconstruction to those affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka. They intend to build upon their experience to create a global alliance.

Mr. Murad told the group, “We share a common faith tradition that includes Abraham, Jesus, Moses; each taught us that caring and serving humanity are central. We risk having lost this central value today but it is what living faith is all about.

Unfortunately, our world isn’t getting much better. Conflict and poverty are increasing. There is no reason a child should go to bed hungry or without shelter. We are working together to serve and care. I hope all who would see this-staff, leaders, trustees-see it as affirmation of our faith, not as compromise.

I am sure we will face difficult issues but I hope we can address them. Our faith traditions stand for truth, justice and caring for humanity. In the next life the great prophet will say, “I was hungry and you did not feed me. I was ill and you did not heal me. If you had gone [with the hungry and the ill] you would have found me there.” These are the questions we will be asked.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Muslim Aid will announce an agreement on Tuesday in London to partner in relief and development. The agreement recognizes work on the ground that is already benefitting tsunami-affected people in Sri Lanka.

UMCOR is the arm of The United Methodist Church that provides humanitarian service for relief, rehabilitation, long-term development and refugee services. The two organizations have similar mandates and serve people regardless of their faith.

The agreement will be announced in the House of Parliament between officials of the two organizations and the British government. I will be part of the delegation from The United Methodist Church and intend to blog from London if time permits.

I’ll be interested in U.S. media coverage of this agreement, if any. It represents an historic step toward Christian-Musim cooperation around humanitarian service that stands in sharp contrast to the divisive remarks of some evangelical Christian and fundamentalist Muslim leaders. It will be revealing to learn if U.S. news media regard an agreement to cooperate newsworthy.

The agreement is covered in the News section of the denominational website, umc.org.

They wrap them in white linen and lower them into the ground. The small white clumps look like loaves of bread, innocent, clean and lifeless. I’ve stood by and watched as the dead children of Africa are covered with earth. Mothers weep. Fathers hang their heads. Surviving children cling to the legs of adults, their eyes quizzical, sad and filled with fear. I’ve seen it more times than I can count. More hurt than I want to remember. Malaria alone takes a life every 30 seconds. The conditions bred by extreme poverty–malnutrition, water-borne diseases, infections–kill even faster. And it’s the kids who go first. Promise stolen, laid in the ground wrapped in white cloth.

These images filled my mind as I read Joe Nocera’s column today in the New York Times. Nocera discusses the pros and cons of the attempt to end malaria and the vision of Dr. Jeffrey Sachs to end extreme poverty. Nocera asks, “Can A Vision Save All of Africa?” He concludes, probably not. Or, more accurately, he closes his column by asking when the current interest in malaria has run its course and malaria is no longer the “pet cause” in American corporate boardrooms–Nocera is a business columnist–what then?

I’ve heard all the reasons why the vision to end malaria is not possible. In a recent meeting I heard one individual say about ending extreme poverty, “That’s just stupid.” I think for every vision that’s put forth there are ten reasons why it won’t work and twenty people lined up to present them. And then there are those who say we should take care of our own first, and others who say this is not our problem we should be concentrating on something else, and the something else is their pet agenda.

So maybe Dr. Sachs is tilting at windmills. Maybe the world can’t partner with Africa to save the lives of the next generation of children. Maybe mosquitos will adapt to the insecticide and another will need to be created. Maybe the bednet will rip. And maybe it’s impossible to cover the whole continent of Africa. And maybe…well, you fill in your reason this visionary idea of saving lives is doomed from the start, I’ve run out.

I’d rather tilt at Dr. Sachs’ windmills than stand in the back of the room and point out why these things can’t be done. At least the worst that can happen is public embarrassment for being hopeful and optimistic.

Oh yes, and one more thing. I wish those who think we can’t end malaria and reduce extreme poverty would get their reasons together, stand at the edge of a hole in the ground where a mother has just laid a white-shrouded body, look her in the eye and tell her why.