While hundreds of anti-war protesters clashed with pro-war activists at the intersection of Mill Avenue and University Drive in Tempe on Thursday night, a congregation of churchgoers took a more low-key approach in dealing with the situation in Iraq a few blocks away.
A group of approximately 80 people, consisting of Christians, Muslims and Jews of all ages and races, gathered at the First Congregational Church of Tempe in an interfaith service that organizers hoped would provide spiritual and emotional support in the face of the war in Iraq. The church is located on Seventh Street, just east of Forest Avenue.
"People need to come together at times like this and be able to come and support each other and plead and lament and pray for guidance," said Rev. Phil Reller, the senior minister at the church. "We need to face our powerlessness and look to some power greater than ourselves, that god's will is done in the midst of this."
Reller was one of eight spiritual leaders from various Tempe houses of worship, including Temple Emanuel, Mission del Sol Presbyterian Church and the Islamic Cultural Center near ASU.
Each of the spiritual leaders took their turn on the microphone, sharing their thoughts on peace and leading the assembled group in the prayers and hymns that made up the 45-minute service, which included reading from the Quran and singing "America the Beautiful."
In his time at the microphone, Andrew Straus, rabbi at Temple Emanuel, stressed the idea that all of the members of differing religions are still members of a community.
"We have gathered this evening as a community," Straus said. "We are Jews, Christians and Muslims. We are people of all faiths. We have come here as citizens and residents of the United States."
Art Campbell, pastor of Mission del Sol, led the group in "Litany for peace in a time of war," which he wrote.
He prayed, "Defender of justice, how fortunate we are that we can look to fair treatment without the fear of prejudice," to which the audience replied, "May justice be a goal that we achieve without the threat of weapons and imposition of force."
Ahmad Al-Shqeirat, the Iman of the Islamic Cultural Center, sung verses from the Quran in Arabic before reciting them in English.
"Oh God, you are the source of peace, please give us the peace to live with each other," he said.
Following the service, the eight priests gathered in the foyer of the church and exchange handshakes and hugs. In a moment of humor, Reller gave Al-Shqeirat a kiss on the cheek.
The First Congregational Church's involvement with the Islamic Cultural Center started after the attacks of Sept. 11th, when the mosque began to receive threats. Heller said his church reached out to their next-door neighbor as a way to provide support the center in the wake of the attacks.
"We vowed to be present with them and to make the space that we share as sacred as we could make it with our presence with each other, and that has cultivated a relationship."
The two groups joined with Temple Emanuel and the other churches and formed a partner ship.
"After Sept. 11th...I realized we needed to do something and I think that really spurred us on, not only to begin doing services together but doing studying together, learning about each other's cultures and traditions, going to each other's churches and synagogues and mosques to learn who are we and what are we, what makes up this vibrant community of Tempe," said Straus.
The group conducts several interfaith services a year, including one for Thanksgiving and the anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks.
Several of the religious leaders knew that the conflict with Iraq was reaching a climax, so they planned on holding an interfaith service for peace the night that war broke out.
"Minister Phil thought that whenever the war starts that night at 7 p.m. we should call for an interfaith joint service to pray for the peace and safety of everybody," said Al-Shqeirat.
Mohamed Belgaied, owner of Salam's Market and Phoenicia Café in Tempe, said he attended the service because he wanted "to participate and share with everybody the faith of the one God."
Eric Brown, a transient who sometimes works at the church, said he decided to attend the service because he felt it was the most positive way he could deal with the emotions he felt after he learned the war had started.
"When I heard the news about the war, the first thing I thought about doing was maybe going to a bar or smoking (crack), but instead I thought it would be better to come here tonight to pray to Jesus for peace," said Brown, who has a son in the Navy.
Judith Godell and Liz Fairman, a Jewish lesbian couple who worships at Temple Emanuel, came to the service because they both believe it is the time to ask God to open the hearts of the decision-makers and the combatants in the war. Godell said at this point she feels praying is the only effective way in stopping the U.S. involvement in the war.
"We'll be praying, because protesting against this government doesn't seem to work," she said. "I mean this government has made up its mind and really doesn't seem to care what the people want, what the world wants, it's not interested it that."
Reach the reporter at benjamin.leatherman@asu.edu.
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