A couple on you know we meet with global news makers and the stories that matter to 0. In the street we are week into the new year and it has studied office and thankfully as we end it 2019 today will be joined by a special face fetus to break down the past and a look ahead at whats to come and we want you to be part of this show share your thoughts on twitter had a story. As we enter the 4th year of the term presidency were continuing to see a rise of hate not just against muslims but a whole range of different groups of people and as sad as it is to see all this youve also seen glimmers of hope youve seen muslims being much more visible in the media and in business and in politics and in ways that people can see that were contributing members of the community so what i really hope for in 2020 is that we can continue to build bridges between muslims and people of other faiths of the backgrounds and push back against this tide of hate White Supremacy hurts everybody it doesnt just hurt muslims it doesnt just hurt people of color it hurts everybody so i hope that 2020 is the year we can really start to strengthen that push. 2019 was complex it was a year of protest on the streets of dallas way 11 see diana at hong kong it was the year of people becoming increasingly aware of the climate and Climate Change it was a year of hostility and u. S. President ial impeachment brecks it out it was a year of deadly Mass Shootings but there were glimmers of hope scientific discovery soared global deaths fell to record diversity in Politics Group conservation efforts results i mean is it impossible to 0 Carbon Emissions by 2050 so do you face leaders help make sense and how do they help make sense of new cycles and provide comfort with me to break this all down past the bob roberts joins me on the set he is founder and Senior Pastor of the north with church and founder of local dot net over 2 decades hes been involved in multifaith peace making its good to have him here. Is a rabbi author and educator a place to welcome her back to the stream and in boston shake fanny is an instructor of muslim studies at Harvard Divinity School thank you all for being here let me start with its almost like a desperate plea from on life a fleet is and this is be a model year and we told our online audience that we were talking about this topic and looking back looking for a faith leaders. Says the world is turning away from faith each and every day its totally clear just looking to events occurring and i dated a nice pastor bob that sounds desperate and miserable and what can we do the world is a hot mess so i would say the most important thing is when you think were is god in all of this and facing what im facing to turn away and so hes not there is hopelessness sure hopelessness what if hes not there in so i think our faith can actually help us make me instead of looking at it in terms of god because it happens the question is what is. Doing in the midst of this and how can i be a servant of peace how can i be a healer and what i see the brokenness thats there i think thats critical for you all of that that he. Used to say that because you have a calling but for regular people who are just following the news what are they to the regular people are the most important people heres why this is where change happens a lot of bureaucrats a lot of politician governments leaders even faith leaders they lock themselves up in the conferences in define whats wrong with the world and give talks and speeches and write books but it never gets to the grassroots i think the most important thing an everyday person can do is whos hurting around me and how am i going to bring healing in if theyre different from you all the better they dont have to be like you. I really agree with that and. I mean i think thats true but really we all have one planet and certainly right now to take care of one another and take over the planet well. I think could build on what the doctor asked about. We need to also be cultivating a spiritual practice in order to give us trust him and to help us through this incredibly painful time that. It is not even a marathon right its a relay race and each need to be showing up and helping me and having a spiritual practice 2nd nourish us and get to the roots of where we are and to fill us up and to help bring us the wisdom that we need in order to get the moral clarity that we need right now. Sensual because if were not trying to come from were ourselves without support were going to burn out and theres going to be a long fight. I couldnt agree more and i would like to highlight the fact that so often when the regular person that youre referring to and i think were all regular people. That we are we are we are beings that are very complex and they each are we have these minds we have hearts we have souls we have bodies and so often especially in our particular day and age because of how plugged in we are were constantly processing the very very big heavy ideas that are global that are very important that that we are aware of but so often it shines over the rest of who we are you know the fact that every single day as a human being i need social nourishment i need emotional nourishment i need spiritual nourishment i need to figure out in process you know who i am and where im going and what kind of good im offering that brings healing to myself and to others and am i living a meaningful existence and this is what our faith traditions i think calls for it what it does is a brings nuance and it problematize is the world as it should be and it puts things into scope and perspective the political question is one question its an important one but its one. Question of the myriad of realities that human beings were supposed to be considering every single day. We probably saudi is that as they were following on you tube that they can ask questions so here we have one from shiite hes coming. Are you afraid that if tensions continue to rise that it will be harder to build bridges among religious divides how do you keep the faith passive i know interfaith and working with other people other things this is a big deal for you how do you continue to do it when theres antisemitism thats. Just within the United States that surrounds us on a daily basis so yeah but all the hate thats taking place thats where peace grows thats where love grows it goes because there are people that see whats going on and theyre bothered they want something to change in so as bad as it is no. Give you one simple example of a church and synagogue that i was working with in phoenix arizona a bunch of white separatists circled the church so the muslim worshippers could not go in and the Evangelical Church who had gotten to know the muslims and the pastor who became friends they circle that church for deep and open the open a way where the muslims could come in and worship in so it makes all the difference in the world but the key to change i know this may sound crazy and i know people of this disagree with this i used to think it was more education and information its not its a relationship when you get to know somebody your whole idea changes we do these past 3 mom retreat and most muslims are petrified of evangelicals and evangelicals are or afraid of muslims but they were. Like well why would that be the case because american evangelicals think muslims want to come and take over america and bring sharia muslims are afraid they want to convert me so are jews im sorry we cant help it. But. In the midst of all of that what weve learned is when we get to know one another our minds change and i deal with very prominent pastors who didnt even want their names were going to this retreat and they leave and they go bob what im hearing about muslims its all wrong and it isnt whats happening its not the information is the relationship so they get to know i want to i couldnt agree more and i really think that the pastors touching upon is such a critical point we in the in the light of all of this pain thats happening ive seen so many examples of beautiful unity where the jewish tombstones were desecrated and you had nazi symbols drawn on them muslims are really set up you had celebrate mercy but arkham city who set up he did a Beautiful Campaign to raise funds that went well over the amount that was required and it was preserved unfortunately for more events that occurred after the but one of the one of the tree of life synagogue shooting happened we gathered together in the boston commons the governor was there the entire Interfaith Community center is Congress People and we spoke about the need to rise above this this is a viable putrid hatred that seems to be unfortunately for minting in so many corners but we came to realize that what we always come to realize is that there is only is more good than there is evil no matter how much evil is highlighted no matter how much its promoted no matter how high the voices or loud voices are that may propose that the goodness and the love and the mercy of the compassion that exists. Are outweighs whatever evil is this and i think thats a reality that we as a faith people the faith tradition in the interface based realize and see every single day that rabbi seneca had. I mean i couldnt agree more i think close its true that in this time of the air so many communities have seen how we need to come together and both you brought great examples i know synagogue has started to show up. Once i get particular started to show up every friday morning after the 26000 election with signs that say you know jews love our muslim neighbors and to build a really rich and wonderful relationship with this mosque the next door and then of course after pittsburgh happened the mosque in the liver the 1st people to be waiting. Outside the front door of the senate god on friday night as people were coming in and afraid and the mom is a tedious the its a good lesbian synagogue and that you might want to speaking at new york pride on behalf of the Jewish Community and these beautiful relationships are developed. That are perceived as solidarity. We cant do that unless we are together and i think white supremacist in the people who are Holding Power and trying to keep our want us to be separate and they want us to be afraid and they want to distrust one another and the choice every single day to show up and to say im here for you you know maybe you will be here for me lets hold hands and even if there are sometimes very real differences that we may need to work through or say well well be together here and will you know will negotiate somewhere else but that we have to be together the stakes are too high that i kind of let slowly got away from i guess about the stakes and im going to do that via a post that you shed on your twitter feed so you start having. Your sub tweet its not even coded ad to semitism its not a dog whistle hes saying this outlines with all the talk about President Trump to a room full of g. If you can work out the acronym for yourself meanwhile rob my dad. Im shocked but now let me play this because this is the point have a listen to this everybody a lot of your the real estate business because i know you very well youre brutal killers not nice people at all but you have to vote for me of the jurors youre not going to vote for pocahontas like a dog in the. You not going to vote for the well thats of the yeah lets take a 100 percent of your wealth away oh no even if you dont like me some of you dont some of you i dont like it all and. I dont mean surely cant borders because you want president is talking about as hes talking to a roomful of jewish people im just going to sign it see here hes talking about president ial times a Elizabeth Warren hes caught up pocahontas you know why. And then there are people in the room who are also jewish who had nothing at the stereotypes that the president is sharing with audience this is just one example of the kind of anti semitism that is going around in the United States we also have islamophobia as well in 20202019 what is going on with us why we not more sophisticated why we know more able to appreciate other peoples face why dont you start. If youre going to write i you know i think part of me want to be part of an act of pocahontas and the many layers that are in the story played american but my point here. Is interesting is that i didnt see it play out in the last few years according to the same script that work in Medieval Europe seems to work for over a 1000 years which really story in which the dunes are pegged as being some sort of you know elite global and theyre loyal to each other theyre not loyal. Theyre controlling things mysteriously behind the scenes i can go through all of the lists of them but the bottom line is that anti semitism you used to say lame the jews dont blame me but people in power using p. Semitism to scapegoat you so that other people are angry at you and not at the people who are actually Holding Power and its been fascinating to watch it be deployed in this way and its being used over and they again islamophobia right people are trying to pit using as enemies and being used as part of as a tool of White Supremacy to pit jews and nap americans against each other in these 2 little places i mean there are all of these different ways that White Supremacists are using it as a wedge issue to try to to break apart people that need to be together because they know that when we stand together thats when i think i think what the rabbi saying is is because his point i mean we were seeing today with the rise of fascism i mean fascism on fortunately is popping up all across the world you see whats happening with whats happening in india you see whats happening in china you see whats happening specifically to the wheels of muslims and how theyre being persecuted gathered into concentration camps you see whats happening to. Them in burma and across the world you see whats happening continues to happen in palestine israel and you see all of these realities playing out and unfortunately a Common Thread in the common narrative is you see the particularities of absolutism nationalistic narratives where where for me to exist others have to be eliminated and thats a disastrous toxic orientation unfortunately that does not represent the essence of the human condition what unites us what brings us together as human beings is far more beautiful and profound and and for purposes of political power. See and influence people personally on the fears that fears of people fears of individuals who may not know me as perhaps robertson Just Relationships getting to know someone is the greatest and to fear and hatred because you realize that there is an inherent beauty unites us as human beings are we as individuals as faith leaders as people who care who just have a heart and that goes for every Single Person have to realize that we have a huge responsibility to play to turn down this noise by turning on our hearts and souls instead of being pummeled by ideas thoughts and merit is in context of fear and hatred to realize we hold on if i just turn off the noise i realize everything is actually pretty beautiful the people around me are people that i can love and care for embrace them with open arms and i come to synagogue temple. Oh all the houses of worship all in 1. 11 time in 24. 00 many psyches so much as a shake as a. Possible act i cannot have a conversation with you as an evangelical and not mention that political position some christians a pizza being in the United States right now and people questioning perhaps a judgment or supporting the way that perhaps some of their concerns are being represented by the commented ministration that way do you fall on that. So thats thats thats a scary question were afraid of that question can i just be honest with you because there are some policies that we would say to President Trump we would agree with religious freedom and our views on abortion and things like that but let me be the 1st to say i cringe at his tweet and i dont justify in any way shape or form his morality or his character and i dont have a problem frankly with President Trump sometimes as much as i have a problem with other pastors and evangelicals because when we publicly endorse bad behavior or we say it doesnt matter the nag goes against the very message of jesus christ in the kingdom of god can i show something that you shed on your twitter feed which which really speaks to this have a look everybody here im listening friend sent me this to explain it i couldnt it broke my heart this is not jesus preachers of hate coming all kinds of an agency im just going to play this. If some of those people in the. Let me assume. That parker. Up my the my is really. My. People had concealed carry permits we could in those muslims before they before there was that. I wanted to equites for christians here. They listen to a 7 the preacher has a gun in his back pocket what why why why we even discussing Something Like we shouldnt his own tribe out to call him out and say that does not represent christianity heres what were dealing with tribalism. Tribalism and heres what we want to do we want to change the other tribe were fraid of the muslims so we say horrible things did you know that was me did you know the people with the most negative view of muslims in the world or even jellicoe when i heard that it broke my heart im one of those guys i got converted from hating muslims to loving muslims do i agree with it now id like to baptize everyone of. The day they have the right by saying yes there is this guy they have the right to believe they have the right to believe what they want to believe and tribalism is killing us heres my response i cant change whats wrong with with muslims i cant change whats wrong with jews guess what theres only one tribe i can speak to thats my tribe thats what i do i do because its a rejection of christianity and of my faith to say that its ok to hate muslims or anyone that jesus said love your enemies not just your neighbors your enemies he takes it to a whole nother level. Can i just say to this point i think this is this is this is actually getting into a flick of a little bit later in the show you know i i lo