Dear Pastors and Priests

“Dear Pastors and Priests” draws a vision and outlines a plan of action to assist peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews to inspire God’s peace on Earth. Only the three main Abrahamic faiths are addressed because they have many shared beliefs, virtues, and values and their followers constitute more than 50% of the world’s population and are involved in most conflicts today. This book is only one step in a long journey to inspire world peace.

Message 1:
Because a vision can only be built on solid common ground, this message highlights shared Christian, Muslim, and Jewish beliefs, virtues, and values. Distinguishing beliefs from rituals is key to see the common ground. This message also challenges our faith leaders by asking them a tough question about their attitudes. Positiveness, optimism, leadership, and compassion are the attitudes necessary to champion world peace.

Message 2:
Just like Christians and Jews, Muslims believe in the power of prayer. Muslim prayer, however, is more than a sincere petition to God. “Salat” is a ritual, culture, and phenomenon that unites the hearts and souls of the worldwide Muslim community (Ummah). The unparalleled ritual is one reason why current and future American and European Muslim generations will most likely feel human despair and suffering anywhere in the world. US and European nations should get ready to champion global peace causes and build a just world order.

Messages 3 & 4:
The root cause of the current rift between the two camps is clarified in Messages 3 and 4 and Appendix B (Critical Muslim-Western Ideals and Perceptions Gap). Hundreds of millions of peace- and God-loving families and individuals in the Muslim mainland are deprived of freedom—cornered between repressive authoritarian regimes, militant religious organizations, and foreign interventions and invasions. Victims of the century-old "Great Repression" are counted in the tens of millions. The violence is trickling into Western nations and radicalization is now an international concern. As a result, many peace-loving Christian and Jewish families feel an insecurity at home that has turned them against peace-loving Muslim families.
The solution to the current rift is obvious, within the reach of peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the USA and Europe, economically rewarding, and can begin to take effect in few months. Amazing but true. The solution is in practicing what we preach and in our commitment to the values of democracy, human rights, freedom, and Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions and moral codes.

Message 5:
This message outlines a vision, strategy, and a plan of action for faith leaders to guide peace-loving Christians, Muslims, and Jews to world peace.
The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant (JCIC) is a new grassroots, faith-leader-lead, world peace initiative. The objective is to overcome the continuing threat of violence, radicalization and terrorism and to end the victimization of innocent humans in the name of God or country in both the Western and the Muslim worlds. This initiative complements other global human rights and peace organizations. The following are initiative highlights:

1. Prior to developing JCIC, critical success factors were collected or identified. The following are the main requirements:
   1. Must be consistent with strict and liberal interpretations of the Torah, Bible, and Quran and the views of conservative and liberal Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
   2. Keep Christian, Muslim, and Jewish crowds largely segregated. No multifaith worship services.
   3. Nonpolitical.
   4. Must be grassroots.
   5. Do not limit missionary work.
   6. Must be scalable: start local and grow global.
2. An overwhelming majority of mainstream Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders are peace-loving and oppose all forms of violence, particularly when children and other innocent civilians are hurt. Faith leaders on all sides, however, are not sufficiently outspoken in their opposition to violence because of the horrendous acts that many Muslims, Jews, and Christians are silent about on the opposing side. Moreover, media bias makes it seem as if mainstream faith leaders on all sides do not oppose the violence.
3. The vision empowers all Abrahamic faith leaders to stand united in consistent application of the ethical principles that all of the Abrahamic faiths espouse, to condemn all violence and oppression against innocents. The proposed initiatives and the overall current state of world affairs present a historic opportunity for free, peace-loving faith leaders in the USA and Europe to play a major role in inspiring God’s peace on earth. This is opportunity knocking: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few." (Luke10:2) Will you be one of them?
4. Primary vision challenges are education in the Western World and political repression in the Muslim mainland.

The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant (JCIC)
The voice of Conscience and Innocent Victims
The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant, Inc. is an envisioned international peace organization based in the United States. Its members are Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faith leaders who span the globe and have made a covenant before God, their congregations, and all nations to inspire God’s transcendent peace. Their mission is to bring an end to the victimization of the innocents of all faiths, all nations, all races, all skin colors, and all ethnicities, whether violated in the name of God or Country. Building on the principles of shared Abrahamic beliefs, values, and virtues, this emerging partnership of faith leaders from across the religious spectrum--conservative, moderate, and liberal--and of all denominations sign a covenant to inspire common causes in their respective congregations and denominations. The peace-making partners will network, coordinate, and communicate via the Internet to publish covenant articles (pledges and common causes), negotiated objectives, and report on independently verified achievements. To strengthen this partnership, participating churches, mosques, and synagogues around the world will be paired with counterparts in the other faith groups, even including partnerships between the Vatican, Grand Mosque in Mecca, and various holy shrines in Jerusalem. Faith leaders inspire potentially billions of followers by appearing hand-in-hand before local, national, and international audiences to affirm their anti-violence stance and solidarity with all innocent victims, whom they mention by name. Faith leaders offer community inclusion to the followers of other faiths in their locales by reading intercongregation messages in the name of The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Covenant and by participating in Covenant Sanctuary Peace Drills and Peace Maker Month campaigns. This partnership will provide a context for the cause of world peace. The JCIC organization will restructure and open invitations to other faiths once major milestones in grassroots Jewish, Christian, and Muslim relations are achieved. This venture complements other peace initiatives on the global stage (e.g., Charter for Compassion, interfaith, etc.). Initially, faith leaders can endorse the covenant on www.CovenantCentury.org (or www.jcic.org). JCIC will be open for membership when enough endorsements are collected.