Photo/DAN PELTON REV. MOHAMED MOHAMED, who spoke to an audience at the Orangeville Christian School Monday night, sees Christianity as the spiritual glue that could bond the disputing factions of the Middle East together When Rev. Mohamed Mohamed visited the Orangeville Christian School Monday night, he spoke of a way peaceful co-existence could come to the perennial powder keg in the Middle East,

For him, the key is for the region to undergo a large-scale conversion to Christianity. “I am not saying that Christianity is the only answer spiritually,” he explained in an

interview. “I am saying that Christianity is the way to bring peace between the Jewish and Islamic peoples.

“The religion of Islam teaches people to defend themselves. In Judaism, they look at the Middle East and say this land is their land, and they ask everyone else to leave.”

Rev. Mohamed said that when former Jews and former Muslims have accepted Christ, they get along with each other very well.

He, himself, was born a Muslim in Egypt but has since converted to Christianity and is now the Muslim Ministry Director with Youth With a Mission

(YWAM).

Around since 1960, YWAM has as its main focus the exploration of new vision and new ways to change lives through training, conveying the message of the Gospel and care for those in need.

The organization currently operates at more than 1,000 locations in over 150 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.

To some, Rev. Mohamed’s idea may seem too simplistic. While he explained in the interview that Christianity says “everyone is the same,” his point can be challenged by the sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland.

Or, more to the Middle Eastern point, there was the massacre of over 600 Palestinians by the Christian militia in Lebanon in 1982.

What Rev. Mohamed is suggesting is that Christianity, while not the be-all, end-all of world religions, could be a discernable barometer of tolerance in a troubled, divided region.

He said he is unable to return to Egypt because of his conversion. Those in the Middle East who convert from Islam to Christianity, “have put themselves under persecution.

“People are allowed to convert from Christianity to Islam, but not the other way around.”

Nevertheless, he said, YWAM has over 100 prayer groups across North America praying that what they see as Christian principles could unite the Middle Eastern people in a spiritual bond.

Asked why he would come to Dufferin County, an area not deep in ethnic, religious diversity, he replied: “More ethnic groups are moving here,, and some of them are Muslim.

“Muslims are good people. They need to know Canada is a place of peace and that is based on a Christian foundation.”