November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

Walking in Abraham's Footsteps

(Page 2 of 2)

Utne Reader March / April 2007
Jon Spayde, Utne Reader 
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The initiative's website (www.abrahampath.org) details the progress of the project, which has already garnered support from individuals and organizations in 10 countries (including Syria and Jordan) and endorsements from Jimmy Carter and the Dalai Lama.

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In November of 2006, Ury and a multinational group of supporters took a two-week tour of potential sites on the path. 'The media tend to focus on areas of conflict,' Ury told the Crimson, 'but we had a very smooth passage.' On the website, the strictly apolitical group details its intention to 'work within the limitations' of the political situation: 'Most visitors from the West will be able to travel the entire length . . . without any problem, and visitors from most countries of the Middle East will be able to travel large portions of the route.'

The project has already succeeded in partnering with interreligious organizations, inspiring local Abraham Walks in several places around the United States, including Cincinnati, Dallas, and Austin, Texas. Organizers take participants on minipilgrimages that link local churches, mosques, and synagogues; interfaith liturgies and speakers round out the events.

As for its potential to bring Mideast peace, Ury is convinced that the initiative represents the sort of unconventional approach that may be the last, best chance, given the dismal record of traditional negotiation in that part of the world. As he told the syndicated public radio program A World of Possibilities (www.aworldofpossibilities.com) on June 20, 2006, 'The approach we've traditionally taken [to the Mideast] is a face-to-face approach. You bring people face-to-face with each other and you try to engage them in dialogue. . . . This idea is a side-by-side approach.'

Jon Spayde, a former senior editor at Utne Reader, writes on spiritual and artistic issues from his home in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has just completed a book of profiles of Christian believers and thinkers for Random House.

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