Lesson in surviving hate At a time when sectarian wars are on the rise, a fascinating exhibit at the Free Library of Phila- delphia reminds us that people aren't born with these visceral hatreds, but are taught them. Called "Survival in Sarajevo: Jews, Muslims, Serbs, and Croats during the siege of Sarajevo, 1992-1995," the exhibit raises a fascinating question: Why are some people able to rise above political and media machinations that aim to instill hate? In the polyglot city of Sarajevo, few thought the sectarian violence sparked by the breakup of Yugoslavia would reach them. But the city was besieged, mor- tared, and starved by Belgrade-backed Serbs for three years while the world looked on and did nothing. The Serbs only let sporadic shipments of food aid enter the city, while sniping and shell- ing those who queued for bread and water. So a handful of Holocaust survivors turned Sarajevo's one remaining synagogue into a humanitarian aid agency, La Benevolencija (meaning "good will"). There, Jews and Muslims, along with Serbian Orthodox and Catholic Croats, worked together to feed hundreds of near-starving citizens daily. I have a very personal interest in this story, as I visited Sarajevo during the siege and attended Passover seder in 1996 at the synagogue. (More about that below.) The large, turn-of- the-century Ashkenazi synagogue became a shelter, clinic, and storage hall for the needy, with no questions asked about background. Five hundred thousand medical prescriptions were filled and 20,000 patients treated. "At La Benevolencija they did what was naturally right," says Edward Serotta, director of Centropa, the Jewish historical institute that organized the exihibi- tion. La Benevolencija put the lie to the claim by Serb leader Radovan Karadzic that different ethnic groups could not live together. What was different about this group? For one thing, the Jews' deep historic ties to Sarajevo put them in a unique position to initi- ate the project. Sephardic Jews migrated to the city at the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the 16th century, and, under the Ottoman Empire, were never required to live in ghettos; Ashkenazi Jews arrived when the Austro- Hungarian empire took control of Bosnia in the late 19th century. The community was decimated by Nazis and Croatian fascists during World War II, with only slightly more than 1,000 Jews remaining at the be- ginning of the siege. But many of them had lived through the Holocaust or fought with the Yugoslav partisans. In the words of the exhibit, La Benevolencija's organiz- ers "shared with a lesson Jews in Europe had been learning for centuries: how to survive." Equally important, the fact that Jews were considered neutral enabled their vans to pass through Muslim, Croatian Catholic, or Serbian Orthodox check points. And they were able to access Jewish aid groups abroad, primarily the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which provided the bulk of their supplies. But the small number of Jews could not have done this alone, and the Croats, Serbs, and Muslims who joined them were also special. Thirty-two percent of Sarajevo's population before the siege was intermarried. In this sophisticated city, most young people believed their former Yugoslav identity had trumped religion, and tried to cling to that belief when war came. Many Sarajevan Croats and Serbs remained in the city, although it became the capital of the Muslim sector of Bosnia, and were denounced as "traitors" by other Croats and Serbs. I wish I could say that their splendid nonsec- tarianism resonated after the siege. Sadly, postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina is still bitterly divided into Serb, Croat, and Muslim sectors, and, even in Sarajevo, sectar- ianian sentiments have increased. Meantime, civic activists who try to surmount religious and ethnic divides in places such as Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Pakistan have mostly been crushed. However, even in divided countries, one constantly sees examples of young people defying the hatemongers. At the Passover seder I attended in Sarajevo, local Jews were joined by Catholics, Orthodox, and Muslims, and by the then-Bos- nian ambassador to Washington, Sven Alcalaj, a Sarajevan who was half Jewish and half Croatian Catholic. The rabbi, Moshe Tutnauer, an American Israeli who once offici- ated at Philadelphia's congregation Har Zion, recited a prayer from the famous 14th century Sarajevo Haggadah (Passover prayerbook) as he held the traditional unleavened bread, saying: "This is the bread of affliction which our ancestors ate in Egypt. Let anyone who is hun- gry come and eat." "That," he added, "is the message of La Benevolencija." And that example remains a model of how to rise above sectarian hate. Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial- board member for The Philadelphia Inquirer Readers may reach her at trubin@phillynews.com. Evangelicals return to seeking souls nly a decade ago, Christian social conservatives were a commanding force in American pol- itics. They helped elect one of their own, George W Bush, to two terms. They were a corner- stone of a GOP coalition that appeared to hold a permanent electoral majority. But today, the movement has lost its momentum- in part because one of its assets has become a liability. It used to be that when Republicans wanted to increase con- servative voter turnout, all they had to do was put same-sex marriage on the ballot. Even in liberal California, voters could be counted on to reject the then-outland- ish idea of gay marriage. But nothing in American politics has changed more rapidly than public opinion on that issue. These days, a solid majority of American voters say they don't see anything wrong with gay nup- tials. About the only major constituencies that haven't come around are conserva- tive Republicans and MILBANK FROM PAGE 9 points, nor did they ask me to." He called the talking points which turned out to be wrong - "the best available I Charlotte Hearing Center, Inc. I - Bethany L. Walden, Au.D. Board Certified Doctor ofAudiology Hearing Evaluations & Hearing Aids "Since 1984" 21216 Olean Blvd., Suite 4 Port Charlotte Across from AAA Bldg. 766-8886 SMost Major BrandsAvailable evangelical Christians, and even in their ranks, there's a distinct gen- eration gap. A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll found that while only 27 percent of evangelicals approve of same-sex marriage, 43 percent of evangeli- cals younger than 34 do. That epochal shift has led to some soul-search- ing, not only in the Republican National Committee but among evangelical leaders as well. They are not aban- doning their defense of heterosexual marriage and other conservative social causes. But they can't help notice that the tide is moving in the other direction, and not just on gay marriage. Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in 2012 in part because he was able to tie the GOP candidate to socially information at the time." Did he have a conver- sation with anyone at theWhite House about the nature of the talking points? "No, sir." His thoughts on the false information Susan Rice gave on TV the Sunday after the attacks? "What she said about the attacks evolving spontaneously from a protest was exactly what the talking points said." conservative views on contraception. The shifts in public sentiment have led Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention to draw an arresting conclusion: Contrary to what an ear- lier generation believed, there's no "moral major- ity" in America today, and never was. "There was a Bible Belt illusion of a Christian America that never existed," Moore told journalists at a conference sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center last week. "The illusion of a moral majority is no longer sustainable." The Moral Majority, of course, was the Christian political caucus founded by the late Jerry Falwell in 1979. Falwell's premise was that conservative Christians were a sleeping giant, and that if they were organized and summoned to the polls, Congress and state legislatures would do their will. Moore has concluded that although plenty of Americans call them- selves evangelicals and attend church most How about the claims that somebody in the administration told the military not to assist on the night of the attack? "I am aware of several requests by CIA for mil- itary support that night, and those requests were honored and delivered." The former official's denials of any skull- duggery drove the Republicans on the panel into a fury and caused Rep. Lynn Westmoreland Have all your dental work completed and not remember a thing' IV Sedation and Nitrous Oxide Available! j FREE IV Sedation! - with any procedure over $2500 Call for full details, exp. 4/30/14 * (941) 429-5771 dental codes: 9241 & 9242 CELEBRITY SMILES -IMPLANT& WWDAI'ION DFNTIrORY- - Sunday, many have drifted away from or- thodoxy on issues such as divorce, abortion and gay marriage. To Moore, that means the crucial mission for believers shouldn't be politics but rather to preach the Gospel and win souls. "We will continue contending for the cul- ture, but certainly not contending for electoral politics as the end goal," he said. Moore is no liberal; he believes in the literal truth of the Bible, and he abhors abortion and gay marriage. But he's a realist. "We need to recognize where the country is," he said. For example, he said, attempts to put marriage amendments in state constitutions would be "a politically ridiculous thing to do right now." Instead, evangelicals should fo- cus on issues of religious liberty, such as whether Christian-owned busi- nesses can be required to offer their services for gay weddings. "I would want a pres- idential candidate who understands the public good of marriage," to lose command of his vocabulary. The Georgia Republican, trying to find sinister meaning in the CIAs changing of a phrase from "attacks" to "violent demonstrations," explained that if there had been a protest, "you would see people malingering around and doing things. ... They didn't see anybody malingering around." Malingering? Perhaps the congressman ex- pected the terrorists to be complaining about a persistent cough. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y, let loose a string of insults on the uncooperative witness, saying Morell was either "misleading by omission" or "lying by omission" and violating "your obligation to this committee." King went on to suggest that there was something suspicious about Morell going into business with former State Department official Philippe Reines (never mind that another partner in the venture is a former Republican staff director of the House Moore said, "one who is not hostile to evan- gelical concerns and who is going to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience." Moore also thinks that, even as formal efforts to organize evan- gelicals politically wane, there is still plenty of room for faith leaders to promote policy changes that affirm human dignity. This week, for example, he and Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing the Republican-led House for failing to pass an immigration reform law. "Their strategy is shortsighted," the two conservative leaders wrote. "Reform is the right thing to do for our economy, and the moral thing to do for the soul of our nation." The Republican Party shouldn't be too worried. Evangelicals are unlikely to leave the GOP even if they aren't as active in promoting an agenda. In 2012, for example, 79 percent of white evangelicals voted Intelligence Committee) and about Morell be- coming a commentator for CBS News, where President David Rhodes is brother of Obama adviser Ben Rhodes (never mind that CBS is the network that ran a damning but false account of the Benghazi response). "When you see the whole totality here, this is why people have ques- tions," King said. Questions such as Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asking Morell if he "conspired" with the White House. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., skipped the questions in favor of accusations. "I believe that the totality of the information was obfuscated and that there was an intentional misleading of the public," she said, charging Morell with changing the talking points "for the White House." Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who is retiring to be a talk-radio host, had drawn grumbles for Romney, despite the unease some felt with his Mormon religion. In fact, the refocusing of evangelical activism could actually be good for the party. In the next GOP presidential pri- maries, candidates may not face the same rigid litmus tests on social issues as Romney did. A candidate closer to the center of American public opinion one, say, who accepts current laws on gay marriage and supports compre- hensive immigration reform might even survive the nomination process and get elected. That wasn't Moore's objective when he took office last year as head of the Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. His goal was to find a more effective way to bring Christian belief into the public square. But he may also have made it easier for a moderate conservative Republican to run for president in 2016. Doyle McManus is a columnist for The Los Angeles Times. Readers may reach him at doyle. mcmanus@latimes.com. from some conservatives for being insufficiently zealous about Benghazi. Wednesday's three-hour extravaganza should help him with those critics, be- cause it gave Republican lawmakers a chance to vent their rage. Angriest, or at least loudest, was Rep. Frank LoBiondo of New Jersey, who shouted virtually his entire statement: "We get on talking points, and we get about who said this and whether the station chief said that. And the bottom line is that we've got people running around who killed Americans, who are sip- ping mai tais or whatever they're sipping, and we can't do anything about it." Good point. So maybe Republicans will drop their obsession with 19-month-old talking points and start asking what more can be done to get the bad guys. Dana Milbank is a Washington Post colum- nist. Readers may reach him at danamilbank@ washpost.com. Our Town Page 10 C www.sunnewspapers.net The Sun /Sunday, April 6,2014 VIEWPOINT