Resources for Teachers and Students on Reverend Benjamin
Weir
Prepare: The Reverend Benjamin Weir, a
Presbyterian missionary to Lebanon, was kidnapped by Shiite
militants in 1984 and held as a hostage for 16 months. His
background, and a brief account of his ordeal, can be found
in the
archives of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Read:
Benjamin Weir's Architects of Peace essay is excerpted from
his memoir, Hostage Bound, Hostage Free. In this brief passage
he reflects on the process of being bound by captors and
being freed by faith.
Explore: During the time Benjamin Weir
was being held hostage in Lebanon, Iran was at war with
Iraq. The Shiite militants holding Weir hostage were sympathetic
to Iran. Israeli officials approached the United States
with a secret proposal to broker a deal where 508 American-made
anti-tank missiles would be traded to Iran in return for
Weir's release. This deal was finally approved by US Secretary
of Defense Casper Weinberger, and became the first of two
arms-for-hostage swaps. A scandal ensued when details of
this swap were made public, and a special presidential review
board, called the "Tower Commission," was appointed
to investigate. Excerpts from the commission's report can
be found on the website of The American Presidency Project,
which is sponsored by the University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Write: In his book, Hostage Bound, Hostage
Free, Benjamin Weir reflects on the clash of faith between
himself and his Muslim captors. He writes, "
I
was dismayed at the radical difference in perspective about
faith in daily life. I respected the Muslims' sense of dedication
and desire to be found in the will of God. But I wished
for them a greater sense of freedom and openness to consider
other alternatives. I was also disappointed that there were
no extended opportunities for exploring together the meaning
of faith and trust in God in daily life."(151-2) Using
multiple sources, compose a four-to-six page research paper
examining the present level of conflict between Muslims
and Christians worldwide, and exploring whether such conflict
is inevitable given the disparity between two divergent
faith-based worldviews. Would extended opportunities to
explore the meaning of faith help resolve the tension between
two religious cultures?
Extend: The International Association
of Muslim Scholars has recently released a fatwa, an authoritative
ruling based on Islamic teaching, which condemns the practice
of taking hostages for political purposes. The fatwa is
exemplary of Koran-based scholarship, and integrates a number
of fundamental Islamic principles into the rationale behind
the ruling. An English translation of the fatwa can be found
on the
Islam Online website.
Biography of Reverend
Benjamin Weir