MCC: Ahmadinejad invited to build peace

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The group that invited Iran's president to attend a dialogue in New York Thursday said it just wants to "build peace and understanding between societies."

The Mennonite Central Committee said it invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a dialogue with Christian, Jewish and Muslim political and religious leaders following his address earlier this week at the United Nations, at which he railed against the United States and its opposition to Iran's nuclear program.

"As Christians, we take Jesus' Sermon on the Mount very seriously and say 'Love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you,'" said Arli Klassen, the group's executive director. "Right now the U.S. and Iran are defining each other as enemies and so, as Christians, we are trying to promote dialogue, understanding and bridge-building, rather than leading to war."

The invitation incensed Catholic League President Bill Donohue, who called it "obscene."

In a statement, the committee said it was co-sponsoring the dialogue with the American Friends Service Committee, Quaker United Nations Office, Religions for Peace and World Council of Churches, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, in consultation with the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations "to build peace and understanding between societies that are often divided by animosity."

"It doesn't mean that we agree or support everything or anything that the person does, but it does mean that we recognize their humanity, and that God has created us all, and that we need to find ways to live together," Klassen said.