The Rev. Canon Andrew P. B. White, Iraq

Read a recent Tanenbaum interview with Canon White! 

As a fervent religious leader in Iraq, he has been kidnapped, robbed, hijacked, and
has received countless death threats over the years. As a British Christian with Multiple Sclerosis, Canon White lives amid the sectarian violence other Westerners only read about, and calls leading Shiite, Sunni, and other Iraqi leaders his close friends in the struggle to end the conflict.

For the last ten years, the Anglican vicar, activist, and scholar has dedicated his
life to reconciliation in the Middle East by focusing on the positive role religion can
play in resolving conflicts. Living in a constant state of risk, he negotiates the release
of hostages, forges relations among key religious leaders, brings forth important peace agreements, and provides desperately needed food and shelter to victims of violence. Today known as the “Vicar of Baghdad,” his religious calling has brought his critical peacemaking efforts to Iraq.

Canon White quickly became involved in initiating several religious peace tracks
in the region as the Special Envoy to the Middle East for the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1998 he took his first trip to Iraq. When the current war began, he adamantly warned the international diplomatic community to take religion into consideration when planning the postwar reconstruction. But today he works with the results of their failure to do so.

As the CEO and President of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East, as
well as the initiator of the Iraqi Institute of Peace and the priest of the Anglican Church in Baghdad, Canon White operates with the belief that all political peace tracks require a corresponding religious track to ensure any lasting peace. He averages about ten meetings a day with Iraqi political and religious leaders, top members of the U.S.led coalition, and grassroots organizations to forge constructive communication between the various local factions. He is currently trying to organize a conference of Iraq’s top religious leaders, an initiative that faces the basic challenges of finding a neutral and secure location, and funding.

Canon White couples his peacemaking with enormous relief efforts for ordinary
Iraqis – including supporting families with basic provisions of food, creating spaces
for children to safely play and grow, ensuring young girls and boys receive lifesaving surgery, and providing widows with the support they need to keep their families alive.

Canon White has also done significant work in Israel and Palestine, where he
once negotiated the release of hostages and in 2002 helped mediate an end to the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. That same year, Canon White’s efforts to engage religious leaders in Israel and Palestine succeeded with the historic signing of the Alexandria Declaration, a pledge in which Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders agreed to use their religious authority within their respective communities to work for peace in the region. Today, he continues to pursue the Alexandria peace process with religious leaders, as well as provide much needed relief to Palestinians through the provision of food, shelter, fees for schooling, and medicine for chronically ill children.

Although diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, his physical symptoms have hardly
slowed him down. As he explains, “If I stop, I feel ill. So I keep going.”  The
mental strain is more difficult, however, with the loss of many of his close friends
and colleagues due to the violence, in addition to his own life being in constant danger.
The strength to continue comes from his deep faith, as well as his love and respect
or the people of the Middle East. In Canon White’s own words:

“Does the death and destruction of these people really not matter? The pain is great, the anger is great and I am convinced more than ever that the only way forward is to talk. This too is difficult, painful and not without risks but if it only saves one life it is worth it.”

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Q&A  with Canon White

Q: Andrew, you are voluntarily in Iraq at a time when most people are trying to get out. Why?

A: I love Iraq, and its people are truly wonderful. Iraq is historically a great nation - the very cradle of civilization. We have to help rebuild it and to do so involves risk-taking. There is no other way of making peace. We have to be as radical in our peacemaking as the terrorists are in their war making. Peacemaking is not easy or work that is nice.

Q: Every day, we read headlines about sectarian violence in Iraq. As someone on the ground, what role do you see religion playing in the conflict?

A: Religion is a major part of the conflict; therefore it must also be part of the solution. Just after the war I told the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that we must start working on religious dialogue immediately. I was told Iraq was a secular nation so religion should only be thought about after water and electricity were dealt with.

Q: As a Christian, how are you able to reach out to other religious groups, particularly Shi’a and Sunni religious leaders?

A: Amongst the religious leaders, they trust me because I am religious and have been around a long time. I have been in and out of Iraq since 1998.

Q: What do you think the Iraqi government and/or the U.S. led coalition should do to better address the sectarian violence?

A: Sectarianism can only be addressed by dealing with sects. There must be more engagement with all religious and tribal leaders and not just “the good ones.” The religious leaders feel that they have been ignored.

Q: Do you think grassroots religious leaders in general have a role to play in conflict resolution?

A: Grassroots religious leaders may have a role in their communities, but really it is the big leaders people follow in Iraq. It is therefore the big leaders we are mainly working with.

Q: If you could let people outside of Iraq know one thing about what it’s like on the ground there, what would it be?

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