VOA常速英语2017--跨信仰合作可催生巨大力量（在线收听）

Interfaith cooperation among religious communities around the world is a powerful counterbalance to hate, violence, and injustice, said U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein.

全球不同宗教社群的跨信仰合作可以起到对仇恨、暴力、不公平的强力抵消作用，美国国际宗教自由大使大卫萨波斯坦(David Saperstein)说。

This is especially true in countries afflicted by sectarian violence. In Kenya, for example, when Islamist gunmen suspected to be al-Shabaab attacked a bus in December 2015 and demanded that Christians and Muslims be separated, the driver of the bus said that the Muslims on board refused to be separated from their fellow Christian travelers. They told the militants to kill them all or leave them alone – which incredibly the gunmen in the main did. Yet one man, Salah Farah, was injured while shielding Christians from the attack and later died. His brother Rashid told media that he hoped Salah's example would encourage Kenyans to live as one community and promote religious harmony.

在深受宗派暴力所扰的国家尤其如此。以肯尼亚为例，2015年12月，当一伙貌似伊斯兰青年党的持枪分子袭击了一辆公交车，并要求车上的基督教徒与穆斯林教徒分开时，开车死机说，车上的穆斯林人是不会与基督教的伙伴们分开的。他们告诉这伙持枪分子，要么杀了所有人，要么就离开这里——但让人难以置信的是，车上的持枪分子竟然杀害了所有人。不过有一个名为萨拉赫法拉赫(Salah Farah)的人本来仅仅是受伤，但随后在保护基督教徒不受伤害的过程中身亡。萨拉赫的兄弟拉希德向媒体表示其希望萨拉赫的事迹能够激励肯尼亚人以社群的形式团结起来，促进宗教和谐。

In Israel there are examples of peace-building through interfaith education that schools like the Tabeetha School in Jaffa or the six Hand in Hand schools in cities all across Israel, provide to Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christian students.

以色列有很多通过跨信仰教育的方式共建和平的例子，有很多学校向犹太人、穆斯林人、德鲁兹派、基督教的学生们提供跨信仰教育，比如Jaffa的Tabeetha学校以及以色列分布在多个城市的6所手拉手学校。

In Turkey, members of Istanbul's tiny Greek Orthodox community, visitors from neighboring Greece and other faithful attended an Epiphany service led by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians in Istanbul, where the Patriarchate is based. A ceremony to bless the waters was also held in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city. It was the first "official" Epiphany ceremony there since the Greco-Turkish War ended in 1922 triggering a population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Although the Greek Consulate in Izmir had organized a ceremony in 2006, it was the first time the Turkish government both approved and helped to organize it. "It's a historic day here and we're grateful to the local authorities and to the Patriarchate ... for making this happen," Tina Samoglu, secretary of the Izmir Orthodox Community told Greek state TV.

"There is a power to be found when we advocate not just for people who share our beliefs, but also for those whose beliefs are profoundly different. When Jews advocate for Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs....when Christians advocate for Buddhists....when Hindus advocate for Muslims....when Muslims advocate for atheists....," said Ambassador Saperstein. ”When we all recognize that if any one of us is not free to practice our beliefs, then none of us are."

“当我们不只拥护与我们有相同信仰的人，还拥护那些与我们信仰迥然不同的人的时候，就会产生一种力量。比如犹太人拥护那些因信仰基督教而遭到迫害的基督教徒……比如基督教徒拥护佛教教徒……比如印度教徒拥护穆斯林教徒……比如穆斯林教徒拥护无神论者……，” 萨波斯坦说。“当我们意识到如果我们当中有任何一个人无法自由地信仰，那所有人就都无法自由信仰。”