Interview with Tihomir Kukolja translated and adapted from Croatian and Serbian, published first by the Serbian web portal Vas zavicaj (Your Homeland) on October 18, 2010.
What Motivates You in Your Life?
Over the years I have increasingly become aware of the significance and power of the radical love of God embedded in the sacrificial life and suffering death of Jesus Christ. It is gradually shaping my understanding that as a follower of Jesus I am called to take a stand against all divisions that have tragically shaped the history of the Balkans; namely, against the paradigm that values people in Southeast Europe on the basis of their religion, ethnicity and national identity. Especially tragic are the consequences of such divisions in the hearts and minds of the generations of young people in the countries that have emerged after the breakup of former Yugoslavia. My desire is to be an active contributor to the processes that are developing reconciliation, forgiveness, friendship and cooperation between the divided groups. Unfortunately the years following the war conflicts in the nineties have been marked by a return to the age of ethnic, national and religious tribalism. I am rejecting such a paradigm by cherishing friendships and cooperation with people not only in Croatia, but in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania too, and across the entire region as well. Moreover, via the Renewing Our Minds (ROM) initiative, I am trying to encourage the growth of cross regional activities and projects that are actively advancing forgiveness and reconciliation between the young people, future leaders in the Balkan countries. I believe that a key mission among the followers of Jesus in the region today is to be ambassadors of Jesus of Nazareth in peacemaking, and in becoming an example of how to raise above all racial, national, ethnic, religious and other similar tribal divides.
Why have you decided to bring faith, leadership, reconciliation and journalism closer together?
In 2002 I accepted the invitation to assume the key leadership role over the Renewing Our Minds initiative, a ministry of Life Center International in Croatia. Since then I’ve not had as much time for active journalism. I am intending to do much more in the future. However, since the early nineties I have firmly believed that the people of faith, who are engaged in social and public service, ought to be active witnesses of the values and principles of their faith across all segments of society – social, cultural, as well as political. For example, I believed that Christians, involved in journalism and media ought to speak publicly on the issues of the church and state separation, freedom of conscience, human rights and social justice. Even then I believed that their public mission ought to be informed by their understanding of the teachings of Jesus. At the time I personally touched vigorously some of those issues in my articles and in chairing a number of public forums, especially those related to freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Moreover, I loved leading seminars and classes for Christian journalists in which we tried to encourage them to go beyond writing for the church and denominational papers only. Today I believe that leaders who profess faith in Jesus Christ, a category that includes all people of influence in society including journalists and other media professionals, should go even further in their social activism by taking a lead in defending and standing up for the poor, minorities, economically exploited, and all other categories of people abused and oppressed along racial, ethnic, national, religious, political and economical lines. I do not believe in the social gospel, but I do firmly believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has very serious social connotations.
How did the Renewing our Minds (ROM) Initiative start, and what are its objectives?
Renewing Our Minds (ROM) initiative originated in 1999. It was the fruit of a thorough planning and preparation process initiated by Life Center International (LCI), located in Rijeka and Fuzine, Croatia, under the leadership of Stevo Dereta, the LCI President. Its first and pioneering leaders were Vesna Tift (Vuletic) and Drazen Glavas. They were surrounded by a caring and committed group of international supporters, helpers and advisers. In 2002 I was invited by the LCI Board and the ROM's Advisory Group to take up the role of the ROM Director. From its early days ROM impressed me with its vision of a new generation of leaders, reconciled and committed to serve.
Originally ROM was designed as a three week gathering to which young leaders of the divided Balkans were invited to learn to embrace each other and develop lasting friendships despite their religious, national and ethnic differences. This was indeed very much a revolutionary concept at the time: more like a journey than a conference or a seminar, and very much relational in nature. For the past twelve years ROM has been encouraging young Balkan leaders to adopt a new paradigm – one of forgiveness, reconciliation, peacemaking, humanity created in the image of God, loving one’s neighbor as oneself, and leadership of integrity and service rather than one based on greed and self-serving interests.
Moreover, ROM was founded on the platform of the teachings and character of Jesus of Nazareth. A community of close to 500 young leaders from Southeast Europe (Balkans) and many other regions of the world have directly experienced ROM gatherings in Fuzine, Croatia. Former participants would often say that a three-week journey in a community of diverse people, often previously considered as enemies, was a life defining experience for them. Moreover, thanks to projects such as Economic Diplomacy Seminar, Wave and other, that have grown out of ROM, the number of people exposed to the teachings about a leadership of character, reconciliation and following of Jesus – has doubled or tripled at least. ROM has become a meeting place loved by Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, agnostics and atheists. To date we have had participants attending ROM gatherings from over 40 countries – all Southeast European countries, many EU countries, USA, Australia, as well as from Armenia, Cyprus, Israel, Moldova, Turkey, Iraq, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and more. ROM is also well known in international leadership circles. It seems that Croatia, the home of ROM, knows the least about it. How appropriate are the words of Jesus who said that «no one is the prophet in its own land».
How much are the religious differences to blame for the war conflicts in former Yugoslavia?
The differences in religion were not the cause of the bitter war conflicts in the former Yugoslavian countries. Those were used to inflame the hate and passions that led to wars. We did not fight for the purity of faith. Our wars originated in a deliberate resurrection of and manipulation with the old ethnic and tribal fears, and for the economical and territorial gains. The so-called defense of “our spiritual heritage” was only an excuse needed to sanctify the unholy passions of war with a higher purpose. In any war it becomes easier to kill and be killed for some transcendental purpose, than in the name of territorial and economical greed, and thirst for power. It is sad that in our region, which continues to declare itself to be majority Christian, many of us became intoxicated by the atmosphere of nationalism and justification of the wars at the time. Djordje Balasevic, a well known musician and artist, loved by millions in all the countries of former Yugoslavia, was right when he sung almost twenty years ago: «We are to blame because we kept quiet». In the early nineties he was a rare prophetic voice who dared to defy the wars and question the integrity of the millions who allowed themselves to be morally paralyzed by the wars. We in Croatia and Serbia, where up to 90% people claim to be Christians, did not want to hear the voice of Jesus of Nazareth, who - had we paid more attention to His gospel – never justified our wars; even less the way they were carried out. God was not on our side. He was with those who were persecuted, whose houses were burned to the ground, refugees forced out of their homes on all sides of the conflict, and those tortured and murdered in the most horrifying circumstances just because they were Croats, Serbs, Albanians, Muslims.
I believe, however, that the number of people, who believe that the time has come for forgiveness and development of new neighborly relationships is growing today across the region. Foremost the process of reconciliation should be led by the people who profess to be the followers of Jesus Christ, because reconciliation and forgiveness are in the very heart of the Gospel. As He was embracing the whole world on the cross, Jesus Christ pronounced the most radical mission statement of anyone who declares to be his follower: «Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing». It is in this statement that Christians in Croatia and Serbia, and across the rest of the Balkans, should find the invitation, motivation and power to embrace each other. Religious circles that continue to excite divisions, or religious leaders who continue to preach hatred, are shaming the gospel of Christ.
How does ROM help raising the awareness about human rights in the region?
ROM's mission statement talks about the investment in a «new generation of leaders with characters transformed by Jesus of Nazareth, committed to reconciliation, peacemaking, friendship, leadership of service, healing social action, and building of benevolent communities.” The advancement of this vision would not be possible without a high respect for human rights, especially of those who are socially rejected and oppressed in various ways. Number of our friends, from Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro to Kosovo, Macedonia and Romania, who have experienced ROM, are actively involved in organizations and movements that stand for the protection and advancement of human rights. They passionately labor to protect the rights, and increase the quality of ethnic and other minorities, as well as to integrate them into society as its equal members.
Let me emphasize, however, that ROM is not foremost a movement for the protection of human rights. Our focus is on the development of the characters of leaders in tune with the character and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. We believe that only the leaders with transformed characters are able to get into the public arena with integrity and credibility. Our region and the world as a whole do not need leaders who brag about human rights only when it is politically fashionable. Only leaders of character and virtue have moral courage to stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed, abused and marginalized, with a commitment to serve them. This is the paradigm of leadership that is in the service to people and community, modeled after Jesus of Nazareth and taught at ROM gatherings.
What are the differences between the political and social scene of USA and the Balkans, and what are the similarities?
Occasionally, as a joke I would say that the entire world, including the USA, is an extended Balkan. USA suffers from some of the same diseases known to us living in the Balkans. Some of them are political divisions, demonization of enemies, use of negative political advertising, self-righteous attitude of religious circles that desire to dominate over the political and social space in the US, very much present class divisions that do not favor the poor, and increasing nostalgia for the past with mythological overtones. Moreover, as it continues to be the case in the regions of former Yugoslavia, where national, ethnic and religious differences continue to be the sources of fear and prejudice, America too has its own share of fears and prejudices. The US has not been as divided for a very long time as it is today. Fear and lack of trust continues to divide, even ghettoize, the American society along groups such as those who are of Islamic background, white, black, Hispanic immigrants, Republicans, Democrats, Evangelicals. All human right watch groups have witnessed the worrying increase in the number of hate and racially motivated groups in the past two years. However, as the hate groups increase in number so do the groups, organizations and movements, including churches and faith based groups, that are very successfully building bridges of friendship and reconciliation across political, social and religious divides. I know personally several that are very successfully bringing closer together Christians and Muslims.
Although the Renewing Our Minds Initiative targets predominantly the Balkan region, over the years ROM has also given its modest contribution to the building of bridges of understanding applicable to the American society. In the twelve years of ROM’s current history many Americans have taken a part in ROM events in Croatia and surrounding countries, either as speakers, mentors, volunteers or participants. Initially many would come to experience ROM from a case study perspective, only to realize that the problems defining the Balkans define the American society too. Good things have come out of this. For example, there exists a peacemaking organization in the US today inspired by the vision of ROM that addresses the issues of reconciliation, peacemaking and leadership development with the American challenges in mind. The Institute for Sustainable Peace was founded by Randall Butler, a Houston based lawyer and a regular ROM speaker and mentor since 2002, whose inspiration to develop a home based peacemaking organization grew out of his commitment to ROM.
Having said all of this, the US still remains a country that inspires the world with its commitment to democracy and stable democratic institutions that will guide America sucessfuly through its current crisis.
What are your plans for the future?
For the past three years my wife Christine and I have lived in Houston TX. Every summer we would spend three months in Croatia focusing on leading ROM gatherings in a picturesque mountain town of Fuzine, close to the Adriatic Sea. My wife is actually from Houston. A few years ago we decided to adopt a child, and this is what brought us to USA at the end of 2007. Today we are blessed by a two and a half year old son Matthew, who is a true joy and inspiration to us. I also have three wonderful grown-up children from my first marriage – Kristina, Tamara and Andrew, all of them living in Australia. At this time Christine, Matthew and I are planning our to return to Croatia in order to further the development of the Renewing Our Minds initiative. God willing, over the next four years our plan is to develop in the Balkans a team of young leaders of good quality, character and comittment to service, who will provide the future leadership of ROM. Leading of the Renewing Our Minds initiative has significantly shaped my life over the past nine years. It radicalized my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus. Looking back I can trace my own journey from a follower of a religion to becoming a follower of the Person – Jesus of Nazareth. There is the whole world of difference between the two, and I am still on the journey learning to love my God with all my heart and my neighbors as myself, whether they are Croats, Serbs, Albanians, Bosniaks, Americans, Australians, Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, agnostics or atheists.
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