A Deadly Misunderstanding - Bridges To Common Ground

With this important new work, Mr. Siljander has courageously stood up to be counted.

Ban Ki-MOON,

Secretary-General of the United Nations

His book offers a blueprint for breaking this logjam of dissension that contributes to so much conflict today.

Hon. James A. Baker III,

61st U.S. Secretary of State & Chairman Iraq Group

Former Congressman and Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Mark D. Siljander takes us on an eye-opening journey of personal, religious, and political discovery. In the 1980s, Siljander was a newly minted Reagan Republican from Michigan who joined Congress in the same generation as Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, ready to remake the world. A staunch member of the Religious Right, he once walked out of the National Prayer Breakfast when a Muslim speaker quoted from the Qur'an. Siljander recounts his spiritual odyssey starting as an anti-Muslim Christian conservative to a pioneer in discovering ground-breaking common roots between Islam and Christianity, while trailblazing a unique diplomatic path for bringing the two communities together.

This story inspires hope in our increasingly desperate world, uncovering compelling common ground for followers of these two super-power religions. At the root of our mutual discord are basic misunderstandings of foundational concepts such as the meaning of “religion” and “conversion”. His findings are drawn from twenty-seven years of study and real-world diplomatic engagements. Wherever he and his praying partners travel among Muslim nations, the outcome of their quiet diplomacy is respect, trust, love of friends and enemies, and significant real-world breakthroughs in crisis situations of which few are aware.

In A Deadly Misunderstanding, Siljander breaks down and re-assembles keys to understanding these concepts through the lens of the ancient Semitic languages of the Abrahamic religions, making paradigm-shifting discoveries that unite rather than divide us. His audiobook offers a new model based on ancient truths, proven to powerfully affect people, conflicts, countries, and potentially change cultures. This seemingly implausible path to peace dismantles the engine of terror without firing a single shot.

Many are convinced that he is on the cusp of what will prove literally to be the tipping point in realigning radical terrorist enemies.

Hon. Edwin Meese,

Fmr. U.S. Attorney General and Fellow at the Heritage Foundation

I have experienced first-hand the strategy underlying Mark’s book: that loving our enemies has the power to counter the threat of religious extremism.

Hon. Tony Hall,

Former U.S. Congressman (D-Ohio), U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Food Program and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee

This book teaches us how to transform barriers into bridges and promote respect and understanding between Muslim and Christian believers.

Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed,,

National Director, Islamic Society of North America

A blueprint to challenge the “Ideology of Terror” that threatens our way of life.

Hon. John H. Dalton,

70th Secretary of the Navy

A precious balm for wounds that need to be healed and a most sincere and effective antidote to stereotypes based on fear and hatred that need to be transformed into love and understanding on both sides.

Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr,

University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C.

One of the most exciting areas of contemporary research in Jewish/Christian/Muslim relations.

Fr. Sidney H. Griffith,

Eminent professor of Aramaic/Syriac at The Catholic University of America, Washington

This is very good work….building bridges, looking on what unites us as humans, and addressing our fears and prejudices with rational argument and love.

Dr. Yasir Suleiman,

Professor of Modern Arabic Studies, King's College, Cambridge

Siljander shows us how we can go from diversity to unity and from conflict to peace.

Ayatollah Ahmad Iravani,

Ph.D., Director for Islamic Studies and Dialogue at the Center for the Study of Culture and Values, Catholic University

A potent antidote to the prevailing deadly misunderstanding that threatens to envelope us all.

Hon. Ali Khalif Galaydh,

Former Prime Minister of Somalia