NOT ALL OF Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's encounters in New York during his recent trip were testy. The Shiite theocrat had what the New York Times called a "warm, even friendly exchange" with 150 church officials at the United Methodist Women's Church Center for the United Nations.

One sponsor, the Mennonite Central Committee, called the gathering a "time of dialogue and prayerful reflection among the children of Abraham." A Mennonite official further explained that "mutual respect and graciousness in this conversation blunts the demonization which is part of the current rhetoric of both governments."

The meeting is the third between Ahmadinejad and his new church friends. Forty five of them had met the Iranian during his last New York visit a year ago. And 13 church officials saw him in Iran in February.

Seemingly, the church officials are fascinated and perplexed by the chief of Iran's Islamist police state. Unlike most of them, he has uncompromising theological views, especially about the end-times, about which he shares freely. Perhaps the apocalyptic dogma is bracing to these liberal religionists, who might be inwardly bored with their own mantras about endless tolerance.

"We haven't reached the point of hard truth-telling," explained United Methodist Women's Division chief Harriet Jane Olson, as reported in her news release. "But this dialogue may help to de-escalate the language of hostility, which is a necessary part of building bridges."

Olson opened the meeting by telling Ahmadinejad about the history of the New York-based and politically active United Methodist

Official co-sponsors of this latest bridge building included Jim Wallis' Sojourners, the World Council of Churches, Pax Christi, the Church of the Brethren, and the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers). But the assembled church officials came from a much larger swatch of Mainline Protestants, Catholics, and liberal evangelicals. Apparently Jews were invited but none were willing to participate.

"My heart was broken that there was so little support from other religions to be here," Quaker official Mary Ellen McNish told the Times. "If we don't walk down this path of dialogue, we're going to end up in conflagration." Ahmadinejad reportedly refused to attend if Bahais, whom Iran persecutes, were present with the church officials.

According to the news service of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which sent three officials, the two hour meeting started with readings from the Book of Romans and the Koran. Five pre-selected church officials (a Quaker, a Catholic, a Baptist, an Anglican, and an ecumenical official) then peppered Ahmadinejad with questions about human rights, Israel, the Holocaust, and nukes.

A Mennonite official implored Ahmadinejad to disavow any perceived hostile plans towards Israel. Although some have "interpreted" the Iranian's public comments as threatening Israel, "This does not match what some of us have heard you say privately, where you stated that there is not a military solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," the Mennonite told the Iranian. "If it is not your intention to destroy Israel, for the sake of understanding, for the sake of peace, for the sake of a bridge, we urge you to clearly and publicly say so."