wfn.org | WCC Asks Churches to Examine Their Role in International Affairs

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4-October-1996 
 
 
96380        WCC Asks Churches to Examine Their Role  
                     in International Affairs 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
                  Ecumenical News International 
 
GENEVA--The central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 
criticized economic sanctions against Iraq on Sept. 18 for "the additional 
suffering they often inflict on affected populations," and called on all 
nations to "respect the territorial integrity of Iraq." 
 
     The central committee made its criticism indirectly - expressing 
"appreciation" for a statement issued on Sept.13 by 21 leaders of the 
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) who were in 
Geneva attending the central committee meeting. 
 
     In their statement, the NCC leaders "strongly urge the US government 
to pursue a course of military restraint and multilateral diplomacy." 
While stating that "we have no sympathy for the policies of the present 
government in Iraq," the NCC leaders urged the US government to operate in 
concert with UN Security Council resolutions and "to reject any urging to 
trust only in muscle and might." 
 
     The central committee, which  met here from Sept. 12-20, also 
requested the WCC's 330 member churches to study a document on "the Role of 
the WCC in International Affairs." 
 
     The document, which reviews the public statements made by the WCC, 
points out that no central committee prior to the current one, elected in 
1991, "has had to struggle with such rapid, radical and fundamental changes 
in international relations." 
 
     It adds that, in the run-up to the next WCC assembly in 1998 in 
Zimbabwe, "it is important for the central committee to take stock of what 
it has learned in this time of transition from one stage of history to 
another." 
 
     The study, said Dwain Epps, a Presbyterian who is executive secretary 
for the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, "is a 
way to confess that we don't have all the answers, and that we don't always 
have effective means to act more fully and responsibly" in addressing world 
affairs. 
 
     Epps said the influence of church statements on international issues 
was based on their "inherent wisdom." He hoped the study process would 
enable churches to find ways "to be more fully informed so they can be 
heard in ways that can make a difference" in the world. 
 
     The central committee also issued statements warning against 
escalating violence in Burundi and condemning stricter US sanctions against 
Cuba. 

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