wfn.org | Speakers Challenge Church to Lift up Human Rights Issues

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22-July-1998 
98233 
 
     Speakers Challenge Church to 
    Lift up Human Rights Issues 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
LOS ANGELES-Gathering in what one program official described as a 
"Presbyterian family tradition" (because there was a significant number of 
repeat attendees), participants at the 1998 Presbyterian Peacemaking 
Conference here July 15-19 were challenged to think about human rights in 
new ways and empowered to deepen their appreciation of Christ's promise of 
the fullness of life. 
 
    Under the conference theme "Life in All Its Fullness: A Human Rights 
Mandate," more than 650 conferees explored the meaning of human rights in 
the Christian context and observed the 50th anniversary of the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the United Nations General 
Assembly. 
 
    During plenaries, gilt-edged speakers, including the Rev. Katie G. 
Cannon, conference preacher and the first African-American woman ordained 
in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), challenged participants to uphold 
their Christian calling. Cannon led the group in affirming that all human 
beings are created in the image of God and claiming for all people Christ's 
promise: "I have come that you might have life: life in all its fullness" 
(John 10:10). 
 
    "Who do we say that Jesus is in our lives?" Cannon asked. "If we cannot 
answer that, then our Christian faith is like quicksand. We must remember 
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
 
    Mike Farrell of television's "M*A*S*H" fame, one of Hollywood's most 
prominent social activists, was another theme presenter at the conference. 
Farrell both inspired and chilled his audience as he recalled gripping 
human rights atrocities, including torture, mass murder and capital 
punishment, he's witnessed in the United States and abroad. 
 
    Farrell spoke of a visit to a prison in El Salvador in 1983, where he 
met with a man who had been tortured with acid by prison officials. He 
cited a 1992 trip to Bosnia, where, he said, a doctor who had been interned 
in a concentration camp by the Serbs witnessed a group of men tortured by 
having a wire run through their collective tongues and pulled together. 
 
    Farrell also talked about the carnage he saw following a massacre 
inside a Rwandan church. The attack, staged by Hutu guerrillas, left 
hundreds of Tutsis dead and dying and moved Farrell "beyond expression." He 
also spoke of participating in the July 14 protest at San Quentin Prison 
for death row inmate Thomas Thompson, who was executed by lethal injection 
by the state of California. 
 
    "We need to hear about it, know about it and understand [the atrocities 
that occur in our world]," Farrell said. "Love is the greatest goal to 
which we can aspire. It's up to us to find the courage to love and to make 
safe the way for hope." 
 
    Farrell said champions for human rights must be willing "to take the 
flak, denounce demagoguery, stand up for what is higher and better, and 
affirm that love is stronger than hate." 
 
    The Rev. Douglas W. Oldenburg, moderator of the 210th General Assembly 
(1998), spoke of this year's Assembly taking several significant actions 
regarding Peacemaking, the most important being approval of the "Just 
Peacemaking" paper. After generations of examining "just war" theory - what 
moral and ethical criteria justify the waging of war - the church is called 
to look at the moral and ethical criteria that must be applied in seeking 
peace with justice. 
 
     Oldenburg said the Assembly also reaffirmed the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights, called for the church to work with the U.S. government to 
obtain peace in the Korean peninsula and urged the U.S. to continue to 
support Israel, provided that nation continues to adhere to the provisions 
of the Oslo agreement negotiated with Palestinians. 
 
    "One of the reasons I love our Presbyterian Church is because we have 
centered our mission around peacemaking and justice," Oldenburg said. "Our 
diversity is great indeed, but we are a community of people who have common 
commitments." 
 
    Theme presenter Andaye De La Cruz, a member of the board of directors 
of MADRE, an international women's human rights organization and a clinical 
psychotherapist, said that while the international community has made 
considerable progress in the area of women's human rights over the last 
couple of decades, much work remains to be done. 
 
    Citing somber statistics, De La Cruz said that in many countries, due 
to war, poverty, violence, rape, sexual and physical abuse, and inadequate 
health care, women have a life expectancy of approximately 50 years. She 
said two-thirds of the world's illiterate population are women, more than 
15 million women worldwide die each year from pregnancy complications and 
20 million die during delivery. 
 
    She said more than 50 million women worldwide have HIV, the virus that 
causes AIDS, and nearly one-quarter of women in the U.S. are battered each 
year by their spouses. De La Cruz also said that in every armed conflict 
women and girls inevitably are raped, and the majority of these cases are 
never reported, so those responsible for the crime remain unpunished. 
 
    "All women's issues are human rights issues," De La Cruz said. "We are 
all responsible for women's rights. Where women thrive, communities and 
nations thrive." She called on the Presbyterian Church to help make 1998 a 
"year of increased political activism to ensure that women, men and 
children have a chance to speak and be heard everywhere." 
 
    Television/movie actor and social and political activist Ed Asner of 
"Lou Grant" fame, a conference theme presenter, said Hollywood has taken "a 
lot of flak" for its propensity toward violence on TV and in films over the 
years and added that much of it is "well deserved." 
 
    However, he said, there are also many talented actors and producers in 
Hollywood who are devoted to creating what he described as "good 
entertainment" without violence. Asner said the average American adult 
spends four hours a day watching television and 1.6 hours a day watching 
pre-recorded movies and programs. He said 69 percent of the average 
American's waking hours are spent reading, watching or listening to media. 
 
    Asner said that while be believes Hollywood has an obligation to 
provide quality entertainment, parents must take personal responsibility to 
supervise or curtail the viewing habits of their children. He urged viewers 
to "vote with your remote and with your dollar at the box office," since 
both the television and movie industries are driven by customer demand and 
response. 
 
    The Rev. Virstan Choy, director of field education and internship at 
San Francisco Theological Seminary and a consultant for the PC(USA)'s 
Racial Violence and Racism Initiative Team, helped his audience equate the 
struggle against racism with the struggle for human rights, stating, "We 
can't get stuck in a civil-rights-only mentality." He entreated the church 
to "move on to treat racism not as an institutional or prejudicial problem, 
but one that arises because laws have not been enforced, laws have not been 
repealed." 
 
    Choy said congregations or communities working toward human rights 
goals should involve and educate themselves and associate with others 
involved in human rights issues as they conduct their work. He said many 
Presbyterian churches are not situated in ideal vantage points from which 
to witness human suffering frequently, so they must not be afraid to leave 
their communities and churches in order to respond to poverty, 
homelessness, violence and other detrimental social forces. 
 
    "The hardest person to wake up is the one who pretends to be asleep," 
Choy said.   "Working toward human rights means moving past 
inconveniences." Choy said that if God's people are diligent and steadfast 
in working to alleviate human suffering and injustice, then "God will 
reward our shamelessness." 
 
    Through participation in worship, plenary sessions, workshops, small 
groups, briefings, special events and fellowship, participants also learned 
how to equip themselves to address human rights issues in their 
communities. Special "back home groups" during the conference gave 
attendees the opportunity to come together in local or regional groups to 
make plans for their work at home. 
 
    Small groups were places for sharing and reflection. Participants 
gathered at tables to share their stories, past and present, and to begin 
to envision the future of the church as it works toward a broader 
understanding of human rights. 
 
    Toward the close of the event, a special conference offering was 
collected. As with the Peacemaking Offering, 25 percent will go to a 
peacemaking ministry carried out by a congregation and 25 percent will go 
to a presbytery peacemaking ministry. The other 50 percent of the offering 
goes to the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and will help provide 
scholarships for next year's Peacemaking Conference. 

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