wfn.org | Church Leader Tells Religions to Seek Common Ethics

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7-December-1998 
 
 
    Church Leader Tells Religions to Seek Common 
Ethics for a Troubled World 
 
    by Stephen Brown 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
Harare, Zimbabwe -  The Christian church must join forces with other 
religions to develop global ethics based on shared values, a senior 
official of  World Council of Churches told delegates at the WCC assembly, 
meeting in Harare, today. 
 
    "In a world where technological culture and globalisation foster 
dehumanisation, in a world where new ideologies of secularisation deny the 
presence of the ultimate reality and promote materialistic and consumerist 
values, the church, in collaboration with other faiths, is called to 
reshape, renew and reorient society by strengthening its sacred 
foundation," Catholicos Aram I, of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and 
outgoing moderator of the WCC's central committee, told the assembly. 
 
    He said that "dialogue among religions and cultures is crucial as the 
basis for greater solidarity for justice and peace, human rights and 
dignity". 
 
    The call for a new venture with non-Christian faiths shows a growing 
recognition within the ecumenical movement of ethics and morality of 
non-Christian origins. In a written version of his report presented to 
assembly delegates, Catholicos Aram said that global culture must be 
sustained by a "global ethics" which "should not reflect the Western 
Christian ethos ... but be based on a diversity of experiences and 
convictions". 
 
    Catholicos Aram told the 900 delegates at the  assembly: "The church, 
together with other living faiths, should seek  global ethics based on 
shared ethical values that transcend religious beliefs and narrow 
definitions of national interests." He added that "religions must work 
together to identify areas and modes of cooperation in human rights 
advocacy". 
 
    The moderator said that after the assembly the WCC would have to "lay 
the foundation of a new global ethics in collaboration with other 
religions" by further developing "ecumenical social thought and a strategy 
that will promote and defend human rights values in prevention and legal 
action, when they are violated". 
 
    The remarks of Catholicos Aram come less than a week before the 50th 
anniversary, on 10 December, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
The WCC assembly is likely to issue a declaration to mark the anniversary. 
 
    Stressing the importance of human rights as a "growing ecumenical 
concern", the moderator  said that the WCC would also have to give more 
attention to the implications for human rights of the challenges of 
globalisation, religious freedom and ethno-nationalism. 
 
    In his speech, he also staunchly defended ecumenism, warning that the 
ecumenical movement "may disintegrate if the churches fail to firmly 
recommit themselves to the ecumenical goals and vision". 
 
    He singled out two steps that churches could undertake to reaffirm 
their commitment to visible unity - a mutual recognition of baptism and a 
common celebration of Easter, the date of which has for centuries been a 
subject of division for churches. 
 
    "In 2001, the two present calculations for Easter, namely the Gregorian 
and Julian calendars, will fall on the same date [April 15]. Could this not 
be the beginning of a common celebration of Easter?" 
 
    He also warned that Orthodox participation in the WCC "would steadily 
dwindle" unless the assembly took seriously the state of relations between 
the Orthodox churches and the WCC. (Many Orthodox Christians have long 
believed that the WCC's activities are too heavily influenced by its 
majority Protestant membership and do not reflect Orthodox teachings.) 
 
    "It is my fervent hope that after the assembly the leadership of the 
[WCC] and the representatives of all Orthodox churches [will] embark on a 
serious and comprehensive process of wrestling together with all questions 
and concerns that are hampering a more organised and efficient Orthodox 
participation in the council." 
 
    Orthodox churches had to "come with a clear agenda and an open 
attitude", while Protestant and Anglican churches needed "to help the 
Orthodox to integrate themselves fully in the life of the council". 
 
    He said: "It is time that the Orthodox Churches move from monologue to 
dialogue, from reaction to action, from contribution to participation, from 
being observers to becoming full partners in the WCC." 
 
    Aram Keshishian was elected moderator of the WCC's central committee 
following the WCC's last assembly in Canberra in 1991, and was chosen as 
Catholicos of  the See of Cilicia (Lebanon) of the Armenian Apostolic 
Church in 1995. His successor as WCC central committee moderator will be 
chosen by the new central committee whose members will be chosen during the 
Harare assembly, which will end on 14 December. 

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