wfn.org | "Being Used for Peace Is Worth the Price for People of Faith"

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

10-May-1999 
99183 
 
    "Being Used for Peace Is Worth the Price for People of Faith" 
 
    by Chris Herlinger 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
NEW YORK-Members of the US inter-faith delegation to Belgrade that helped 
secure the release of three U.S. prisoners of war believe their visit may 
have signalled the beginning of the end of the six-week armed conflict 
between the Serbian government and Nato forces. 
 
    Describing the Belgrade visit - from April 28 to May 1 - as a possible 
"circuit-breaker" in the Kosovo crisis, Joan Brown Campbell, general 
secretary of the U.S. National Council of  Churches (NCC), said that 
despite criticism both before and after the trip, the delegation of 19 U.S. 
Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders did not feel it had been used for 
propaganda purposes by 
Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic. 
 
    Even the White House initially opposed the NCC's plans for the visit, 
fearing that President Milosevic would gain favorable publicity from the 
presence of the U.S. religious officials. 
 
    "Does anyone think there is not a PR [public relations] spin from all 
sides in war?" asked Campbell, who led the delegation jointly with Jesse 
Jackson, prominent black pastor and  one-time U.S. presidential candidate. 
 
    "The question of `being used' misses the point -- ask that question to 
the families of the three [U.S.] soldiers [whom the Belgrade government 
handed over to the delegation on May 2]," she said.  "Being used for peace 
is worth the price for people of faith." 
 
    Another member of the delegation, Leonid Kishkovsky, a priest and 
Ecumenical Officer of the Orthodox Church in America, said he had been 
shocked by U.S. commentators who criticized the fact that Jackson and 
Milosevic at one point held hands and prayed. 
 
    "That prayer had its own integrity, and, in fact, prayer was offered 
many times on the trip," Kishkovsky said.  "When he [Jackson] did it, I 
assessed it was the right thing to do.  It underscored that they were on a 
religious and humanitarian mission ... and I think it was actually a 
startling moment for Milosevic." 
 
    In interviews with ENI after their return to New York, Campbell and 
Kishkovsky portrayed the delegation as determined to do its work, despite 
having first received warnings from the Clinton administration not to make 
the trip and then in Belgrade, being angrily rebutted by the Serbian 
government over the atrocities in Kosovo. 
 
    Campbell said the Clinton administration had made it quite clear that 
it could not guarantee the safety of the delegation, and had kept its word 
that the delegation's visit would not deter NATO from implementing plans to 
step up its bombing campaign. 
 
    Kishkovsky told ENI that the delegation had warned Milosevic and other 
government officials "in blunt terms" what they could expect from an 
upgraded NATO campaign.  "We appealed for a peaceful end to the conflict, 
but we were honest and forceful about how we saw and understood the 
situation." 
 
    Describing the meeting which she, Jackson and other delegation members 
had had with President Milosevic about the release of the U.S. soldiers, 
Campbell told ENI, "We talked to him very straight." 
 
    A Muslim doctor in the delegation, Dr. Nazir Uddin Khaja, of Los 
Angeles, shook hands with the Yugoslav president, but only reluctantly.  He 
then told President Milosevic - who had complained to the delegation about 
being unfairly portrayed as "Satan" in the US media -- that the portrayal 
was due to unjustified Serbian policies in Kosovo. 
 
    Campbell expressed mild irritation at the media coverage of the visit, 
saying that the attention focused on Jesse Jackson had ignored the 
ecumenical nature and "unusual depth" of the 
delegation. 
 
    But, at the same time, Campbell praised the leadership by Jackson, one 
of the most charismatic and best-known public figures in the U.S.  She said 
he had promoted the delegation's work as a group and had little control 
over how the media covered the trip. 
 
    "It was frustrating," Campbell said of the coverage, describing it as 
"a media frenzy ... They literally turned their cameras off when somebody 
else [other than Jackson] was speaking." 
 
    The group's success in securing the release of the US soldiers - Staff 
Sgt. Andrew Ramirez of  Los Angeles, Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone of Smiths 
Creek, Mich., and  Specialist Steven Gonzales of Huntsville, Texas - 
received the lion's share of media attention.  Campbell said seeing the men 
released was something akin to a conversion experience. 
 
    "It was like a miracle," she said. 
 
    But, she added, an important aspect of the delegation's trip - visiting 
the religious community in Yugoslavia - was virtually ignored by the media. 
An important element was a meeting with the Serbian Orthodox Church's 
leader, Patriarch Pavle, who has appealed for peace initiatives and 
criticized the Serbian government's policies in Kosovo. 
 
    "I think the significance for the ecumenical movement was that this was 
an ecumenical group, very broadly based, and entered into a situation that 
was quite risky," Campbell said.  "For us, it became a journey of faith," 
she said, adding that during wars, "communities of faith move across lines 
of national borders." 
 
    Upon their return to the United States, the religious leaders met 
President Clinton and leading officials in his administration.  Campbell 
said she was disappointed, but not surprised that, despite the delegation's 
success in securing the release of the soldiers, President Clinton had 
vowed to continue the air war. 
 
    "I'm not surprised that he continues to defend it," Campbell said. 
 
    Kishkovsky told ENI that despite Bill Clinton's determination to 
continue the campaign, there were encouraging signs that both sides might 
be looking for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. But the delegation had 
to be modest about its possible role, he said, adding that the trip took 
place "when other events were coming at a common configuration." 
 
    "We can't make any great claims, but the fact that this was so visible 
had some significance," Kishkovsky said.  "How much, I can't say." 
 
    He also hoped the visit's importance extended beyond the release of the 
three U.S. soldiers. After seeing the results in Belgrade of the bombing 
campaign, and meeting fellow Orthodox church members there, Kishkovsky 
commented simply, ""It's  rough.  It's rough. They're enduring." 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This note sent by Office of News Services, 
  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  to the World Faith News list <wfn-news@wfn.org>.
  For additional information about this news story,
  call 502-569-5493 or send e-mail to PCUSA.News@pcusa.org

  On the web:  http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/

  If you have a question about this mailing list, 
  send queries to wfn@wfn.org