wfn.org | Lutherans Commit to Living Faithfully in a Violent World

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 20, 2000

LUTHERANS COMMIT TO LIVING FAITHFULLY IN A VIOLENT WORLD
00-309-MR/JP*

     SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ELCA) -- Lutherans can live faithfully in a
violent world but not without effort, participants learned at "Living
Faithfully in a Violent World: Congregations and Communities Working
Together to End Violence," a conference hosted by the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) here Dec. 8-9.
     Spousal, sexual, child, ethnic and racial abuse around the
world are producing "more violence than ever before," said Barry
Weisberg, founder and director of Violence Prevention Peace Promotion
Strategy, Chicago.
     In his keynote presentation, Weisberg told 77 participants from
across the country that people must work to prevent violence, promote
nonviolence and strive for peace.  He defined violence as "the threat
or use of force, physical or psychological, to destroy, damage or
disturb people, other species or the environment."
     Seeds of violence "are planted in your family and mine,"
Weisberg said, referring to child abuse in the United States and the
genocide in Rwanda.  Those seeds must be rooted out for violence to
be eliminated, he added.
     "We have to replace attitudes, values, institutions, systems
and behavior of violence with attitudes, values, institutions,
systems and behavior of peace," Weisberg said.
     "We require intervention and prevention initiatives that are on
a scale and as complex as the challenges we face. All the pieces of
the global violence puzzle must be identified and targeted --
breaking the chains/cycles of violence," Weisberg said in explaining
what must be done to root out violence.
     Another part of prevention is "a continuum of science-based
services to families, schools, congregations and communities to
address the principal risks and behaviors of violence," Weisberg
added.
     Weisberg and workshop leaders at the conference called this
time in history the most violent.  They cited television and violent
video games as major causes of youth violence in the United States.
     At a workshop titled, "Ready, Aim ... the Gun, the Skill, the
Will," presenter Dr. John J. Scibilia cited a study conducted by the
University of Washington, Seattle, and U.S. Centers for Disease
Control:  "If television technology had never been developed, there
would be 10,000 fewer murders, 70,000 fewer rapes and 700,000 fewer
injurious assaults."
     Scibilia is director for schools, ELCA Division for Higher
Education and Schools, Chicago.
     "If a child watches two hours of cartoons daily, the child will
see 10,000 episodes of violence each year," Scibilia said.  "Forty
percent of violent episodes in all television programming have
characters called heroes or positive role models.  A typical American
child will have seen 200,000 dramatized or actual violent acts on
television by the time the child reaches age 18."
     Regarding violent video games and their effect on children,
Scibilia said the Army uses these same games, slightly changed, to
train people to shoot to kill ... to become willing to shoot to kill.
Now these same games are sold to 14-year-olds, he added.
     What violence in television and video games has done is
desensitize youth to such actions, Scibilia said.  He cited the
example of a youth who, during a fight, knocked a friend off a
balcony, killing him.  The youth showed no remorse and resumed
watching television as if nothing had happened.  Scibilia called what
the youth displayed as "AVIDS -- an acquired violence immune
deficiency syndrome."
     Noting the role violent video games played in the Columbine
High School massacre, Scibilia declared, "Thank God, something woke
people up."
     "People are now asking questions and working together to
confront violent video game sales, but that is only part of the
answer," Scibilia said.  "We need to ask young people what are the
answers."
     Youth like video games because they are in control, so children
need to be given some control of their lives, hence feeling less need
for violence, Scibilia asserted.
     At another workshop, Jim Vogt, Parenting for Peace and Justice
Network, Covington, Ky., said a "Family Pledge of Nonviolence" agreed
to by all family members can help decrease violence.
     Such a pledge calls for each family member "to respect self and
others, to communicate better, to listen, to forgive, to respect
nature, to play creatively and to be courageous," Vogt said.
     Jean Martensen, director for leadership development and
studies, ELCA Commission for Women, Chicago, told participants at
another workshop that attitudes of support and establishment of
shelters for spousal abuse victims are needed to help reduce such
violence.  About 95 percent of shelter occupants are women, she said.
     The ELCA plans to host nine other "Living Faithfully in a
Violent World" conferences in the next three to four years around the
country, said Loretta E. Horton, director for social ministry for
congregations, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, Chicago,
and conference organizer. The next conference will be held Mar. 2-4,
2001, in  Estes Park, Colo.
     The idea for the conference "started a year and a half ago
around a coffee pot at work," Horton said.  Violent incidents happen.
We need to promote peace strategies and organize such conferences,
she said.
     Horton said the first conference was held here because the
city's interfaith Peace Center, headed by the Rev. Ann E. Helmke,
invited the church to do so.  Helmke is an ELCA pastor.
      The three-year-old Peace Center grew out of the 1994 San
Antonio Gang Summit, Helmke said.  Most of the center's work is
devoted to building a culture of peace and nonviolence, she said.
"Most of our work happens in schools, churches and community
centers."
     The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly committed the church to
joining other denominations and organizations in designating 2001-
2010 as the "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence," and declared 2000
as a "Year of Education for Nonviolence."

     *James Price is a retired daily newspaper reporter and editor.
Currently he serves as chair of the Commission for Communication,
ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, San Antonio.

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