wfn.org | Church exec decries U.S. pullout at racism conference

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 6, 2001   News media contact: Joretta Purdue 7(202)
546-87227Washington    10-21-30-71B{376}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of Jim Winkler is available. Winkler's
full statement is at www.umc-gbcs.org/ea009.htm on the Internet.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The top executive of the United Methodist Church's
international public policy and advocacy agency has expressed disappointment
in the withdrawal of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations conference
against racism.

The Bush administration withdrew its representatives Sept. 3 from the U.N.
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance, scheduled for Aug. 31-Sept. 7, in Durban, South Africa.

"By doing so, the U.S. walked away from international efforts to eliminate
racism," said Jim Winkler, staff head of the United Methodist Board of
Church and Society, in a statement issued Sept. 6.
 
"For too long, arrogance and self-righteousness have marked U.S. foreign
policy," he said. "The [conference] is addressing a variety of issues on
racism: the caste system in India, the treatment of refugees and
asylum-seekers, the impact of racism on health care and the HIV/AIDS
pandemic, and disparities in law enforcement and systems of justice."

Concerns about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict provided the pretext for
U.S. withdrawal from the conference, Winkler said.

"These are difficult issues," he commented. The United Methodist Church's
highest legislative body, which is the only entity that can speak for the
denomination, has declared: "United Methodists are committed to the
objective of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace agreement that would bring
recognition and security to Israel and national and human rights to the
Palestinians."

The church's General Conference, which met last year, noted that the most
important issues have not been resolved. It listed those issues in a
resolution: "Israel's claim to exclusive sovereignty over all of Jerusalem,
the presence of existing Israeli settlements and the construction of new
ones, the future of the Palestinian refugees in the diaspora, and
Palestinian national rights."  

Winkler noted that before the conference, its secretary, South African
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said nothing is beyond
discussion. "That is the beginning of a tolerant society, when we can sit
down and listen to one another."

As a faith community, the United Methodist Church is committed to continuing
the struggle against racism in all its manifestations, hand in hand with
other churches around the world, that all may be one, as Jesus mandated in
John 17:21,Winkler said. 

The United Methodist Church officially supports reparations for  African
Americans in a resolution first adopted in 1996 and reaffirmed by delegates
at the 2000 General Conference

Representatives of United Methodist agencies and organizations are attending
the conference as nonvoting delegates. They include:
7	Ann Marshall, an associate general secretary, churchwide Commission
on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, representing the National
Council of Churches;
7	The Rev. John McCullough, executive director, Church World Service,
the relief agency of the U.S. National Council of Churches;
7	Mee Sue Park, a director of the Women's Division, churchwide Board
of Global Ministries;
7	Lois Dauway, an assistant general secretary, Board of Global
Ministries;
7	Liz Calvin, executive secretary, women and children, Board of Global
Ministries;
7	David Wildman, executive secretary, human rights and racial justice,
Board of Global Ministries; 
7	Suzanne Ife Williams, executive secretary for racial justice, Board
of Global Ministries;
7	Darlene Dawes, a director of Women's Division, Board of Global
Ministries; 
7	Sebastine Ujereh, Board of Global Ministries missionary, Senegal; 
7	Marthe Dansokho, Board of Global Ministries missionary, West Africa
Region;
7	Rosangela Oliveira, Board of Global Ministries missionary, Latin
American Region;
7	Ken Fealing, program director, economic justice, Board of Church and
Society;
7	Gretchen Hakola, program director, communications, churchwide Board
of Church and Society;
7	Liberato Bautista, assistant general secretary, United Nations
office, Board of Church and Society;
7	Elena Taryor, governing member, Board of Church and Society;
7	Juanita Rasmus, co-pastor, St. John's United Methodist Church,
Houston; and 
7	The Rev. Chester Jones, general secretary, churchwide Commission on
Religion and Race.
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United Methodist News Service
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