wfn.org | ELCA Hosts "Living Faithfully in a Violent World"

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 12, 2002

ELCA HOSTS "LIVING FAITHFULLY IN A VIOLENT WORLD"
02-027-BW

     WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- School shootings, incidents of police
brutality, domestic violence and child abuse consistently made headlines
in 2001.  In response to these acts of violence the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) brought together nearly 200 adult and youth
participants for an intense training event here Jan. 18-19 at the
Washington National Cathedral.
     The ELCA Divisions for Church in Society and Congregational
Ministries sponsored "Living Faithfully in a Violent World:
Congregations and Community Working Together to End Violence."  The
event focused on developing congregation and community responses and
strategies to end violence.  A team of experts in the areas of violence
prevention and conflict resolution facilitated workshops that provided
practical "how to" information on anti-violence programs and ministry
development.
     The event opened with a Home Box Office (HBO) video presentation,
"Violence: An American Tradition," which focused on "America's violent
culture."  According to the video,  America has "historic amnesia." The
program focused on the plight of American Indians, violence in the
American West, the Civil War, how immigrants were treated upon reaching
the shores of the United States, violence against women and children,
prejudice, discrimination and racism.
     During a pause in the video, participants talked about some of
America's most dangerous criminals -- Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, Al
Capone, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy -- and how some were transformed
from villains to heros and celebrities by the media.
     "As Americans, we idolize the people who built this country on
violence.  This country was built on murder and slavery," said Nicole
White, a senior at Spellman College, Atlanta, and a young adult
participant at the conference.
      "These are the same people we have holidays for such as
Christopher Columbus and people we say are our forefathers -- George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln --  and others we say are
the source of our greatness.  They are the same people who caused
brutality and pain and the same type of people we would put in jail
today," White said.
     "We idolize war.  We talk about the Civil War and fighting for our
rights, but we never talk about what causes people to want to fight
back.  We [Americans] never talk about what we did to make people want
to get into a war with us," she said.
     "What are these rights that we're looking for when other people
are being killed and having injustices done upon them?" White asked.
     After each segment of the video, participants were asked to break
into small groups and discuss the images and information they had just
seen as well as this country's perception of the treatment of human
beings.
     One participant said it was "safer to be an armed military or
police person than it was to be a 10-year-old here in America."
     Another participant said children need positive alternatives to
the streets.  Gangs and drug dealers are busy 24 hours a day, and the
church needs to provide some type of positive activities that will
interest young people enough for them to want to participate, he said.
We need to teach our children to be useful, he added.
     According to the video, by age18 most American children have seen
more than 18,000 acts of violence on television.
     Conference participants had the opportunity to attend a variety of
workshops focusing on  violence globally and in U.S. communities, and on
juvenile justice.  Workshops were led by lay and clergy leaders of the
ELCA and other denominations.  Topics ranged from "Visioning World
Peace" to "Helping Ex-offenders Returning Home from Prison" and from
"Violence in the Media" to "From Hate to Hope."
     "Organized hate group activity continues to plague our
communities, resulting in violence, hate crimes and other acts of
bigotry.  White nationalists are using Sept. 11 to advance their
recruitment and to expand anti-immigrant organizing, while neo-Nazis are
using White power music to recruit youth," said the Rev. David
Ostendorf, executive director of the Center for New Community, Oak Park,
Ill.  Ostendorf is a minister in the United Church of Christ, a full
communion partner of the ELCA.
     In the workshop "From Hate to Hope," Ostendorf presented
participants with "real life situations" where hate groups had attempted
to influence young people and whole communities with their messages.
Participants were asked to break into small groups and brainstorm on the
situations and give feedback on how as individuals or congregations they
could respond to those or similar situations.
     "We [the church] must make our presence known against hate.  We
are so splintered. and we are not focused locally.  It is hard to get
people to move out of their comfort zone," said Ostendorf.
     "This was not planned as a conference of experts," said the Rev.
Ann E. Helmke, peaceCENTER, San Antonio, Texas.  "The large and small
groups allowed everyone to have the opportunity to talk about their
experiences with violence in their world.  Everyone here is struggling
to understand violence and an expert in what they know to be real," she
said.
     Helmke is an ELCA pastor and one of the founders of the
peaceCENTER, an inter-faith organization of people working together to
stop violence in San Antonio.
     "We're living in a different world today than we were on Sept. 10.
Even before Sept. 11 there were people who were totally aware of the
violence that we were experiencing in the world and wanted to do
something about it and would have liked to do something about it within
their faith," said Helmke.
     "The events of Sept. 11 probably had some impact on some
conversations, but they were not solely about the events of that day --
not even close.  It came up but was not the focus of conversations.
These conversations have centered around racism, poverty and other
issues as they came up," she said.
YOUTH EVENT HELD
     Eighty young people were on hand for a youth event held in
conjunction with the conference.  Youth 13 to19 years old and their
adult chaperons discussed how violence has impacted their lives.
     The students discussed issues of racial profiling, domestic abuse,
discrimination against gay and lesbian people -- particularly teens who
are "coming out" -- and general difficulties of being a teen.  Many
discussions focused on the difficulties of sharing one's faith with
those who are "unchurched" and defining or discovering one's own
personal spirituality.
     "When it comes to dealing with one's spirituality, it is a very
difficult thing to do," said Justin Russell, 17, Jubilee Faith Community
Church, ELCA, Country Club Hills, Ill.  "When you are trying to help
someone come into their spirituality, you should do what it is that they
are asking you to do and put your trust in God," he said.
     "We all wrestle with spirituality, and that helps us to grow as
Christians.  When you don't wrestle, you have become complacent.
Complacency is one of the reasons that churches don't grow.  When
churches are not evolving with the culture, their numbers decrease and
then the spirituality decreases because the church is not meeting the
needs of the people," Russell said.
     "This conference was much more task oriented than I like.  I don't
find that to be as spiritually fulfilling as generic 'let's just talk
about what we want to talk about in relation to our lives.'" This
[event] focused on only one aspect [youth and violence]," said Aaron
Eastlack, 16, Gaithersburg, Md.   "Violence is very real, but for me
right now I have other concerns."
     "When you're in the teen years you have a of lot 'why' questions
about spirituality," he said.
     "I have lots and lots of 'why' and 'what if' questions and 'why
can't it be this way' questions.  I don't know if I'm ready to commit to
a faith yet.  I was raised Lutheran, my parents are Lutheran.  That's
why I'm a Lutheran but I can't help but think why not be something else.
Because I was born this way [Lutheran], should I continue this way?"
said Eastlack.
     "Youth that I talked to are dealing with a lot of different
struggles with diversity.  Some of the youth in my group are 'of color'
but come from environments that are predominantly White, and they
struggle with trying to identify with 'who' they are," said Alex Avila,
23, San Bernardino, Calif.
     Avila is a member of Central City Lutheran Mission (CCLM), a
community development program in the inner city of San Bernardino.  It
is a safe place where children and adults find nourishment for bodies,
minds and spirits.  It brings together and provides training to
community residents who work to create solutions to neighborhood
problems.  They address the causes of poverty, economic inequality and
discrimination on a daily basis.  They also provide activities and
education for youth, employment assistance, health services and housing
and address community solutions to drug addiction, alcoholism, HIV/AIDS
and violence.
     "The youth that I deal with are urban American youth who are
afraid to think outside the box or go outside the box.  They are so used
to violence and to their circumstances that it has become customary for
them.  They have never met youth who do not share the same problems that
they have.  This was a culture shock," said Avila.
     "San Bernardino statistically is at the bottom of all economic
scales.  While some of the other youth here may experience some poverty,
their poverty is a different kind of poverty.  Our youth  [in San
Bernardino] are broken down mentally, physically and spiritually, and
you can see it when you go there."  You can see it in all of our
neighborhoods, in our people in the way that they dress and talk.
Everything is so obvious when you see it.  It's hard to understand
unless you're there for a period of time and recognize the need to
hustle.  I am originally from the Bronx where they have a 'thrive by any
means necessary' mentality," Avila said.
     "In San Bernardino "the people have accepted their circumstances
and have sunk deep into their poverty," he said.
     "We talked about a lot of issues -- having sex, not having sex,
the struggles of being of color, being a male of color, being a female,
living up to other people's expectations.  We talked about a lot of
common things that happen with young people -- being responsible for
younger siblings," said Avila.
     "Even though we have some groups here who are totally different,
some have found that in spite of their differences they share some
similar issues," said Avila.
     Living Faithfully in a Violent World was made possible through the
support of Aid Association for Lutherans/Lutheran Brotherhood, a
fraternal benefit society, and the Washington National Cathedral.

-- -- --
     The ELCA has several resources that address issues of violence,
poverty, discrimination and racism available at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/elca_actions.html on the Web.  A social
statement, "For Peace in God's World," is available at
http://www.elca.org/dcs/peacein.html and "A Message on Community
Violence" at http://www.elca.org/dcs/communit.html on the ELCA Web site
as well as "ELCA's Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence"
http://www.elca.org/co/decade.html.
     EDITORS: "peaceCENTER" is spelled correctly.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html