wfn.org | WCC - Religions address crisis of violence, and peace

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-02-18
For Immediate Use
1 July 2002

Ecumenical Institute Bossey:
Religions address crisis of violence, and peace

The world's religions aspire to peace. However it is a sad fact
that they are often involved in conflict and violence. This
paradox was the subject of intense discussion at a multi-faith
consultation on violence, peace and religions held in June. Forty
participants - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians
from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North and South
America - gathered for eight days at the World Council of
Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva. The
elimination of violence, they declared, is a challenge to all
religions. The consultation was the first in a series on the
topic of religions and violence to be organized by the Ecumenical
Institute.  

At the consultation, participants resolved to network, share
information, be involved in awareness-raising activities, and
engage in acts of solidarity. They also committed themselves to
organize and mobilize for events such as interfaith fasting for
peace, non-violence days, and acts of celebration for life.  

Addressing the consultation, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr
Konrad Raiser said that "religious communities and their leaders
should... work towards solemn mutual commitments to withdraw any
moral or ethical legitimation from the use of violent means in
response to conflict or in the pursuit of political, economic,
cultural and even religious ends". He reminded participants that
Christianity, once a persecuted minority religion, came to be the
persecutor once it was the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.
It used violence to maintain the unity of the church and empire.
"The traces of this unholy alliance of religion and violence are
still with us in the crusading language of the 'war on
terrorism'," Raiser said.  

Consultation participants came from countries where violence and
devastation are rampant. Yehezkel Landau, a Jew who co-directs a
centre for Jewish-Arab reconciliation and co-existence in Israel,
said that in the Holy Land, Jews and Muslims are fighting for
control of territory. Christians are either squeezed in the
middle, or looking on in pain from the outside. "I appeal to
Christians, chastened by their own violent history, to exemplify
the gospel teaching of pre-emptive forgiveness, so as to shock us
into seeing how destructive our own behaviour has become," said
Landau.  

"When it comes to peace, we need to get beyond the preaching and
the chanting," said Dr Zeenat Ali, a Muslim woman who teaches
Islamic Studies in Mumbai, India, and was speaking out of the
politically motivated conflict between Hindus and Muslims in her
country. "It would be more constructive if religions focused on
acts of peace-making, appreciation of the other, and acceptance
of the plurality and diversity of humankind." Ali, who heads a
multi-faith women's movement for peace in India, maintains that
world religions can create a vision and action plan for global
peace and survival through non-violent means. She believes that
the wisdom of women can play a vital role in the peace-making
process.   

Theoretical presentations were followed by three regional case
studies - on the Middle East, Rwanda and India. Discussion then
centred on themes - the logic of violence; the use, misuse and
abuse of power; the search for justice; and religious identity in
pluralistic societies.  

Asked what was the most significant thing about the
consultation, Yehezkel Landau said it was "Coming from a very
intense conflict situation to this serene place where people of
different faiths and nationalities listened appreciatively to one
another and offered to help each other for the sake of humanity
as a whole." For Dr Zeenat Ali, it  was "the wisdom of the
participants, which showed that the core values of all religions
can be used to resolve conflict".  

For more information, please contact Rev. Hans Ucko, WCC
programme executive for Christian-Jewish and Interreligious
Relations and Dialogue, tel.: +41(0)22 791 6381 (office); mobile:
+41 (0)79 476 28 09 
e-mail: hu@wcc-coe.org 

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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