wfn.org | Krause: "Everything Must Be Done to Pursue Peace"

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

Noko Urges Religious Communities to Raise Issues Ignored by
Society

LWF Council Meeting, Wittenberg, Germany, 10-17 September 2002

Press Release No. 5

WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA, 10 September 2002 (LWI) - After
presenting their reports September 10 to the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) Council, LWF President Bishop emeritus Dr.
Christian Krause and LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko
addressed a press conference.

Asked if the LWF would address current military threats from the
United States and Britain against Iraq, Krause said he expected
the Council to address the issue later in the meeting. Speaking
for himself, he said, "Everything must be done to pursue peace."
Krause referred to his earlier statements asking nations to
respond to the "axis of terror" with an "axis of hope" instead of
retaliation.

Krause said dialogues between Lutherans and Muslims around the
world have been very encouraging. He drew attention to talks in
Indonesia, where a Christian minority has begun conversations with
the "enormous Muslim population," and in Palestine, where
Lutherans have established a center called "Abraham's House" to
encourage conversation among Christians, Jews and Muslims. As a
world organization, Krause said, the LWF explains that
international disputes around the world are not disputes between
religions.

Asked to comment about the present situation in the region where
the Council is currently meeting, Krause said the 20th century had
an "anti-Christian impct" on Wittenberg and eastern Germany. Forty
years of communist rule were preceded by the Nazi Third Reich.
That impact has left a region where about 17 percent of the people
are religious, he said. Those facts stand in contrast to the
global impact Wittenberg has had, said Krause, as is made evident
by the LWF Council representing millions of people around the
world.

In Noko's report to the Council, he said current racial disputes
in his home nation of Zimbabwe were "only the tip of the iceberg."
He explained to reporters that he was implying that racial
tensions extend beyond Zimbabwe into several neighboring African
countries. So far, attempts have been made to resolve the tensions
politically. Noko said the religious communities must raise the
issues that society has failed to address. "We have never
discussed how to treat each other," he said.

Asked about the LWF's current financial situation, Noko said in
2003 the organization faces a deficit that is manageable, but
balancing the budget must be taken seriously. While this financial
situation is not chronic, Noko said, fluctuations in the world's
economy have created deficits among many of the member churches.
That may have an effect on the LWF's income in the future, he
said.

Staff of the LWF Office for Communication Services at the Council
meeting can be contacted at German mobile telephone No., +49-(0)
170-8345 177.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specificlly noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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