Title: ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks U.S. Religious Leaders to Call for Mideast Peace ELCA NEWS SERVICE
August 11, 2006
ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks U.S. Religious Leaders to Call for Mideast Peace 06-122-JB
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Out of concern for growing casualties and human suffering in the Middle East, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has asked other U.S. religious leaders to join him in calling for "the cessation of all violence, for an international peacekeeping force and a negotiated agreement for a just peace."
Hanson made the plea in an open letter he sent this week to several Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders in the United States. It was the second public statement from Hanson this week on the Middle East situation.
Acknowledging that each leader may interpret the words in his open letter differently, Hanson appealed to what the religious leaders have in common.
"I am convinced that the world needs our courageous public witness to what we hold in common rather than the growing sense that religious beliefs are being held captive in a global ideological conflict," he wrote.
"We share a deep and abiding concern for and commitment to the people in our religious communities whose lives are being devastated and whose futures increasingly seem at risk," Hanson wrote. He also shared what he believes the religious leaders have in common: that every human being is created by God; that the earth is God's gift that people must care for; that God is not only of judgment but of mercy and peace; and that the principles by which people of faith have used to assess the nature of war are no longer sufficient "to guide moral deliberation and faith."
Hanson asked the religious leaders to publicly: + call for a global consultation of leaders of the three Abrahamic faiths to develop principles for a just peace in light of contemporary conflicts and warfare + reject growing anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and the marginalization of Arab Christianity + reject violence and call for an immediate end to all hostilities + reject the perception that violence can be justified on the basis of the Abrahamic religions + bear witness that all people are created by God and share a unity far deeper than their divisions + testify that religious faith is not to be used as an instrument of war and violence, but as a living testimony to the God of peace + pray for a just and lasting peace
"The world daily sees how religion is used to divide and destroy. It is time for us together to publicly, clearly and courageously give witness that the One in whom we believe unites us in our diversity rather than divides us in our hostilities," Hanson concluded.
Global church leaders' appeal called for an end to conflict
Earlier this week Hanson, who also serves as president of the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, called for an end to the fighting in Lebanon and Israel and the conflict in Gaza, in an appeal, "A Call to End the Violence." He was joined in a public appeal by the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the general assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), and the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). WARC and the WCC are also based in Geneva.
The three world church leaders issued a joint appeal Aug. 8, saying they were "shocked" by the violence, death and destruction occurring in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon. They criticized Israel and Hezbollah, noting that the Israelis have said they will continue military operations in Lebanon until there is a "peacekeeping force" on the ground, and that Hezbollah has said it will not stop fighting until Israel's military presence has left Lebanon.
"It is time for this intransigence by both parties to end. Israel must withdraw speedily from all the Lebanese territory, and Hezbollah, at the same time, must cease its actions against the Israeli people," the church leaders wrote.
Hanson said he hopes both statements are used by ELCA congregations as discussion starters.
"I hope they can be used as catalysts for conversation in local communities. I hope together they will become a strong and growing global public voice calling for a cessation of violence, a return to a negotiated just and lasting peace in the Middle East. And I hope that they will provoke individuals to think, 'where do I stand?'" and then communicate that stance to those that are elected as leaders in our respective countries," Hanson said in an interview. ---
The full text of Bishop Hanson's "Open Letter to Jewish, Muslim and Christian Leaders" is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/m_060809letter.html on the ELCA Web site.
The text of the public statement, "A Call to End the Violence" is at http://www.ELCA.org/bishop/m_endviolence.html on the ELCA Web site.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog