Title: ELCA Conference Explores Christian Responses to Walls, Barriers ELCA NEWS SERVICE
November 21, 2006
ELCA Conference Explores Christian Responses to Walls, Barriers 06-185-BMC*
WITTENBERG, Germany (ELCA) -- Fifty church and civic leaders from Germany, Mexico, Palestinian territory in Israel and the United States gathered Nov. 8-14 here and in Berlin for a conference exploring Christian responses to walls. More than a dozen presenters shared their perspectives on walls or barriers in their contexts -- the Berlin Wall, the separation barrier being erected in Palestinian territory and the proposed extension of the barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Mighty Fortresses and Mustard Seeds: Life in the Shadow of a Wall" was sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Network of International Learning Centers, ELCA Global Mission, ELCA Vocation and Education and the Evangelical Academy of Sachsen-Anhalt.
Conference participants discussed the church's role in breaking down visible and invisible walls.
The Rev. Murray D. Finck, bishop of ELCA Pacifica Synod, Yorba Linda, Calif., said participants should listen to "what the voice of God and the Word of God say to us today about the brokenness" caused by walls in the world. "If we don't look at these problems theologically with those who are examining it from economic and sociological perspectives, the voice of the church is silent," said Finck.
The conference began in Berlin, where participants observed the 17th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Participants heard from German civic and church leaders, who described the German church and its role as a force for peaceful resistance that mobilized hundreds of thousands in 1989 on the road to Germany's unification. One German participant stated that the church did a lot more than pray for the wall to fall: "Prayer (was) important, but in Germany the wall came down due to spectacular activity" on the part of the church.
A pastor in the former East Berlin, the Rev. Manfred Fischer, declared that during the Cold War "local politics became world politics all of a sudden," because his church lay directly on the dividing line between East and West. The Church of the Reconciliation was demolished by the East German government on Jan. 28, 1985, "a day when we lost hope because we lost our church."
But less than five years later the wall fell and congregation members gained new hope. They built a chapel using rubble from the old church. "We can't forget what happened, but we can't turn the clock back either," said Fischer.
The conference then moved to Wittenberg, the historic heart of the Lutheran Reformation. Presenters compared the Berlin Wall to the barrier in Palestinian territory and the barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border, examining similarities and differences of "life in the shadow of a wall" in each context.
The Rev. Said R. Ailabouni, director, Europe and Middle East program, ELCA Global Mission, said: "How do we express ourselves as Christians with regard to the wall in Palestine? We insist that God calls us to be peacemakers. We are committed to peace, not walls."
Several Palestinian Christians examined the Israeli wall's impact from economic, societal, urban planning and political perspectives. They described how it cuts off Palestinians from access to water, farmland, trade, health care and education. "This wall puts us in a big prison," said Victor Batarseh, mayor of Bethlehem.
In the area surrounding Bethlehem, the barrier is a 30-foot high wall. According to a May 2006 report of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 225 of the 437 miles planned for the West Bank barrier have been constructed; 26 miles are concrete wall and 199 miles are electric fence with ditches and patrol roads.
Dr. Bernard Sabella, a Roman Catholic and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the wall has been presented as a way to stop suicide bombings and reduce Israeli incursions into Palestinian territory. He said, "You cannot banish Palestinians within their own land in the name of security."
The Palestinian Christians called for justice, asking that the international community uphold United Nations resolutions and the International Court of Justice ruling in July 2004 against the separation barrier. In 2005 the ELCA Churchwide Assembly established the "Peace Not Walls" campaign to advocate for the removal of the barrier.
The Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, Jerusalem, stated in a letter read to conference participants, "The wall that is surrounding us in Palestine is growing every day into a tighter concrete noose around our cities, towns, homes and churches." Younan wrote that he is opposed to violence on all sides. "In the face of oppression and violence, we are called to be prophets for justice, instruments of peace, voices of hope, and hands of healing and reconciliation."
Palestinian participants presented ways they are providing alternatives to violence and hopelessness, witnessing to Palestinian youth and reaching out to international partners with a message of peace. Rana Khoury, deputy general director of the International Center of Bethlehem (ICB), said ICB programs address the wall's isolating effects on young Palestinians. "We work with a lot of young people with art, music, multimedia. These are very important tools to break the isolation that is being imposed on (them), and at the same time (they) connect with the rest of the world."
The conference focus then shifted toward the wall proposed by the U.S. government in the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which would extend a barrier along more than 700 miles of the nearly 2,000 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Rev. Kim Erno, ELCA program director of the Lutheran Center in Mexico City, introduced a set of presentations that included photography, film, cultural and historical analysis, and personal testimony. Erno asked whether the $8 billion needed to extend the barrier on the border would be better invested in the lives of the poor, who suffer in their attempt to cross over to the United States.
Mexican filmmakers Pablo Gleason Gonzalez and Armando Villegas Contreras presented a documentary, "Borders: Walls and Immigrants." The film showed the dangers associated with crossing into the desert regions of the border, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 immigrants in the past five years, the economic pressures that drive Mexicans north, and the arguments surrounding the border.
Dr. Olivia Ruiz, cultural anthropologist at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico, presented a history of U.S. border policy, pointing out the push-pull factors that drive immigration: the U.S. "economic addiction" to cheap Mexican labor mixed with increasing poverty and desperation in Mexico.
The conference ended with members of each country's delegation gathering to strategize and plan next steps for action in their home country.
The Rev. Terry K. Boggs challenged the group to take on big issues boldly. "What I'd like you to be about is imagining a new future. We will not solve the world's problems, but dare we not take this moment in time with the Spirit moving among us to do the best we can?" said Boggs, director for congregation-based community organizing, ELCA Church in Society.
The Palestinian delegation sought to build awareness through sharing narratives and exchanging experiences, to promote nonviolent resistance, to encourage church involvement internationally, and to provide services for those who are suffering because of the separation barrier.
The Mexican delegation denounced economic policies that increase Mexico's dependence on the United States.
The Germans focused on raising awareness and engaging the German church more fully.
The U.S. delegation focused on ways to better advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and increase support for the Peace Not Walls campaign.
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More conference information and interviews with participants are available at http://wallsconference.blogspot.com on the Web.
* Ben McDonald Coltvet is associate director for interpretation and planning, ELCA Communication Services.
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