WCC NEWS: Finding the strength to pursue a just peace

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World Council of Churches - News

FINDING THE STRENGTH TO PURSUE A JUST PEACE

For immediate release: 21 May 2011

In war-torn or violent communities – and perhaps in so-called peaceful
ones – reaching a state of just peace takes strength and courage.

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC)
discussed on Friday how to help local people find the strength within
themselves, and within their communities to resolve conflict and end
violence through peaceful means.

The IEPC is being held in Kingston, Jamaica from 17-25 May and is sponsored
by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Caribbean Conference of
Churches (CCC) and the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC).

During the workshop called “Empowerment for Just Peace”, presenters
shared practices of peace from historical and theological perspectives
then culled ideas from workshop attendees for ways to strengthen this
effort.

Margareta Ingelstam, the coordinator of the Just Peace (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=dadfa0bfb1f761ca47f6 ) working group of 
the Swedish
churches, shared her learning from organizing the Ecumenical Monitoring
Programme on South Africa decades ago.

“South African churches wanted assistance with international eyes when
the situation was very brutal,” she recalled. “The churches asked
other churches in the world to come as monitors and in Sweden we started
planning and thinking about how to do this. That was a very truthful and
rich time in my professional life.”

After organizing monitoring systems, Ingelstam said the next natural step
churches should take is to educate and train people – or empower them
– to resolve conflict themselves. “Ideally, a service goes into the
conflict areas and sees to it that the local people themselves who own the
conflict would also be the key actors in ending the conflict.”

Ingelstam also believes that peace monitoring teams should arrive in local
areas before conflict erupts into violence. “Most conflicts have to be
taken care of early before they become violent. What is needed is not only
a few mediators but thousands of people who are empowerers of the people
in global conflicts,” she said.

Education should be the most important part of bringing peace to a
community, she added. “People are ready to try non-violent
strategies.”


Theology matters

To be involved in conflict resolution from a faith perspective, churches
should carefully consider whether or not a community has already been
manipulated by a damaging theology, pointed out the Rev. Dr Sofia
Camnerin, another member of the Just Peace working group and a member of
the WCC Central Committee.

“Theology matters,” she said. “As human beings, we learn through
language and images. Language has the power to influence our lives.”

Theologians, though they may seem ensconced harmlessly in academia, are
ultimately powerful, and churches trying to aid violence-ridden regions
must be both conscious and careful of that power.

“Today we know that there are theological interpretations that are
dangerous to victims of violence,” Camnerin said. “For example, when
we accentuate the need for forgiveness and obedience, that is especially
dangerous for children living in oppressive families.”

Within a theology, when the experience of violence is needed for love and
salvation – when suffering is necessary for salvation – that theology
poses a great danger to a vulnerable community trying to find a faith
expression.

With the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=af62fb1214dff3347de8 ) more than 
a
decade ago, the work group for Just Peace hopes that women will become
even stronger players in a worldwide quest for non-violent resolutions.

“You must involve women in the decision-making process, not just the
peace work,” said the Rev. Dr K. G. Hammar, another member of the
working group who led the Church of Sweden as Archbishop of Uppsala from
1997 to 2006.

Historically and generally speaking, women have always been physically
weaker than men, he said, and so have had to continually rely on
non-violent means for resolving conflict within societies.

“Peace is created from within,” Hammar said. “This is more in
accordance with women's experience. It's very obvious when you look into
women's history that it's a history of vulnerability, abuse and
exploitation. They are not tempted to achieve their goals using
violence.”

As Christians, Hammar agreed with Camnerin that that care must be taken
when tying theology and peacemaking together: “The cross is the ultimate
symbol of our vulnerability,” he said.

IEPC website (Link: 
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=13478a6c5a5588499875 )

IEPC photo galleries (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=43c31ef10e0df09e3d81 )

IEPC videos (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=19436f2d132cdef02523
)

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=51fe2d948b750762fd75 )


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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