wfn.org | Churches Issue Call to Civility

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3375 notes).

Note 3375 by UMNS on Jan. 15, 1997 at 15:37 Eastern (1864 characters).

SEARCH: call, community, civil, discourse, churches
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CONTACT: Linda Green                              21(10-71B){3375}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470             Jan. 15, 1997

Kansas bishop joins ecumenical call 
for renewal of civil community

                 by United Methodist News Service

     United Methodist Bishop Fritz Mutti, Kansas Area, has joined
10 other denominational leaders in the state to issue "A Call for
the Renewal of Civil Community," encouraging citizens to respect
differences and find a common ground of agreement on issues.
     Mutti and members of the Kansas Leadership Forum mailed the
call document to every pastor with a request that it be read in
the 2,400 congregations across the state on Jan. 5. A copy also
was sent to state legislators and delivered by a delegation to
Kansas Governor Bill Graves.
     The document affirms the crucial need for civility and
invites all church members to "lower the inflammatory rhetoric
that brands and dismisses those who believe differently from us
and raise the level of civil discourse about community issues. ...
To demean another human being is to demean the God who created
that person."  
     The church leaders said they believe understanding,
forgiveness and genuine concern for others are "traits we find
lacking in much of the public discourse that takes place."
     Other signers of the document included representatives of:
the American Baptist Church, Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church
(USA), Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Mennonite Church,
United Church of Christ and Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America.
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