wfn.org | UCC/Partner churches rally to ban landmines

[powellb@ucc.org]

June 19, 1997
United Church of Christ
W. Evan Golder, press contact
(216) 736-2218
E-mail:  goldere@ucc.org
Linda S. Petrucelli (New York)
(212) 870-2283
E-mail:  petrucel@ucc.org
On the Web:  http://www.ucc.org
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Clifford L. Willis, press contact
(317) 635-3113, ext. 207
On the Web:  http://www.disciples.org

Disciples, United Church of Christ members
rally to ban landmines

DAYTON, Ohio--In 1986, former missionaries Karen and
Colin Glenn had been in Nicaragua barely two months
before they witnessed firsthand the horror of
landmines.  A truck approaching their village ran over
a landmine which exploded, killing six and injuring
43.
      "War is horrible enough," Mrs. Glenn told
worshippers during a special service at Mt. Olive
United Church of Christ in Trotwood, Ohio, near
Dayton, on Sunday, June 15, "without the destructive
results that landmines bring to innocent people caught
up in war."
      The worship service followed a rally at
Northwest Christian Church in Dayton and a car caravan
by members of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) and the United Church of Christ as part of the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines.  On the
grounds of the Mt. Olive church, participants visited
six display "stations" in a silent walk of solidarity. 
The exhibit was designed as an educational experience
and included photographs of landmine victims.
      The Rev. Richard L. Hamm, Disciples general
minister and president, and the Rev. Paul H. Sherry,
United Church of Christ president, spoke at the
worship service, attended by about 175 people.
      "Landmines have only one purpose," Hamm said,
"to terrorize."  But, he said, "Christ is there in the
compassion and sharing of a faithful church,"
specifically citing the Disciples' Week of Compassion
ministry and the UCC's One Great Hour of Sharing all-
church offering.
      Reminding the congregation that the church's
ministry is to its neighbors, Hamm told worshippers
that "our neighbors" include "the man plowing his
fields ... the child playing on the street ... and the
woman walking on dusty trails," each of whom could
easily be killed or maimed by a landmine.
      "The campaign to ban landmines is asking our God
to give us back our humanity," UCC President Paul
Sherry told the congregation.  "God's good earth is
meant to be walked and worked and tilled in safety. 
God's good earth is meant to be life-giving, not
death-dealing.  In reclaiming the land, we shall
reclaim ourselves."
      Sherry told the congregation that an estimated
110 million landmines are buried in 68 nations, with
another 100 million stockpiled.  He said that
landmines cost only $3 to $30 each to produce, but
$300 to $1,000 each to remove.  Each year, about 5
million landmines are made with about half of these
deployed, but only about 100,000 are removed, said
Sherry.
      Sherry urged worshippers to pray for landmine
victims, to inform themselves of the ugliness of this
situation and to enter the legislative arena.  He also
asked them to urge President Clinton to go to Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada, in December and join leaders of 50
other nations in signing a comprehensive landmine ban
treaty.  Instead, Clinton is backing a U.N. Conference
on Disarmament.  Critics claim that because of that
conference's consensus rules, any agreement will be
slow in coming and will be watered down to the lowest
common denominator.
      According to a report by the Human Rights Watch
Arms Project, 47 U.S. companies -- including General
Electric, Alliant Techsystems, Lockheed Martin and
Raytheon -- have been involved in the production of
antipersonnel mines.  However, 17 landmine component
manufacturers, including Motorola and Hughes Aircraft,
already have agreed to renounce any future
involvement.
      The service concluded with an offering of
petitions calling for an international ban on the use,
production, trade and stockpiling of landmines.  The
two church presidents will travel to Washington, D.C.,
to present the petitions, signed by nearly 10,000
Disciples and UCC members, to Congressional leaders
supporting legislation introduced by Sen. Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., which
would ban new deployment of antipersonnel landmines.
      The United Church of Christ, with national
offices in Cleveland, has 1.5 million members and more
than 6,100 congregations in the United States and
Puerto Rico.  The Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) has 1 million members and more than 3,900
local churches in the United States and Canada.  The
two denominations have been in "full communion" as
ecumenical partners since 1989.
# # #