wfn.org | Methodist among leaders making Easter appeal for peace

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

March 31, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York
10-21-71B{179}

By United Methodist News Service

A Methodist leader is among the ecumenical voices making an "Easter Appeal
for a Cessation of Armed Conflicts."

Noting the terrible consequences of violence in Kosovo and other regions,
the signers "lament the failure of imagination, collective will and human
spirit made manifest in the incapacity to address the causes of conflict
through peaceful means."

The Rev. Joe Hale, general secretary (top staff executive) of the World
Methodist Council, said he signed the March 31 appeal "because as a
Christian, and out of my basic faith convictions, I cannot believe force
ever achieves human reconciliation or results in lasting peace."

"The atrocities that have occurred in Kosovo will not be stopped by the
power of NATO, nor will people who are hostile to each other be moved to
understanding and reconciliation because bombs fall on the country they both
love, bringing indiscriminate suffering," Hale added.

Other general secretaries supporting the appeal are Konrad Raiser, World
Council of Churches; Keith Clements, Conference of European Churches; John
Peterson, Anglican Communion; Denton Lotz, World Baptist Alliance; Ishmael
Noko, Lutheran World Federation; and Milan Opocensky, World Alliance of
Reformed Churches.

"As we remember again the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the one proclaimed by
the prophets as the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, our hearts are heavy, for
we recognize that we have not yet been able to overcome our inclination to
turn to the sword in moments of doubt and fear," they said.

Kosovo is but one of many areas of conflict around the world today, the
leaders point out. Many are hidden from wider world view, "and some of them
have claimed an even more terrible toll" than the situation in the Balkans.

"Leaders of Christian churches in both East and West and leaders of other
religious faiths have appealed in recent days for a cessation of such acts
of violence and for the settlement of conflict by negotiation," the Easter
appeal states. "Regrettably, such voices have not yet been heard over the
clamor of charges and countercharges, and the roar of bombs, landmines and
guns."

They support the sentiments of church leaders such as His All Holiness The
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has appealed "from the tormented
depths of my heart" for an immediate, permanent ceasefire and the use of
mutual understanding and mutual concession to bring peace.

The leaders ask Christians "in these high holy days to join their hearts and
spirits in this prayer that the bombings may cease and that the guns may
fall silent."

Religious groups also are dealing with the humanitarian side of those
displaced by violence in Kosovo.

Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, is
contributing $800,000 worth of tents, blankets and mattresses to a partner
agency in Albania as part of an international faith-based effort to provide
short-term assistance to refugees. Earlier, the agency had channeled
$100,000 worth of bedding and blankets through the International Orthodox
Christian Charities.

Church World Service is seeking $1.2 million in denominational and public
support for the Kosovo crisis through partners within the Action By Churches
Together (ACT) network. The United Methodist Committee on Relief is part of
ACT.

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