wfn.org | Church leader calls for just solution in Kosovo

[BARBARA_POWELL.parti@ecunet.org (BARBARA POWELL)]

Apr 1, 1999
United Church of Christ
Office of Communication
Rose Anne Grasty, press contact
(216) 736-2213
grastyr@ucc.org
On the Web:  http://www.ucc.org

Negotiated and just solution to the issue of Kosovo called for
by church leader

CLEVELAND -- The use of force and violence to resolve
issues between nations and people is an ineffective means of
problem solving, says the Rev. Paul H. Sherry, President of
the United Church of Christ.

In a statement released today (April 1), Sherry implores
Christian and Muslim religious leaders as well as churches to
advocate for just solutions for this crisis.

Here is the text of Sherry's statement:

"From the outset of the Kosovo crisis, Christians have
struggled with the moral and ethical issues posed by the
potential, and now real, conflict in Yugoslavia.  For Christians
in the West, including those in the United States, a primary
question has been one of means and ends.  It has been made
indelibly obvious to us that a profound human tragedy is
unfolding as ethnic Albanians are being expelled from their
homes by Serbian armed forces and paramilitaries.  No claim
to territory, regardless of its historical basis, can justify the
kind of brutality currently experienced by residents of
Kosovo.

"At the same time, we have in the past questioned the use of
force and violence to resolve issues between nations and
peoples.  Within our own church there are differences among
faithful people as to whether Christians can ever approve such
means, regardless of the worthiness of the ends.  The military
intervention by NATO seems only to be heaping misery upon
misery, strengthening the hand of Serbian extremists while
visiting suffering upon non--combatants.  We join the World
Council of Churches and Church World Service and Witness
in calling for a cessation of the bombing of Yugoslavia and a
return to the negotiating table.

"We also join local religious leaders, Christians and Muslims
alike, in their advocacy for a negotiated and just solution to
the issue of Kosovo, one that guarantees the rights of both
minorities and the majority in an inclusive multi--ethnic
society.  Particularism and ethno--centrism are profoundly at
odds with the tenets of our faiths.

"Finally, I call on our churches to respond generously to the
appeals of Church World Service and Witness through our
own One Great Hour of Sharing for assistance in dealing with
the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, Montenegro,
Albania and Macedonia.

"During this holy season, we remember that death and
suffering never have the last word.  We pray fervently for an
end to the suffering of the people of Yugoslavia and for the
rebirth of hope there."

The United Church of Christ, with national offices in
Cleveland, has 1.4 million members and more than 6,000 local
churches in the United States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed
by the 1957 union of Congregational Christian Churches and
the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

                  # # #