wfn.org | A Letter to the Church on the Kosovo Crisis

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14-April-1999 
99152 
 
    A Letter to the Church on the Kosovo Crisis 
 
April 13, 1999 
 
Dear Friends in Christ: 
 
    The tragedy in Kosovo continues.  So far a half million people have 
become refugees, many of them children.  Those refugees who have reached 
safety in neighboring countries are carrying reports of mass murder at a 
scale unknown in Europe since the end of World War II.  These reports have 
become so numerous and so consistent that it is difficult not to give them 
credence. 
 
    At the same time, NATO bombs are falling throughout Yugoslavia.  As the 
bombing goes on, the number and kinds of targets continue to grow.  Though 
the bombing is targeted against military objectives, inevitably civilians 
are being killed.  If the bombing goes on, the number of civilian 
casualties can only increase. 
 
    Clearly we Presbyterians must think hard and pray passionately if we 
are to respond in a way that is appropriate to the challenges that are now 
confronting humankind in southeastern Europe. 
 
    We are glad to be able to report to you that the Presbyterian Church 
(USA) is already distributing food, water, blankets and mattresses to many 
of the hundreds of thousands of people in Albania who have become refugees 
as a result of the violence in Kosovo.  Through years of mission 
partnership with Orthodox and Protestant Christians in the poor and small 
country of Albania we Presbyterians have developed the relationships that 
are now making it possible for us to to work with Albanian Christians as 
well as the international ecumenical relief organization, Action by 
Churches Together (ACT), to respond to the desperate needs of the refugees 
in the current crisis.  Similar ministries to Kosovar refugees are being 
carried out together with our partners in Montenegro and Italy and until 
two weeks ago in Kosovo itself. 
 
    We Presbyterians believe passionately in the power of prayer.  Even if 
we do not know what exactly to pray for, we believe with the Apostle Paul 
that the Holy Spirit intercedes with "sighs too deep for words" (Romans 
8:26). During the Sundays ahead, we hope that  prayers will be said in each 
congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) for peace and healing in 
southeastern Europe as well as for all who, at risk to themselves, are 
working to bring an end to this tragedy. 
 
    We hope that all Presbyterians will join together in a common 
commitment that: 
 
    1.  The killing must stop.  If, as it now appears, genocide is taking 
place in Kosovo, it must stop. 
 
    2.  No person in Kosovo or anywhere else should be forced to become a 
refugee merely because he or she belongs to one ethnic group or one 
religious tradition.  Neither should any person be prevented from leaving 
Kosovo if that is what he or she should decide to do. 
 
    3.  No person should be used as a "human shield" against air or ground 
attacks. 
 
    4.  The War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia must be supported 
in its efforts to indict and try those who may have committed war crimes 
and crimes against humanity in Kosovo and elsewhere in the former 
Yugoslavia. Only when the guilty are identified will the innocent be 
cleared of suspicion. 
 
    5.  Whatever some in the Yugoslav army and police and paramilitaries 
might be doing to innocent civilians in Kosovo, the entire Yugoslav nation 
is not guilty of genocide.  The Yugoslav people as a whole are not the 
enemies of the Kosovars or of the United States.  Even if many inside and 
outside Yugoslavia do not yet recognize it, the Serbian people are also 
victims of the aggression perpetrated by their leaders.  Presbyterians must 
resist every attempt to caricature all Serbs as bloodthirsty, violent or 
evil.  When this war is over, we believe we will discover that most Serbs 
acted decently and humanely even under great pressure to do otherwise and 
that some actively resisted the attempts of others to do evil in every way 
they could. 
 
    6.  This is a time when relationships between Protestant and Roman 
Catholic Christians and Orthodox Christians as well as between Orthodox 
Christians and Muslims are becoming dangerously frayed.  We must remember 
that countless numbers of good people in each faith tradition are working 
as hard as they can to end the killing as well as to care for those who are 
suffering as a result of the violence.  In this special season following 
Easter, we hope that every Presbyterian congregation will make an effort to 
reach out to neighboring Orthodox and Muslim communities and seek to work 
with them for healing and peace. 
 
    7.  Whatever individual Presbyterians think of the decisions that our 
country and NATO have made so far, we can agree that the decisions that are 
yet to come may prove to be even more daunting and more difficult. 
 
    We also hope that Presbyterians will support humanitarian relief 
efforts now going on everywhere in southeastern Europe.  Presbyterians can 
mark their checks "Kosovo relief - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Account 
# 9-2000137" and bring or mail them to their local congregation or send 
their appropriately designated checks to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, 
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396.  One hundred cents of 
every dollar received will go directly to support the relief effort in 
southeastern Europe. 
 
    We also encourage Presbyterians to let our President and our 
representatives in Congress know that we want our country to treat those 
who have become refugees as a result of this conflict in a humane and 
compassionate way. 
 
    God bless you all.  God bless all the people who are suffering  today 
in southeastern Europe. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Douglas W. Oldenburg                               Clifton Kirkpatrick 
Moderator, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)            Stated Clerk, PC(USA) 
 
John Detterick                                     Marian McClure 
Executive Director, General Assembly Council       Director, Worldwide 
                                                   Ministries Division 

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