wfn.org | WCC urges USA & UK to bring prompt end to military action

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

against Afghanistan

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-35
For Immediate Use
8 October 2001

WCC urges the United States of America and the United Kingdom to
bring a prompt end to military action against Afghanistan

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-34, of 2 October 2001
cf. WCC Press Update, Up.-01-33, of 21 September 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-32, of 11 September 2001

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is deeply concerned about
the recent bombings and missile attacks against Afghanistan.  In
a statement issued on Monday, 8 October, WCC acting general
secretary Georges Lemopoulos says: "We do not believe that war,
particularly in today's highly technologized world, can ever be
regarded as an effective response to the equally abhorrent sin of
terrorism."

The statement appeals to the United States of America and the
United Kingdom to bring "a prompt end to the present action" and
urges other states not to "join with them in it".  

The text of the statement follows:

The initiation of bombings and missile attacks against
Afghanistan last night, while not unexpected, is nevertheless of
profound concern to the World Council of Churches.  As the
churches joined in the ecumenical movement have done so often
over the past century, they have again in recent weeks sought to
avoid this renewed use of overwhelming military power.  The WCC
has reflected this consistent and widely held stance of the
churches in a letter sent last week to UN secretary-general Kofi
Annan by Dr Konrad Raiser, the general secretary of the WCC.  

We abhor war.  The first WCC assembly in 1948 called it a sin
against God and humanity.  We do not believe that war,
particularly in today's highly technologized world, can ever be
regarded as an effective response to the equally abhorrent sin of
terrorism.  Our experience of ministry to the victims of war
convinces us that acts of war can never spare civilian
populations despite all the precautions of military planners. 
Nor do we believe that war can be described as an act of
humanitarianism or that the practice of war can be legitimately
linked to the promise of humanitarian assistance.   

We therefore pray that the United States of America and the
United Kingdom will bring a prompt end to the present action, and
that no other state join with them in it.  We pray for those who
live under the bombs and missiles, hoping against hope that they
will be spared.  We pray for the minority Christian churches and
communities who are placed in danger as a result of such action:
especially now for those in Pakistan who, despite their own
poverty and small minority status, began planning last week to
assist the present wave of Afghans fleeing from terror.  We pray
for the Muslim and other religious communities who despite
President Bush's and Prime Minister Blair's affirmations to the
contrary, are likely to consider themselves the targets of this
and the other military actions foreseen to follow.  We pray for
the leaders of these and all nations that God will invest them
with wisdom and compassion in this terrible time; that they turn
away from the temptation of the sword and toward actions for
global justice that provide the chief hope to overcome terrorism
in all its forms and to provide true peace and security for the
nations and peoples of our world.  

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer           Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53, 
Mobile:  (+41) 79.284.52.12

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland