wfn.org | WCC meeting to analyze consequences of September 11

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

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-01-45
For Immediate Use
28 November 2001

WCC meeting to analyze consequences of September 11

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-34, of 2 October 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-37, of 5 October 2001

The global implications of the attacks of September 11 and the
military campaign in Afghanistan are the focus of a World Council
of Churches (WCC) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.   
	
The 29 November - 1 December meeting brings some 20
representatives of churches in various regions to reflect with
WCC staff on the possible consequences of the September 11
attacks and subsequent military retaliation. Their collective
analysis will be shared with a broad church constituency and the
wider international community.  

The meeting will look at what these events could mean

- for religions, particularly Christian-Muslim relations,
minority religions, new 
fundamentalisms, and the use of religion in conflict
situations;

-  for security and global governance, including the United
Nations, relations between regional and global bodies, and
changing concepts of security;

- for economy and globalization, including possible increased
military spending, changes in corporate and international
financial institutions strategy and modes of operation; 

- for humanitarian and human rights issues, including the
interplay between military action and humanitarian response, the
movement of and restrictions on uprooted people, and for
xenophobia and racism.  

"While most of the world's attention is on the military action
and the humanitarian emergency, the issues raised by the current
crisis are much more far-reaching, and are too important to leave
just to the political leaders. The churches have an 
important role to play in the policy debates in their own
countries and at the global level," explains Rev. Dwain Epps,
coordinator of International Relations for the WCC.  

The Geneva meeting is part of a broader WCC response that
includes a visit by an international ecumenical delegation to the
US churches earlier this month, and a 16-22 December inter-faith
meeting in Cairo.   

List of Participants

Dr Agnes Abuom, Anglican Church of Kenya 
Executive director, Research & Development Consultants - TAABCO
WCC Africa president

Mr Wim Dierckxsens, Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones /
DEI , Costa Rica

Prof. Rudolf El Kareh, Relations with Europe, Middle East and
the Arab World 
International Consultant, Lebanon/France

Dr Alison Janet Elliot, Church of Scotland 
Member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International
Affairs

Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, Development Policy Desk
Protestant Church in Germany - EKD

Mr Victor Hsu, senior advisor, Church World Service and Witness
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA

Dr John Langmore, director, Division for Social Policy and
Development/DESA/UN
United Nations - New York
Member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International
Affairs (WCC/CCIA)

Dr Patricia Lewis, director, United Nations Institute for
Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
				
Mr Senituli Lopeti, director, Tonga Human Rights and Democracy
Movement 
Member of WCC/CCIA 

Ms Aida Jean N. Manipon, coordinator, Asia Regional Exchange for
New Alternatives - ARENA 
Hong Kong

Dr Soritua Nababan, Indonesia
Former WCC president

Rev. Dr Bernice Powell-Jackson, executive minister, Justice &
Witness Ministries,
United Church of Christ, USA
WCC Central Committee member		

Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb, general director, International Centre of
Bethlehem, Palestine

Dr Bertrand Ramcharan, deputy high commissioner for Human
Rights
UN Office Geneva-OHCHR 
		 
Dr Pablo Richard, director, Departamento Ecumenico de
Investigaciones / DEI 
Costa Rica

Bishop Manower Rumalshah, general secretary, USPG 
Pakistan/United Kingdom

Rt Rev. Michael Kehinde Stephen, bishop of the Methodist Church
Nigeria 
WCC Central Committee member			

Rev. Peggy Orr Thomas, coordinator for Interfaith Relations,
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Mr Stein Villumstadt, associate general secretary, Norwegian
Church Aid 

Mr Peter Weiderud, director general for International Affairs,
Church of Sweden Mission/Aid 

Ms Glenda Wildschut, director, Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy,
South Africa
Member of WCC/CCIA  

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,
Tel.:  (+41.22) 791.64.21

**********
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
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