wfn.org | WCC Thailand visit

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World Council of Churches
Update Up-03-07
For Immediate Use
5 March 2002

On visit to Thailand, Raiser suggests response to globalized violence:
"Overcome evil with good!"

Cf. WCC Press Update, Up-03-06 of 28 February 2003
Cf. WCC Press Release, PR-03-11 of 24 February 2003

Globalization and the culture of violence were the focus of a 27 February to
2 March visit to Thailand by World Council of Churches (WCC) general
secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser.  His visit to the Buddhist-majority country
was the second stage of a 12-day, four-nation WCC visit to Asia; it included
visits to schools and hospitals in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and was described
as a welcome encouragement to the national Church of Christ in Thailand
(CCT).

At a worship service that drew participants from many CCT congregations as
well as representatives of other Christian groups, Raiser spoke of Christian
discipleship in the face of violence. Building on Jesus' response to the
question, "What am I to do to earn the kingdom?", Raiser suggested that
Christians must question their own use of violence, whether in international
military responses to terrorism or in the war on drugs. Linking active
Christian obedience with the difficulty of being neighbours to one another in
a world in which the culture of violence is increasingly eroding common
humanity, Raiser challenged Christians to apply Jesus' advice: "Do not let
evil defeat you; instead conquer evil with good" (Romans 12:21).

Violence and drugs 
Being Christian is difficult in a world in which the use of violence in
response to violence is increasingly accepted, Raiser said. In Thailand for
example, the local manifestation of violence - a "war on drugs" - is
responsible for more than 1,000 deaths per month and threatens the fabric of
society itself. Since the end of the Vietnam war, Thailand has benefited, and
suffered, from globalization and economic growth, and what was once a
"flow-through" drug trade has an increasing impact locally and has led to
social deterioration.

"We are not living in a Christian ghetto," Raiser challenged his listeners.
"We live with Buddhists and Muslims, with urban and rural poverty, with
victims of HIV/AIDS. If we want to be a community in the spirit of Christ, we
must resist the temptation to use violence in attempting to root out the
causes of violence. The root causes cannot be changed by the use of force."  
       

Instead, Christians must fight to build true community. Rebuilding the moral
fabric that has been torn apart by drugs is a way of overcoming evil with
good. That could mean teaching young people to identify the danger and
respond to the evil present in drug use and trafficking, Raiser suggested. 

Interreligious contacts
In conversations with the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Thailand,
Cardinal Meechai Kitboonchu, and leaders of the country's Muslim and majority
Buddhist communities, Raiser emphasized mutual good will and cooperative
relationships. 

Meeting with the head of Thailand's Muslim community, the Sheik-ul-Islam
Sowat Sumalayasak, Raiser expressed his good wishes for the community's peace
and well-being. As a fellowship of many churches, the WCC has a sense of
spiritual fellowship with Muslims, he noted. In particular, it has clearly
rejected the use of military means to resolve the conflict related to Iraq.
Although that conflict seems to oppose Christians and Muslims, "We are
convinced that it has no connection with religious conviction, but is
essentially political. We are convinced that it is our common task, as people
of faith, to bring a witness of peace and reconciliation to this problem."

In an audience with Thailand's Supreme Patriarch, Raiser said that Thai
Buddhism's spirit of dialogue was a source of inspiration for building
relationships between religions. His Holiness recalled Chao Fa (Prince)
Mongkut's invitation to missionaries to teach Buddhist monks in his temple in
the 1840s, and recalled that he himself had reinstated the practice when he
became abbot of the same temple. Thai church leaders accompanying Raiser on
this visit expressed their affection and respect for the aging Supreme
Patriarch, one of the world's senior religious leaders.

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 / 61 53

**********

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.

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