wfn.org | UMNS# 04500-Middle East, Sudan focus of United Methodist

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Middle East, Sudan focus of United Methodist advocacy agency 

Oct. 27, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04500}

NOTE: Photos and related resources are available at
http://www.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=2&mid=5908.

By United Methodist News Service

Deep concern for the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in the Middle East and
the "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Darfur region of Sudan has been
expressed by members of the United Methodist Church's social action agency.

The Middle East statement calls for action both in Israel/Palestine and in
Iraq and urges the U.S. government to use its influence to bring lasting
peace to the region. The Sudan statement demands an international effort "to
take all necessary steps to end the terror of civil conflict and the violence
of hunger, disease and displacement..."

The denomination's Board of Church and Society wrote the two statements
during its Oct. 14-18 meeting in Herndon, Va. Board members also elected
Bishop Beverly Shamana of the San Francisco Area as its president for the
next four years and Bishop William Hutchison of Louisiana will serve as vice
president. Two-thirds of the board's 63 directors are serving for the first
time.

In other business, the board ended its endorsement of the labor-related
boycott against the Mt. Olive Pickle Company in response to a recent
settlement between the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and North Carolina
Growers Association, which was endorsed by Mt. Olive. Photos of the Sept. 15
signing ceremony and a dozen jars of Mt. Olive pickles marked the board's
celebration of the end of the boycott.

A five-member task force, to be led by Bishop Susan Morrison of Albany, N.Y.,
was created to revise the denomination's social creed to make it more
relevant for the current age. The revised creed will be presented to the 2008
General Conference, the church's top legislative body, marking the 100th
anniversary of the first creed. Although the social creed was revised in
1972, it is rarely used in worship services.

During his address to the board, Jim Winkler, Church and Society's chief
executive, announced the decision to discontinue publication of the Christian
Social Action magazine after the November/December 2004 issue. Resources
instead will be directed to communications through the Internet.

Here are the board's complete statements on the Middle East and the Sudan: 

Ezekiel's Vision: A Statement By The General Board Of Church And Society On
Crises In The Middle East
October 17, 2004

We, the members of the General Board of Church and Society of The United
Methodist Church, express our grave concern for the rapidly deteriorating
situation in the Middle East as it spirals deeper into the morass of violence
and war, with killing and retribution increasing daily. As we mourn this
senseless waste of life and resources, we also note with sadness that in this
area the church is being persecuted and continues its shocking disappearance
from the Holy Land, the home of the Abrahamic faiths, and now Iraq, the home
of Abraham and Sarah.

We gather in the name of the Prince of Peace to witness to a better way: "We
believe that war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ"
(2000 The Book of Discipline,  165c). Our opposition to violence and war is
based on both testaments of the Holy Bible, on theological principles which
proclaim the God-given value of every human being, and on the evils of
terrorism and combat which aims are to kill and maim other children of our
one Creator. No nation is wise or pure enough to decide unilaterally to
terrorize or invade, subdue and occupy another, and even in a multilateral
setting such action has been recognized historically as a sad, last step
(2000 The Book of Discipline 2000, 164G and 165C).

We recognize there will be no true and lasting peace in the Middle East until
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is equitably resolved and both states are
safe and secure. We call upon the President of the United States to send a
special envoy back to the region to restart negotiations between the parties.
We call upon all participants in the conflict to cease military action and
violence. We call upon Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and
to tear down the wall it is constructing (an action already determined
illegal by the International Court of Justice and denounced by most of the
world). We call upon Palestinians to bring an end to terrorist attacks
against Israel.

We pray for the safety and well-being of both civilians and combatants
affected by the war in Iraq. We recognize the violence there may not improve
for years to come. We opposed this war in March 2003, declaring that the
United Nations' weapons inspectors should be allowed to complete their work.
Recent reports from respected experts have confirmed the rationales given for
invading Iraq have been proven false. Believing these reports to be true,
continuing the current course of action becomes foolhardy and sinful.
Instead, we urge a truly united effort to transfer power and sovereignty back
to the Iraqi people as soon as possible, the withdrawal of United States and
other coalition forces, and their replacement with U.N. forces, and funding
coordinated through that international body. We further call upon the
international community to support the reconstruction of Iraq and the healing
of its people who have been devastated for decades by their own leaders as
well as more rec
 e!
ntly by the occupying forces.

Finally, we implore persons of faith throughout God's world to be in constant
prayer for the people of the entire Middle Eastern region and for the
implementation of serious and effective plans of peaceful resolution of the
region's crises. We also recognize the United States has significant power to
influence the course of events, and we urge it to use this power to work
toward lasting peace in the region. Our prayer is that Ezekiel's vision of
peace, where all of us "shall no more be a prey to the nations... and none
shall make them afraid" (34:28), will prevail.

To Live Life In All Its Fullness: Responding to the Crisis In Darfur
October 17, 2004

We, the members of the General Board of Church and Society of The United
Methodist Church, note with concern the evolving humanitarian catastrophe and
security crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan. We are deeply concerned
about the gravity of the atrocities committed against the local population of
Darfur, which according to the World Health Organization have now claimed the
lives of at least 70,000 and displaced more than a million persons from their
abodes, villages and livelihoods, all acts of which are at genocidal
proportions.

We strongly urge the international community, led by the United Nations, to
take all necessary steps to end the terror of civil conflict and the violence
of hunger, disease and displacement, and instead muster from nations and
civil, corporate, humanitarian and religious entities every and all financial
and moral support to preserve lives, secure livelihoods, and affirm human
dignity for all the peoples of Darfur.

We call for full support of the Africa Union's efforts to deploy a monitoring
and protection force to secure the safety of both the peoples of Darfur and
all human rights and humanitarian agency workers operating in the region. We
join the Africa Union and the international community in urging all parties
to the conflict (i.e. the government of the Sudan, the Justice and Equality
Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army) to comply fully to the
N'djamena Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement of 8 April 2004 and to work toward
a lasting and comprehensive political settlement of the conflict in Darfur.

To these ends, all efforts of the United Nations, the Africa Union, the
United States, and the international community must be encouraged, especially
toward disarming the Janjaweed militia and other armed outlaw groups and
toward setting up the infrastructure for sustainable economic recovery and
restoration of Darfur and all the Sudan. In the end, the welfare and security
of the people of Darfur and all Sudan lies in the earnest commitment of the
Sudanese government to work for peace and justice and be a responsible member
of the community of nations.

For us, believing in God who judges among peoples and arbitrates between
nations, calling them to "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks," (Micah 4:3) and in Jesus Christ who wills creation to
live life in all its fullness (John 10:10), we will do all we can to
encourage our religious communities to pray and exert their moral authority
by urging their governments to help resolve this humanitarian tragedy.
     

News media contact: Linda Bloom7(646)369-37597New York7 E-mail:
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service