wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Dutch Queen Beatrix attends anti-racism church world conference

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 04/06/2009 14:18:17

CHURCHES REAFFIRM 40-YEAR STRUGGLE AGAINST RACISM

The Dutch queen will be the guest of honour at a conference seeking to  take on the legacy of the World Council of Churches' (WCC) historic  anti-racism efforts.

The 14-17 June conference "Churches Against Racism" in Doorn near Utrecht  in the Netherlands marks the 40th anniversary of the Notting Hill  conference which laid the ground for the WCC Programme to Combat Racism  (PCR).

The PCR contributed to the struggles to end apartheid in South Africa and  has inspired and supported indigenous people in different parts of the  world, oppressed groups in Australia, New Zealand, North and South  America, as well as the Dalit communities in India.

"In the Netherlands, where many people have family ties with South Africa,  most of the churches strongly supported the PCR efforts against apartheid  as they realized that the call for justice corresponded with the call of  the gospel," says Rev. Klaas van der Kamp, general secretary of the  Council of Churches in the Netherlands.

40 years later, the Council of Churches in the Netherlands decided to host  another anti-racism conference, because, as van der Kamp puts it, "we  realize that the struggle for inclusion still continues".

Even in a liberal and tolerant country like the Netherlands, "there were  4,247 official complaints in 2007 of people suffering racism and exclusion.  In other countries with a less democratic background such injustice is  even accepted as normal."

The conference participants, some fifty church leaders, activists and  theologians from different parts of the world, are united by their  commitment to building inclusive churches and communities, resisting  racist discrimination within their societies and empowering the excluded.

"The conference must find strategies which will be more powerful than  military weapons in order to change the situation of minorities in  different countries", says van der Kamp. "Think of Dalits in India, people  of African descent in Latin-America, Aboriginals in Australia and Roma in  Europe."

The opening of the conference will be marked by a Thanksgiving Service for  the witness through the PCR at 4 pm Sunday, 14 June at the Maartenskerk  (Saint Martin's Church) in Doorn. WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel  Kobia will preach the sermon.

A message of commitment will be read out during a worship service at the  end of the conference on 17 June. The service will be preceded by a press  conference at Doorn's Hydepark conference centre at 12:30 pm.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will attend the closing service and speak  at a reception afterwards.

Analysis, theological reflection and building networks for common action  will be the tools by which the conference seeks to promote inclusivity as  a theological and ethical response to racism.

The conference is organized by the WCC in cooperation with the Council of  Churches in the Netherlands ( http://www.raadvankerken.nl/ ), the  association of migrant churches in the Netherlands SKIN ( http://www.skinke rken.nl/ ), the missionary and diaconal agency KerkinActie ( http://www.ker kinactie.org/ ), the interchurch organization for development cooperation  ICCO ( http://www.icco.nl/delivery/icco/en/ )and the ecumenical advocacy  group Oikos ( http://www.stichtingoikos.nl/?nid=70000 ).

Media contact in the Netherlands: Henk van IJken +31 (0)30 880 1791 H.van.IJken@kerkinactie.nl

>WCC work on just and inclusive communities:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3105

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.