|
|
|
|
|
« Return
|
|
Future belongs to the non-violent, Lutheran tells interfaith gathering
2002-241-9
10/18/2002
|
[Episcopal News Service]
Under the shadow of a possible US war over Iraq, laity and clergy from a range of faiths and continents meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, re-committed themselves to the cause of peace as part of a world-wide effort to overcome violence.
'Religion has encouraged violence, and that has been a strain in each [major religious] tradition,' said the Rev. Gilbert Friend-Jones of the Central Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta, which co-sponsored the event October 4-5 along with the United States Conference for the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Emory University. Friend-Jones told ENI that conference participants, who came from all faiths, made a commitment 'to stimulate new co-operation between faith communities around the globe.'
The conference was held on the same weekend that thousands of protesters in various US cities--including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco--demonstrated against possible US military action against Iraq. The October 6 peace rallies also marked the anniversary of the first US military strikes in Afghanistan.
The keynote speaker at the Atlanta conference, Bishop Margot Kaessmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, in Germany, said while she agreed with US President George W. Bush that Iraq should disarm, so should the rest of the world, including the US. 'The future belongs to the non-violent or we have no future,' said Kaessmann, who helped to inspire the WCC's 'Decade to Overcome Violence,' a campaign promoting initiatives for peace by churches, secular movements and people of other faiths.
As part of the follow-up to the conference, religious leaders in the Atlanta area plan to pressure their city's civic leaders to create specific goals for reducing rates of crime and violence.
|
|
|
|
|
|
