if war is wrong, what is right?

If War Is

Wrong,

What Is Right?

If War Is

Wrong,

What Is Right?The New Approach to Peace

Kingston

Jamaica

May 2011

InternationalEcumenicalPeace Convocation

About 1,000 people

are expected

About 1,000 people

are expected

• Representatives of the WCC communions

About 1,000 people

are expected


• Representatives of other communions, including the Roman Catholic Church

About 1,000 people

are expected


• Representatives of other communions, including the Roman Catholic Church

• Activists, theologians, and other interested individuals

Conclusion to the

Decade to Overcome Violence

(DOV)

• A ten year process involving Christians throughout the world.

Conclusion to the


(DOV)


• Initiated by the WCC, but not limited to WCC members.

Conclusion to the


(DOV)


• Initiated by the WCC, but not limited to WCC members.

• Input from both institutional and non-institutional groups.

“The IEPC will be a place and time

for…”

• celebrating God's peace and the good will of God's people


for…”


• working on our theology of peace and relinquishing any theological justification of violence


for…”


• working on our theology of peace and relinquishing any theological justification of violence

• telling our stories of failure and success, and listening to examples of good practice

• equipping ourselves with creative and effective tools for preventing and overcoming violence, and promoting peace and justice


• committing ourselves to a theology and practice of nonviolence, peace and justice


• committing ourselves to a theology and practice of nonviolence, peace and justice

• proclaiming an Ecumenical Declaration on Just Peace

Initial Draft

• “The older traditions of Christian pacifism and just war theory no longer control peace thinking.”

Initial Draft


• “The notion of ‘just peace’, going beyond the ‘just war’ concept [has become] a guiding concept in many churches.”

Initial Draft



• “Shalom means wholeness and well-being…The absence of conflict and war does not exhaust the meaning of shalom.”

Initial Draft



• “Shalom means wholeness and well-being…The absence of conflict and war does not exhaust the meaning of shalom.”

• “The responsibility to protect those directly endangered by conflict has begun to receive greater attention.”

• “Just peace-building confronts a double challenge…the challenge of securing, on a healthy planet, the goods of the community of all beings God has created—and at the same time addressing the obscenity of superfluous wealth and the offense of needless poverty.”

Initial Draft


• “How the churches choose to live in the world, and where they draw the line in the face of violence is part of [their] prophetic witness. Here the historic peace churches play a particularly important role.”

Initial Draft


• “How the churches choose to live in the world, and where they draw the line in the face of violence is part of [their] prophetic witness. Here the historic peace churches play a particularly important role.”

• “Peace-building is not just about repairing what has been broken, but about expanding and completing relationships that make the oikos [the world] the mirror of the Trinity.”

Initial Draft

• “No one can be whole in a broken world. Institutions, policies, systems, and the ways in which our lives are organized, shape who we are, how we experience the world and see it, and what we are able to do in it.

Initial Draft


• “Every part of our being…is affected by the worlds that we inhabit and that inhabit us. If we are to be whole, so too must they be. Thus peace-building at the levels of just institutions in a just order is the indispensable partner of soul-craft.”

Initial Draft


• “Every part of our being…is affected by the worlds that we inhabit and that inhabit us. If we are to be whole, so too must they be. Thus peace-building at the levels of just institutions in a just order is the indispensable partner of soul-craft.”

• “The very disunity…within the churches themselves has undermined the churches’ credibility…as true signs of peace.”

Initial Draft

Joint Catholic-Mennonite

Position Paper

• Based on the final report of the first formal international dialogue (1998-2003)


Position Paper


• That report was entitled Called Together to Be Peacemakers.


Position Paper


• That report was entitled Called Together to Be Peacemakers.

• Unprecedented for either Mennonites or Catholics to issue a joint declaration of this kind.

• “The Church is called to be a peace church. This calling is based on the conviction we hold in common as Catholics and Mennonites, that the Church, founded by Christ, is to be a living sign and an effective instrument of peace.”

Joint Mennonite Catholic Statement:


• “Reconciliation, nonviolence, and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel.”



• “Reconciliation, nonviolence, and active peacemaking belong to the heart of the Gospel.”

• “For both Catholics and Mennonites the ultimate personal and ecclesial challenge is to spell out the consequences of the cross for our teaching on peace and war, and for our response in the face of injustice and violence.”


• “Spirituality consists in following the teachings and the life of Jesus, making his manner of life our own.”



• “[There is an] often narrow path between the cowardice which gives in to evil and the violence which, under the illusion of fighting evil, only makes it worse.” — John Paul II



• “[There is an] often narrow path between the cowardice which gives in to evil and the violence which, under the illusion of fighting evil, only makes it worse.” — John Paul II

• “How can we ask the world to live in peace when we ourselves fail to heed the call to ‘maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’?”


• “In the absence of justice and human rights, peace is a mirage.”



• “The Gospel’s vision includes active nonviolence for defense of human life and human rights, economic justice for the poor, and solidarity among peoples.”



• “The Gospel’s vision includes active nonviolence for defense of human life and human rights, economic justice for the poor, and solidarity among peoples.”

• “The education, training and deployment of Christians in the practice of active nonviolence is an essential contribution of the Church and church-sponsored organizations.”


The Emerging Consensus

If Catholics and Mennonites can agree

on a common statement regarding peace

we have reached a new stage

in the Christian Churches’

approach to peace.


• Neither the Just War Doctrine nor classical

pacifism

is any longer being advocated.



pacifism


• A third way, still not clearly defined or named, is

emerging across the global Christian community.



pacifism


• A third way, still not clearly defined or named, is

emerging across the global Christian community.

• The new way involves direct involvement in

political affairs, although the way in which this

involvement will occur is not yet clear.

Why?

Why this major change

in the Churches’ attitudes

to peace and war

at this point in history?

Why?

1.Democratization

2.Science

3.Globalization

4.Compassion

5.Ecumenical Movement

6.20th Century Wars

7.Peace Church Witness

8.Church in Global South

Democratization

Uganda

Democratization

Uganda

Beirut

Democratization

Uganda

Beirut

Israel

Democratization

Uganda

Iran

India

Beirut

Israel

Science

Anywhere

ScienceChina

Anywhere

ScienceChina

Kenya

Anywhere

ScienceChina

Kenya

Anywhere

Mexico

ScienceChina

Kenya

Anywhere

Mexico Space

Globalization

Greece

Globalization

Greece

Los Angeles

Globalization

Greece

Los Angeles

Everywhere

Globalization

Greece

Los Angeles

Everywhere

U. S.

Globalization

Greece

Los Angeles

Everywhere

U. S.

G20G20

Compassion

The Ecumenical

Movement

World Council of Churches - 1948

The Ecumenical

Movement

Roman Catholic Church - 1964


The Ecumenical

Movement



Lutheran WorldFederation

MennoniteWorld

Conference

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KONPfM7T_Z0/TGREJGfPx5I/AAAAAAAAAVA/s5ZAaYySNVc/s1600/LWF-Mennonite+reconciliation.jpg

The Ecumenical

Movement



Lutheran WorldFederation

MennoniteWorld

Conference

German Lutheran Conference

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KONPfM7T_Z0/TGREJGfPx5I/AAAAAAAAAVA/s5ZAaYySNVc/s1600/LWF-Mennonite+reconciliation.jpg

The 20th Century Wars

The Peace Church

Witness

The Churches in the Global South

Democratic Republic of Congo



Vatican



Vatican

Brazil



Vatican

Brazil

Asia



Vatican

Brazil

Asia

San Salvador

Warfare in the global south is typically local, and within national borders, using small arms imported from the West.

Sudan

Warfare in the global south is typically local, and within national borders, using small arms imported from the West.

As a result of their experiences Christians in the global south have developed a doctrine of “the Responsibility to Protect”.

Sudan

“All these factors

force us to undertake

a completely fresh

appraisal

of war.”

Vatican II Gaudium et Spes

How?

How does the

Christian community translate

this emerging consensus

into effective action?

Martin Luther King

Solidarity

The Cardinals

The War

Assisi ‘86

“Today as a pilgrim of peace I have come here to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, hero of humanity.


From this place I wish to express...my profound conviction that peace and justice…will only be achieved along the path which was at the core of his teaching…



If [we] respect the unique dignity of every human being, a new world order—a civilization of love—can be achieved.”



If [we] respect the unique dignity of every human being, a new world order—a civilization of love—can be achieved.”

— Address at the Gandhi Memorial

31 Jan. 1986

“In our

next campaign

we have to

institutionalize nonviolence

and take it

international.”

Martin Luther KingApril 4, 1968

Youth

Australia

Youth

Australia

Nepal

Youth

Australia

Cairo

Nepal

if war is wrong, what is right?

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