if war is wrong, what is right?

If War Is Wrong,

What Is Right?

The New Approach to Peace

Kingston

Jamaica

May 2011

International

Ecumenical

Peace

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)


the world.

• Initiated by the WCC, but not limited

to WCC members.

Conclusion to the


(DOV)


the world.

• 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



of God's people

• working on our theology of peace and

relinquishing any theological justification

of violence



of God's people

• 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





poverty.”

• “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





poverty.”

• “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)

Joint

Catholic-Mennonite

Position Paper



• That report was entitled Called Together to Be

Peacemakers.

Joint

Catholic-Mennonite

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.




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

across the global Christian community.




• 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

MexicoSpace

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

The Churches in

the Global South


Vatican

The Churches in

the Global South


Vatican

Brazil

The Churches in

the Global South


Vatican

Brazil

Asia

The Churches in

the Global South


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.



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…



hero of humanity.





If [we] respect the unique dignity of every

human being, a new world order—a

civilization of love—can be achieved.”



hero of humanity.





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 King

April 4, 1968

Youth

Australia

Youth

Australia

Nepal

Youth

Australia

Cairo

Nepal

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