Peace message closes convocation, but work has only begun

World Council of Churches - News

PEACE MESSAGE CLOSES CONVOCATION, BUT WORK HAS ONLY BEGUN

For immediate release: 25 May 2011

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC)
released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a
week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they
return to their homes and churches across the world.

Attempting to take into account each other's contexts and histories, IEPC
participants were unified in their aspiration that war should become illegal
and that peace is central in all religious traditions.

The message states: "With partners of other faiths, we have recognized that
peace is a core value in all religions, and the promise of peace extends to
all people regardless of their traditions and commitments.
Through intensified inter-religious dialogue we seek common ground with all
world religions."

The participants acknowledged that each church and each religion brings with
it a different standpoint from which to begin walking toward a just peace.
Some begin from a standpoint of personal conversion and morality.
Others stress the need to focus on mutual support and correction within the
body of Christ, while still others encourage churches' commitment to broad
social movements and the public witness of the church.

"Each approach has merit," the message, which was crafted by a seven-member
message committee chaired by Bishop Ivan Abrahams of the Methodist Church of
Southern Africa, states, "they are not mutually exclusive. In fact they
belong inseparably together. Even in our diversity we can speak with one
voice."

Abrahams said he trusts that IEPC participants will find their voices in the
message. "In many ways, this convocation is a milestone in the march toward
just peace," he said. "The words 'reaping' and 'harvesting'
have been intrinsic to the life of this convocation. This message is to
ourselves, to our churches and related organizations, and to the world that
is bruised and broken and that God so loves."

The message also acknowledged that the church has often obstructed the path
toward just peace. "We realize that Christians have often been complicit in
systems of violence, injustice, militarism, racism, casteism, intolerance
and discrimination. We ask God to forgive our sins, and to transform us as
agents of righteousness and advocates of Just Peace."

The message continued to address the four themes of the convocation: peace
in the community, peace with the earth, peace in the marketplace, and peace
among the peoples, allowing for specific emphasis on each theme and how they
complement to the ethical and theological approach to the pursuit of Just
Peace.

"Much more than a text"

The IEPC message captures only part of a truly historic event, said the Rev.
Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central
Committee, as he received the IEPC message on behalf of the WCC.

"You take with you much more than a text; you take with you a profound
ecumenical experience," he said. "The complexity of the issues we have
addressed will certainly require further work, reflection and action."

The ending of WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence is also a new beginning, he
added. "As we return, each of us becomes a living message for the IECP," he
said.

More than 60 of some 1,000 IEPC participants commented on a draft message,
and their input was taken into account as the final message was crafted.

Moderating the comments was Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee.
"This final text belongs to you, and to us, and to all of us," he said, "and
this will be spread out around the world by the closing of this
convocation."

The IEPC participants responded to a reading of their final message with a
standing ovation. The general secretary of the WCC, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse
Tveit, expressed his pride to the IEPC participants who challenged
themselves and each other to reach new levels of understanding and
determination.

"We are called to be one in our witness," he said. "We also see that the way
to just peace has united us. This is a gift for all of us and we shall use
it well. This week has brought many signs of your commitment.
Sometimes we need to struggle. Sometimes we need to feel it isn't that
easy."

The participation of some 95 youth in the IEPC was also acknowledged during
the closing of the event. Sanna Eriksson, representing the Church of Sweden,
spoke on behalf of the young IEPC participants who planned activities and
had highly visible participation throughout the convocation.

"We rejoice that young people participated in this meeting in a wide variety
of roles," she said. "We thank those churches and organizations who sent
young people as their representatives."

The IEPC message also expressed profound gratefulness to its hosts in
Jamaica and the entire Caribbean region.

The Rev. Gary Harriott, general secretary of the Jamaica Council of
Churches, said that the entire Caribbean region was both proud and excited
to host the IEPC in Jamaica. "It was far more than planning an event, as
some very important relationships were established, which we hope will
remain intact even after IEPC," he said.

The final message may be complete but the work of the IEPC is only
beginning, said Prof. Dr Fernando Enns, who was moderator of the preparatory
committee for the IEPC. "We are only beginning to grasp the possibilities we
have when we really respect one another. The church shall not speak to the
marginalized; the church is where the marginalized are."

IEPC participants should celebrate their experience, he said, but should not
rest satisfied. "Our journey must continue," he said. "You and I, we shall
hold each other accountable. The church is either accepting the call to just
peace or it is not the church at all."

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7366083924d120269d03 )

IEPC photo galleries (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ca5f88266e611258b0e8 )

IEPC videos (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c0a999959c99e5e84b2b
)

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e39dd07ae65e676ac304 )

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

What does "God's security" look like?

World Council of Churches - News

WHAT DOES "GOD'S SECURITY" LOOK LIKE?

For immediate release: 24 May 2011

As a 10-year-old schoolgirl, on 6 August 1945, at 8:15 a.m., Setsuko
Thurlow, then Nakamura, suddenly saw a brilliant bluish light flash outside
her schoolroom window. "I remember the sensation of floating in the air.
When I regained consciousness, in the total darkness and silence, I found
myself in the rubble."

She began to hear her classmates' faint voices: "Mom, help me. Dad, help
me."

Thurlow is a "hibakusha", a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, one of
two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan by the United States toward the end of
World War II. She is also a lifelong advocate against armaments.

Her vivid and painful memory washed over participants at the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) Monday in Kingston, Jamaica, on a day
when a panel discussion explored the theme of Peace among the Peoples,
examined critical concerns about obstructions to peace at the international
level, and considered what real security looks like.

Even though Thurlow's presentation was a recorded video, as she was unable
to attend the convocation in person, it remained a stark reminder of how
recent the use of the atomic bomb really was. It was only a generation ago
and since then the major world powers have developed and proliferated
nuclear arsenals that are, at best, mutually destructive.

Back in 1945, Thurlow said her help came in the form of a stranger's touch.
"Suddenly some hands started shaking my left shoulder, and a voice said,
'Get out of here as quickly as possible.'"

All around her, she said, were "bleeding, ghostly figures, burned black, the
flesh of their skin hanging from their bones. There was deathly silence
broken only by the moans of the injured and their pleas for water."

As survivors like Thurlow tell their stories, they recall the injustice that
260,000 innocent people perished post-1945 because of the effects of the
heat and radiation.

Governments tend to attempt to justify large-scale military action - at its
worst, nuclear warfare - in the name of "security," pointed out Dr Lisa
Schirch, professor of peace-building at Eastern Mennonite University in
Harrisonburg, Va., United States. She called into question what security
should mean to Christians.

"Jesus doesn't use the word 'security.' The language of the church is much
more about justice and peace than about security," she said.

"Security does not land in a helicopter"

When visiting Iraq in 2005, Schirch worked with Iraqis who were
peace-building at a community level. "They told me this: security does not
land in a helicopter; it grows from the ground up."

Iraq was just one country of many on the minds of IEPC participants as they
explored peace among the peoples in a discussion that ranged from nuclear
disarmament to ending all war.

The moderator of the discussion, the Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik who is
president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Right and twice prime
minister of Norway, said he remembers the day in 2003 when U.S. President
George Bush called to solicit his support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"And I said no," recalled Bondevik, as some 1,000 IEPC participants broke
into applause. "I cannot. First of all you don't have a mandate from the
U.N. And, from my ethical Christian perspective, using military means must
be the very, very last solution after you have tried all other peaceful
means."

The churches had a decisive, distinct voice in his decision, he said.
"Churches in Norway made a campaign against possible war in Iraq."

As Archbishop Dr Avak Asadourian, the Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of
Baghdad, listened, he said he would like Bondevik's message of Christian
peace to be communicated across the world. "I am sorry that other leaders
are not listening," he said. "During the past 32 years, all of Iraq has gone
through three wars and an embargo. An embargo by definition is also an act
of war. Iraqis have been in a very bad situation."

Asadourian took issue with the fact that Christians are now referred to as a
minority group within Iraq. "Christians in Iraq are not minorities.
Christians in Iraq are an important part of the Iraqi society. We are doing
everything we can for peace. By peace, in this sense, I don't mean only the
absence of war. By peace, I mean equality."

During the sessions, IEPC participants paused in groups to mull over the
idea that a Christian version of security could be created if churches would
become involved in a form of "early warning," that is, in getting messages
out from the ground about potential conflicts in ways that governments do
not.

"Here, women have a very special role to play," said Dr Patricia Lewis,
deputy director and scientist-in-residence at the Monterey Institute in
California, US, and panellist at the IEPC. "If you don't ask the women, you
don't know what's happening."

Lewis expressed her own deep faith that change will come. "People in the
military and people in positions of authority will understand that nuclear
weapons have almost no use militarily at all. They will also realize you
can't make small mistakes with nuclear weapons."

If churches expect to make an impact in stopping war and the proliferation
of nuclear weapons, they must move beyond declarative documents into the
realm of action, said Dr Christiane Agboton-Johnson, deputy director of the
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Women often suffer most seriously in a conflict despite their commitment to
ending the conflict. Can one consider that a document or a rule is enough to
deal with this sort of problem? I'm not convinced of that. Is the U.N.
prepared to move on from words to actions? They would do better to implement
what is written down."

Meanwhile, Thurlow and other nuclear bomb survivors will continue their call
for humankind to learn from the mistakes of the past: "No human being should
ever have to repeat our experience of inhumanity, illegality, immorality and
cruelty of atomic warfare," she said.

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=84ff5ca854d125930b2e )

IEPC photo galleries (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=16bb41aaf475603c8ddc )

IEPC videos (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=5b5c0d575678a7658383
)

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=eb00e77d63f4fffa3745 )

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Bolivian shares indigenous theology at IEPC

World Council of Churches - News

BOLIVIAN SHARES INDIGENOUS THEOLOGY OF "SACREDNESS WITH THE EARTH"

For immediate release: 20 May 2011

Sofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in
the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain
rural areas before she was born in 1952.

Despite growing up in an urban setting, Sofia has become a primary voice of
an indigenous theology that values living in dignity and sacredness with the
earth and respect for all forms of life.

She was able to share some of her wisdom and experience Thursday as
coordinator of a workshop on this theological perspective during the second
day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston,
Jamaica.

Thursday's IEPC theme was "Peace in the Community." Along with two other
representatives of the Aymara people in South America, Quispe offered a
reflection on peace based on ancestral values that have accompanied their
communities through generations and help them to seek peace and harmonious
relations in their communities.

"Qullan suma qamaña, Taika Utasana" (Living in dignity and sacredness in the
great house of Mother Earth) was the title chosen by the Aymara team to
explore how one can have dignity even in today's situations marked by
injustice.

The team said the concept of "ayllu" provides valuable clues for a holistic
view of peace. "Ayllu" is a community where one experiences an
interrelationship and interdependence between Mother Earth and human beings
and all creatures. "Everything is part of everything," says Quispe.

Celebration of justice

For the Andean communities, the rites, the celebration and practice of
justice are very important. "This is the way to peace restoration," she
said. The rite is a way to establish peace.

"So throughout my childhood, even living in the city, my parents always took
me to have contact with the grandparents in the countryside," Quispe said
describing the influences in her life that countered the pressures of an
urban setting.

Any prospect of peace is, for Andean people, the search for balance and
harmony among all beings that live in the same space.

According to Vicenta Manami Bernabé, one of the coordinators of the
workshop, the quest for just peace takes place in three levels: the rites,
the festivities and the experience of justice.

Bernabé and Quispe are part of the Community of Indigenous Women Theologians
of Abya Yala, a group supported by the World Council of Churches.

After starting work as a Roman Catholic missionary, Quispe lived for several
years among the Quechua people, of the Andeans regions as well.
"This experience was decisive to define my spirituality, because I
rediscovered the integral relationship that each person has with God's
creation," she said.

The Andean spirituality is unconditionally linked to the "Pachamama," the
Mother Earth. But it is also marked by ethical standards of living these
values within community and expressions of solidarity with others.

In many situations of conflict or need, the support comes from members of
the community. "Asking for and receiving help is an important part in
building our relationships more equally," Quispe concluded.

More information on the IEPC plenary on Peace in the Community
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a49e1280652d764da899
)

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=68d86994026883cda31c )

The IEPC in social media (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9d55a34cff7a7c82374f )

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=85d8294e3fcd0b13e0f2 )

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Peace convocation opens with strong calls from global voices

"The principle question we have to answer is what we as Christians can do
together in the face of growing violence, aggression, exploitation and
terror," said Archbishop Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

World Council of Churches - News

PEACE CONVOCATION OPENS WITH STRONG CALLS FROM GLOBAL VOICES

For immediate release: 19 May 2011

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) formally opened on
Wednesday in Kingston, Jamaica, as theologians, faith leaders and the prime
minister of Jamaica welcomed some 1,000 participants from more than 100
countries.

Keynote speaker Canon Dr Paul Oestreicher, a globally recognized peace
activist, called for churches across all spiritual traditions to strengthen
their position on peace, even while recognizing their own history of
declaring war in the name of God.

"Under the sign of the cross, Christian nations conquered other nations," he
said. "In the crusades, they massacred the children of Islam. That has not
been forgotten. We, just like our brothers and sisters in Islam, regard
those who die in battle as certain of a place in heaven."

Oestreicher acknowledged that the path to peace is obstructed by political
complexities.

"At the moment war, once it starts, is held by most of our neighbours to be
honourable, probably necessary, and sometimes noble. Language disguises the
bloody, cruel reality," he said.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches (WCC), moderated the convocation's opening session, which included
an opening prayer service, greetings, and stories of churches seeking peace
and reconciliation.

"I believe that God has called us here from many parts of the world to carry
from your countries your experiences," he said. "Many of you carry with you
the realities of the injustice of violence."

Those from the Caribbean region and Jamaica welcomed IEPC participants, many
of whom were visiting Jamaica for the first time.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding acknowledged his own country's history
of violence and, at the same time, its ingenuity and resilience in coping
over the decades.

"I genuinely believe that we were all created by the same God," he said.
"The challenge is: how can we transform our discussion into a shared set of
values that are universally accepted and sustained."

Theologians began asking the questions that IEPC participants will wrestle
with during the next week. Archbishop Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk,
chairman of the department of external church relations of the Russian
Orthodox Church, spoke of Christians and others across the globe who are
daily exposed to humiliation and threats.

"The principle question we have to answer is what we as Christians can do
together in the face of growing violence, aggression, exploitation and
terror," he said.

The IEPC comes at the end of a Decade to Overcome Violence, an initiative of
the WCC that strove to strengthen existing efforts and networks for
preventing and overcoming violence, as well as inspire the creation of new
ones.

The Rev. Dr Margot Kaessmann, a Lutheran theologian and minister in the
Evangelical Church of Germany, said that IEPC participants are part of a
long and complex journey that only begins this week.

"Our economies profit from violence and war that we lament," she said.
"Religion plays a vital role with regard to peace-making and overcoming
violence. It is time that religion refuses to be misused by pouring oil into
the fire of war and hatred."

The opening plenary was preceded by an opening worship and prayer service
filled with song and prayers for peace. The events of the afternoon were
closed with a prayer from Jamaican Archbishop Donald Reece of the Roman
Catholic Church. (Link: )

Both events were broadcast live around the world through a video stream
available through the IEPC website www.overcomingviolence.org
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0f33e98764b929630db2 ). The
morning plenaries throughout the remainder of the IEPC will also be
broadcast live through a video stream from 10:30 am - 12:30 pm local time
(GMT - 5 hours).

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=674786e3f11b0ffe8b18 )

Text of the speeches at the opening plenary (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=61b5218c60180b0f78a9 )

The IEPC in social media (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a36d69f80739e39bcd2d )

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cbc9fc2ac5c961888df2 )

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Inter-religious forum urges practical grassroots ties

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
18 May 2011

Europe/Middle East forum urges practical grassroots ties

Warsaw, Poland (ENInews)--Inter-faith initiatives should focus on the
practical, non-political task of building grassroots relationships,
according to participants at an inter-religious symposium which ended on 15
May in Poland. "Such initiatives usually take place at a political level,
and consist of panels of experts speaking to passive audiences," said Yehuda
Stolov, founder and executive director of the Jerusalem-based Interfaith
Encounter Association, which promotes peace in the Middle East and sponsors
regular Palestinian-Israeli encounters. [709 words, ENI-11-0251]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Global Buddhist gathering urges faith-based social action

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
18 May 2011

Global Buddhist gathering urges faith-based social action

Bangkok (ENInews)--Buddhists from as far afield as Lithuania and Uganda
gathered in Bangkok last weekend on the occasion of Vesak Day -- the annual
celebration of the birth, enlightenment and passing of Buddha -- and called
for both monastics and lay Buddhists to use their faith as a basis for
action in promoting social and economic development. [561 words,
ENI-11-0250]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Video streaming the peace convocation

World Council of Churches - Media advisory

VIDEO STREAMING THE PEACE CONVOCATION

For immediate release: 16 May 2011

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will be web streaming the plenary
sessions and special events of the upcoming International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (IEPC). The video streams will be live from the Mona campus of
the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, where the convocation is
being held, beginning Wednesday 18 May.

The streaming will be available through the IEPC website
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3d96b1b342147f4f27cf ) and the
Jamaica Information Service
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6500cd8ab44a3ca76c46 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f1ea6bf90847faead5d6 ).

Following is the web streaming schedule. All times are Jamaica local time
(GMT-5 hours) and subject to change.

For more information about the speakers and panel members please download
the IEPC handbook (pdf, 784 KB) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6ae2a91d711968561782
) at www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=112bed2ef8cfd4c85cb2 )

Wednesday 18 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Plenary: Opening, DOV celebration, keynote address, greetings Scheduled
speakers:
* Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
* Rev. Dr Paul Gardner
* Rev. Dr Margot Kässmann
* Metropolitan Dr Hilarion of Volokolamsk
* Canon Dr Paul Oestreicher

Time: 17:30 - 19:00
Opening Prayer and worship service

Thursday 19 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace in the Community
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Martin Luther King III
* Prof. Ram Puniyani
* Dr Muna Mushahwar
* Dr Deborah Weissman
* Dr Tania Mara Viera Sampaio
* Asha Kowtal
* Rev. Karen Thompson

Friday 20 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace with the Earth
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Rev. Tafue M. Lusama
* Sr Ernestina López Bac
* Adrian Shaw
* Lic. Elias Crisostomo Abramides
* Fr Prof. Dr Kondothra M. George
* Choir from Global Network of Religion for Children

Saturday 21 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace in the Marketplace
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa
* Omega Bula
* Fr Emmanuel Clapsis
* Rev. Dr Roderick Hewitt
* Rev. Garnett Roper
* Dr Rommel F. Linatoc

Sunday 22 May (time subject to change)
Time 17:00 - 19:00
Concert (time to be confirmed)

Monday 23 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace among the Peoples
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Setsuko Thurlow
* Dr Christiane Agboton-Johnson
* Dr Patricia Lewis
* Dr Lisa Schirch
* Archbishop Avak Asadourian
* Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik

Tuesday 24 May (time subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30 and 14:30 - 16:15
Closing Plenaries

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation starts 17 May

World Council of Churches - News

INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL PEACE CONVOCATION STARTS 17 MAY

For immediate release: 11 May 2011

With the voices of speakers including Martin Luther King III and German
Lutheran pastor Dr Margot Kässmann, the International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (IEPC) will begin next week. This major ecumenical event
organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is to take place at the
University of the West Indies (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=252398c30e02052869f8
) (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica.

"Glory to God and Peace on Earth" will be the theme of the IEPC which aims
at witnessing to the Peace of God as a gift and responsibility of the
churches and the world. The convocation runs from 17-25 May.

The IEPC is the culmination of the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV)
programme authorized by the WCC at its 1998 Harare Assembly and initiated in
2001. The event will bring some 1,000 participants from around the globe,
representing WCC member constituencies, ecumenical and civil society
networks working in the area of peace and justice.

Hosted by the Jamaican Council of Churches and the Caribbean Council of
Churches, the IEPC will be the major ecumenical event prior to the 10th
Assembly of the WCC in 2013 in Busan, Korea.

"The IEPC comes at a time when the world is experiencing significant
political paradigm shifts, and much of this is coming with violence and
conflict," said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. "This event
brings the peace movements and church leaders together and offers space and
time to explore the role of the church and religion as peacemaker. We will
ask one another what it means to follow Christ today and tomorrow."

"But peace is not just about ending conflicts," Tveit continued. "It is also
about seeking justice and building sustainable conditions for peace. We find
the need for just peace in the economy, peace among peoples and cultures and
peace within communities and with the earth."

A culture of just peace

The primary goal of the IEPC is to contribute to the efforts to create a
culture of just peace and to facilitate new networks that will focus on
peace in communities and the world.

Four thematic foci of the IEPC will be on peace in the community, peace with
the earth, peace in the marketplace and peace among the peoples.
These themes will be addressed through various components of the convocation
- spiritual life, Bible studies, plenary sessions, workshops and seminars.

"The IEPC will be an occasion to reaffirm the ecumenical family's commitment
to just peace by way of proclaiming a call to just peace,''
said Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director of the Commission of the Churches
on International Affairs who is heading the IEPC preparation and planning
team of the WCC.

"The IEPC will also be an occasion for seeking to assess and strengthen the
church's position on peace, provide new opportunities to establish
networking and deepen our collective efforts and joint commitments to
processes and avenues that will lead to a culture of just peace in a complex
world situation," Chunakara said.

On Sunday 22 May 2011, participants of the IEPC will join in a worldwide
event when churches are invited to celebrate (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f34d60123619628b6846
)God's gift of peace. Those who take part will be together in spirit, song
and prayer with the IEPC participants in Jamaica, united in the hope of
peace.

Speakers at the convocation include King and Kässmann, the WCC general
secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, Rev. Dr Paul Gardner of Jamaica,
Ernestina Lopez Bac of Guatemala, Metropolitan Dr Hilarion of Volokolamsk of
the Russian Orthodox Church, Canon Paul Oestreicher of New Zealand and a
dozen others from churches and religious communities around the world.

The daily plenary sessions and discussions will be broadcast live via web
streaming. To watch the sessions, go to the IEPC web page
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3635329af00be23aa46d ).

On Friday 20 May, a peace concert will be held in Emancipation Park,
Kingston, featuring a number of Jamaican acts including the Fab Five, one of
the top bands in Jamaica.

More information on World Sunday for Peace (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=41a603d6087bb0248bc8 )

How to participate online (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9888f481f514445a81f3 )

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 Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual

May 5th, 2011 in Other Sciences / Social Sciences

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual, according to new research from Rice University. Though the general public marries spirituality and religion, the study found that spirituality is a separate idea – one that more closely aligns with scientific discovery – for "spiritual atheist" scientists.

The research will be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion.

Through in-depth interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at elite universities, the Rice researchers found that 72 of the scientists said they have a spirituality that is consistent with science, although they are not formally religious.

"Our results show that scientists hold religion and spirituality as being qualitatively different kinds of constructs," said Elaine Howard Ecklund, assistant professor of sociology at Rice and lead author of the study. "These spiritual atheist scientists are seeking a core sense of truth through spirituality -- one that is generated by and consistent with the work they do as scientists."

For example, these scientists see both science and spirituality as "meaning-making without faith" and as an individual quest for meaning that can never be final. According to the research, they find spirituality congruent with science and separate from religion, because of that quest; where spirituality is open to a scientific journey, religion requires buying into an absolute "absence of empirical evidence."

"There's spirituality among even the most secular scientists," Ecklund said. "Spirituality pervades both the religious and atheist thought. It's not an either/or. This challenges the idea that scientists, and other groups we typically deem as secular, are devoid of those big 'Why am I here?' questions. They too have these basic human questions and a desire to find meaning."

Ecklund co-authored the study with Elizabeth Long, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at Rice. In their analysis of the 275 interviews, they discovered that the terms scientists most used to describe religion included "organized, communal, unified and collective." The set of terms used to describe spirituality include "individual, personal and personally constructed." All of the respondents who used collective or individual terms attributed the collective terms to religion and the individual terms to spirituality.

"While the data indicate that spirituality is mainly an individual pursuit for academic scientists, it is not individualistic in the classic sense of making them more focused on themselves," said Ecklund, director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice. "In their sense of things, being spiritual motivates them to provide help for others, and it redirects the ways in which they think about and do their work as scientists."

Ecklund and Long noted that the spiritual scientists saw boundaries between themselves and their nonspiritual colleagues because their spirituality facilitated engagement with the world around them. Such engagement, according to the spiritual scientists, generated a different approach to research and teaching: While nonspiritual colleagues might focus on their own research at the expense of student interaction, spiritual scientists' sense of spiritualty provides nonnegotiable reasons for making sure that they help struggling students succeed.

Provided by Rice University

"More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual." May 5th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-percent-atheist-scientists-spiritual.html