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cf. Press release, PR-03-10 of 14 February 2003
cf. Press release, PR-03-14 of 20 February 2003
Speaking yesterday at an ecumenical service of prayer for peace held at World Council of Churches (WCC) headquarters in Geneva, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser denounced as "misuse of religious language" US president George W. Bush's attempts to invoke divine legitimation for his war against Iraq.
Noting an increasing tendency on the part of the US president "to invoke religious, even divine legitimation for his intention to disarm Iraq by force", Raiser suggested that a Christian response today to "the political, ethical and spiritual challenge of war [...] declared with the alleged purpose of restoring peace and justice" must be "an act of defiance: denouncing this misuse of religious language in order to justify an act of war that violates the legal order developed to protect world peace".
In his reflection, Raiser quoted the German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, in 1934 as war loomed, made the passionate plea: "Today God's commandment for us is the order of international peace. To say this is to express a quite definite recognition of the will of God for our time. [...] As certainly as we leave the making of the last peace to God, so certainly should we also make peace to overcome war."
The prayer service for peace was attended by the papal nuncio in Geneva, Msgr. Diarmuid Martin; the president of the Conference of European Churches and metropolitan of Switzerland (Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate), HE Jérémie; the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Dr Setri Nyomi; the acting general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist, and other ecumenical organizations based in Geneva; members of diplomatic missions at the United Nations (UN) and officials from international organizations; and many people from the Geneva community.
Raiser emphasized that although "many now feel helpless, full of anger and fear", the fact that all churches are acting together in "common, prophetic discernment" is a remarkable and encouraging development. Highlighting the US churches' great courage "in speaking the truth to power", he suggested that "We should celebrate that, for the first time, the churches together have placed the commandment of God above their respective political loyalties."
The United Nations' credibility has not been damaged by the war, Raiser argued. Rather, "The sheer fact that the overwhelming majority of UN member states have rejected the project of war against Iraq is an indication that the basic values upon which it was founded are still being affirmed. The war against Iraq is not a defeat for the UN, but a moral and political defeat for the government of the United States and her allies", he said.
Speaking in the crowded chapel of the Ecumenical Centre, the papal nuncio Msgr. Diarmuid Martin suggested that "The rule of law and the vigour of solidarity" are means by which civilization can "overcome the logic of the war and dismantle the instruments of terror". "Our civilization deserves better than war. We are capable of better," he said. That is why, he continued, "it is time for our world, once and for all, to move beyond the logic of war and all forms of the arrogance of power". Recalling Pope John Paul II's criticism of "the very personal sins of those [...] who take refuge in the supposed impossibility of changing the world," Martin urged that "We should never give up on this possibility."
Guided by HE Jérémie, the gathered community prayed for "the Iraqi people and the people who live in the surrounding countries", "the women in Iraq, who will be subjected to a lot of pain and suffering", the Iraqi children, so that they "may have the chance to dream of the future and experience security and peace", and for government officials and country leaders, so that they "understand that violence cannot and will not end violence".
The full text of Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser's and Msgr. Diarmuid Martin's reflections can be found on our website at:
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/raiser.html
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/martin.html
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