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Photos from Atlanta are available (see below)
Solidarity and challenges were brought by a group of "living letters" - Christians coming from different countries of the world - to the annual meeting of the US member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, 5-6 October 2004.
"We give thanks to God for the courage of you who have struggled to witness to truth, justice and peace in a time when fear, insecurity and manipulated patriotism have paralyzed so many," Dr Marion Best told the gathering of US church representatives. From the United Church of Canada, Best is one of the two vice moderators of the WCC central committee.
Recognizing "the cost born by church leaders, religious organizations and individuals in the US who have challenged the abuse of power and unilateralism" and speaking in the name of the Canadian churches, Best also affirmed that "we together have a task to tell the truth in love and refuse to have domination, injustice and hatred justified in God's name".
In that context, and having been told "by US brothers and sisters that the struggles for global justice and peace go far beyond partisan politics or the policies of any specific administration," Best said that what is at stake "is the very self-identity of the US".
On the same track, Dr Maake Masango, WCC executive committee member from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, reminded the gathering of the advice his father gave him every morning for 18 years as he left home to go to school: "Don't let them take Jesus out of you". Masango urged the US citizens not to neglect their right to vote in the upcoming presidential elections, and "to elect well".
Mr Zoughbi Zoughbi, director of the WI'AM Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem, West Bank, thanked the Presbyterian Church USA for its recent decision to divest from companies operating in Israel, and expressed his hope that other churches within the WCC fellowship will take the same stance. "Choosing neutrality in a situation of injustice and oppression is to choose the side of the oppressor," he affirmed, quoting Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Dr Judo Poerwowidagdo, director of the Centre for Empowering Reconciliation and Peace in Jakarta, Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, affirmed that "terrorism cannot be fought with another terrorism". Reflecting on the theme of the gathering, he added that achieving the promise of peace requires "the ability to accept others as children of God".
Ms Tale Hugnes, member of the Norwegian youth movement Changemaker, declared that she would leave the US with "more hope and enthusiasm" than when she arrived, because she had met "Americans working for peace". She also assured the meeting of the solidarity of Christians worldwide: "You are not alone, lots of people around the world are working for the same goals".
Ms Renemsongla Ozkum, from the Baptist Church of India, stated that "violence is the fruit of insecurity," and reminded the gathering of the need of committed action to overcome it: "Simply talking abut peace is not enough," she said.
Other participants in the living letters group were Ms Rosalyn Laylo from the United Methodist Church of the Philippines, and Ms Hermina Damons, a South African participating in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). They were all welcomed by Rev. Elizabeth Clement, director of the Faith and the City Leadership Institute in Atlanta.
The gathering was also welcomed by former US president and chairman of the Atlanta-based Carter Center, James Carter, in a letter in which he affirmed the "paramount necessity for an inclusive vision of peace" and for building "bridges to those whose beliefs, views or stations differ," in order to achieve "the power and promise of peace".
High-resolution photos from the Atlanta meeting are available at:
www.wcc-usa.org/wcc-usa.nsf/atlanta2004photos
The text of a letter sent by the Canadian churches to churches and Christians in the US in the context of the Living Letters visit is available at: