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“It has always been the women who have refused the decisions of the powerful and the destruction of mother earth. It has always been the women who shout out: no more mouths to suffer hunger, no more hands to remain empty, no more children to became the target of machine guns.”
In her opening remarks at a 27 January panel on “Women's spirituality, life and dignity” during the fifth World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Rev. Eunice Santana from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Puerto Rico emphasized that women have always felt “the interconnection between human beings, the creation and the wholeness of life”.
Organized by the World Council of Churches and attracting some 200 WSF participants, the panel presented different views on how women from their particular perspective can contribute to build another world that overcomes sexual and racist discrimination, violence and hierarchical structures.
According to Rev. Dr Wanda Deifelt, pastor of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, Christianity has to rediscover the human body. “We are concerned about the well-being of the soul, but not about the body,” she said, “although our faith proclaims the incarnation of Christ and the resurrection not only of the soul but also of the body.”
Deifelt stressed that “the human body should be more integrated into theological thinking and Christian spirituality,” so that theology might become more aware of the fact that “the body is a part of the wholeness of creation” and that “community is also a gift of God.”
A “spirituality of embodiment” cannot only celebrate the body in a hedonistic way. “Suffering, poverty and violence" need to be integrated into a Christian theology of the cross, Deifelt said, reminding her listeners that violence against women is an issue “the human body brings to the churches”.
Recognition of the interconnection between spirituality and ecology as a feminist contribution towards a better world was stressed by Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega, a pastor in the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba and a vice president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. “Feminist theology and ecology are movements that criticise the patriarchal system that violates women and destroys nature,” she said. Drawing on that critique, a “theology of relations” would no longer consider human beings as the centre of creation but recognise humanity and creation as a unity.
That the feminist approach is not an exclusively Christian one was underlined by Korean eco-feminist and professor of theology Chung Hyun Kyung. “Without knowing others, we will never know who we are,” Kyung said, noting that, in an age of migration, people from different faiths may often happen to live next to each other.
“Our religious tradition, no matter which, is our power,” she said. “Wherever we are, our tradition is influenced by different conditions. What is most important is to make our life-giving tradition alive.”
"Affirming life in dignity: enhancing justice and rights in a globalized world" is the overall theme for the World Council of Churches' (WCC) participation in the 5th World Social Forum taking place 26-31 January in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The WCC delegation is participating with others in the framework of a global ecumenical coalition, including the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), and other world-wide ecumenical organizations. The fifth edition of the annual World Social Forum will be an open meeting place for non-governmental organizations, social movements and civil society groups to debate alternative ways to build a world in solidarity and justice.
More information about the WCC participation in the 5th World Social Forum is available on our website at:
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wsf-2005-e.html
Free high-resolution photos on the ecumenical presence at the forum are available on our website:
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/photo-galleries/meetings/possibleworldtheology.html
Media contacts in Porto Alegre:
Susanne Buchweitz, [email protected], +55 (0) 51 3342 2627; +55 (0) 51 3225 90 66
Henrike Mueller, [email protected], +55 (0) 51 8114 7833