Bulletin Issue
No. 15
14 March 2002
Providing church,
ecumenical and inter-faith information, resources, and analysis
on issues of current global concern
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1. Statements
and actions of the global church and ecumenical family 
a) Bishop Rolf Koppe
of the Evangelical Church in Germany wrote
in January to churches in the United States
expressing serious concern about the status of prisoners being held
by the US government on the Guantanamo military base in Cuba. He
notes that both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
German Foreign Minister have issued statements arguing that those
detained should be treated as prisoners of war. Bishop Koppe states
that from the perspective of human rights work of the Evangelical
Church in Germany, he is turning to partner churches in the US in
the hope that they share the broader concern that the standards
for states under the rule of law not be shaken.
b) In a meeting
organized by the Council of the Heads of Churches in Jordan
and under the patronage of His Majesty King Abdullah, more than
1,000 Christian and Muslim clergy and believers came together to
confront anti-Islamic Western stereotypes and further nurture coexistence
in the Middle East. Participants decided to form "joint delegations
and possibly a permanent Arab Islamic-Christian forum so as to steer
dialogue with the West". Participants further called for introducing
curricula with a view to further upholding and promoting co-existence
between followers of Islam and Christianity. Christian Arabs number
between 10 and 15 million out of an overall population of 300 million
Arabs.
c) A seminar on
perceptions of Islam in the media was organised by United Theological
College Bangalore (UTC), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI),
Church of South India (CSI) Departments of Communication, Asia Regional
World Association for Christian Communication (ARWACC), and South
Asia Theological Research Institute (SATRI), Bangalore. While affirming
that media played an important role in shaping people’s worldview
and beliefs, the seminar identified a certain bias in the present
portrayal of Islam, almost equating it with terrorism and fundamentalism.
The participants called for ethical use of media in portraying Islam,
and recommended continued dialogue between journalists, communication
practitioners and scholars to help "clean up" the present
bias.
(See text of the press
release)
d) In a 5 March
letter to the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the
WCC Member Churches in India, acting WCC general secretary Georges
Lemopoulos added his voice to an NCCI statement to "condemn
and deplore" wanton acts of violence that have resulted in
immense sufferings for people of both Muslim and Hindu communities".
The NCCI has expressed its deep sympathy and shock at the violence
in the cities and towns of Gujarat, that has resulted in over 500
deaths in Muslim and Hindu communities, calling on the Indian government
to take affirmative action in order to avoid such unrest. The WCC
letter noted that "In recent times there has been an almost
universal increase in incidents of religious intolerance and violence.
This trend must be stopped before our societies are further torn
asunder by hatred and senseless killings at the hands of extremists.
It is the responsibility of each and every person to prevent such
ruthless acts of destruction and disruption that are certainly contrary
to all religious beliefs. It is imperative for people of all faiths
to rise to the challenge to defuse violence and conflict and promote
inter-communal peace and harmony amongst the people."
e) Addressing the
expanded presence of US military in the region, around 200 clergy
and lay leaders from the Roman Catholic and Protestant church groups
in the Philippines came together in mid-February to launch a broad
network of church people called CRY OUT NOW!
(Church People Cry: "Out with the US Troops Now!") Likewise,
the Women’s Ecumenical Forum (WEF), composed of Protestant
and Roman Catholic women’s organisations, are mobilising in
opposition to the entry of over 600 US military troops into the
country. The National Council of Churches in the Philippines has
also strongly denounced the entry of the US troops. "The Philippine
government’s support to this US-led 'war of aggression' shows
how our leaders are beholden to foreign powers. As Christians, we
believe that this is a travesty against God’s will." Other
churches and organisations, including the United Church of Christ
in the Philippines, the Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum, the Kasimbayan,
the Socio-Pastoral Apostolate Missionary Benedictines, and the Promotion
of Church Peoples’ Response, have also raised serious concerns
about the presence of US military personnel in the Philippines.
f) The December
12 issue of The Christian Century discusses
the positions of the historic peace churches in the United States
-- Mennonites, Quakers and Brethren -- following the events of September
11 and the public outcry against terrorism. The article notes: "Despite
the strong public sentiment aginst such convictions after the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon, a perusal of
public statements made by the leadership of the historic peace churches
clearly indicates that, while they have repeatedly called for the
perpetrators to be held accountable, they have not backed away from
their commitment to nonviolence."
g) A two-year series
of seminars on Trauma Awareness and Recovery is helping pastors
and other caregivers respond to the events of September 11 and their
aftermath. The five-day seminars, being held monthly, are a joint
effort of Church World Service (CWS) and the Conflict Transformation
Program of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), and are being held
at the EMU campus in Harrisonburg, Va., USA. They build on the work
of CWS' Interfaith Trauma Response Trainings that have been held
in the New York City and Washington, D.C., areas since Sept. 11.
Article
and more
info
2. Responses from
other faith communities
a) Members of five
religious traditions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
and Judaism - came together at a World Council of Churches’
conference on Religion and Violence in St. Petersburg, Florida,
USA, February 8-12, 2002. The meeting's final
statement
expressed deep concern about the growing violence in the world today,
and noted characteristics and challenges of the relationship between
religion and violence. "Religious traditions can be resources
for building peace. At the same time, religious communities often
play a role in advocating and justifying violence. In the face of
structural violence, religious traditions should help us to overcome
the lust for power, control, and possession of material goods that
are the driving impulses of violence and violent systems."
(See editorial
"Religion and Violence in this issue.)
b) The Inter-faith
Alliance of Washington, D.C. has developed religious resources,
soon including a "religious
tolerance kit",
to assist particularly citizens of the United States to learn about
the nation's diverse religious traditions. The Alliance promotes
the positive and healing role of religion in public life through
encouraging civic participation, facilitating community activism,
and challenging religious political extremism.
c) The Buddhist
Peace Fellowship has collected responses
to September 11,
including an article
on "A New Holy War against Evil? A Buddhist Response"
by David Loy of the Faculty of International Studies at Bunkyo University,
Japan.
3. Humanitarian
concerns
a) For a background
report the USAID/OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE's (OFDA)
commitment to helping the people of Afghanistan, click on the following
links:
OFDA reports
that in April 2001, they had sent a team into Afghanistan to provide
the US government with a first-hand assessment of a devastating
three-year drought and to determine effective assistance response
strategies. The team members were the first US officials to enter
Afghanistan since 1998. The team witnessed villagers who had only
bread mixed with wild grasses, saw fields that were barren, and
heard stories of how the elderly were dying of disease as they gave
up their food for the children. The team's conclusion was that Afghanistan
stood at the edge of a widespread and precipitous famine. See the
most
recent update (March 1, 2002)
of the work being done by OFDA in the Central Asia region.
b) On March 5, 2002,
the United Nations High Commisioner on Refugees (UNHCR) reported
that Afghan people are surging homeward under the UN refugees agency's
return programme. UNHCR reports that returns to Afghanistan surged
on Monday (March 4, 2002), with the repatriation of 3,009 Afghans
on the second day of a new programme to return Afghan refugees home.
More
information.
Also see a report
that UNHCR gets a green light to register Afghans fleeing hunger
and insecurity while record numbers return home.
c) The UNHCR further
reports
that the agency condemns the continued expulsion of Afghans from
United Arab Emirates. With deportations continuing, the UN High
Commissioner called for a halt to further expulsions and asked that
it be given access to any remaining detainees.
d) "On the
map Afghanistan looks like a place one can understand. It has towns
and mountains. It has roads for people and goods to travel. So why,
eight weeks after the worst of the war in Afghanistan was over,
were people still eating grass just one inch away on a highway map
from the major Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif?" Jonathan Frerichs,
who visited Afghanistan as communications officer for Action by
Churches Together (ACT) International, gave an insight into the
problems of food distribution in his
dateline "How many Zarehs are there? Finding hunger in Afghanistan"
e) To mark International
Women's Day, Dr Debarati Guha-Sapir, professor of epidemiology and
director of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters
at the University of Louvain, Belgium, has written a
column
for Alertnet.
f) Approximately
30,000 families in rural areas of Northern Afghanistan have received
1,500 tons of wheat seeds and fertilizers for the spring planting
by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN agency
said recently. FAO estimates, in a
report published on March 12, 2002,
that farmers could finally harvest around 16,000 tonnes of wheat
from the seeds distributed.
g) After delivering
an unprecedented amount of food aid into Afghanistan, the World
Food Programme's massive logistics operation is facing perhaps its
biggest challenge: pinpointing and providing for pockets of extreme
hunger and poverty. Over the next three months, the agency will
use helicopters to reach remote rural communities and assess the
condition of hungry families, who have been cut off by snow, poor
communication and almost non-existent infrastructure. More
details
4. Editorial analysis
a) Religion and Violence
b) Media and September
11
c) Finding other views:
A perspective from South Africa
Religion
and Violence",
by Hans Ucko,
programme executive, WCC Interreligious Relations and Dialogue
Religious people
mostly think of their religion as a positive force and a pillar
of strength for themselves and society. And rightly so. Religion
is and has always been one of the sources for good and a benefit
for the human community and the world. But there are also quite
a number of voices questioning whether religion really plays a constructive
role in the world today, arguing that religion seems rather to be
part of the problem and not part of the solution for the ills of
our world.
The role of religion
in a world of violence is one example. When looking around in the
world, religion seems to have quite a proclivity for being a handy
tool to fuel conflict. Moreover, this seems increasingly the case.
People wonder about the link between religion and violence.
As religious people,
we need to shoulder responsibility for what is done in the name
of religion, even if it is done far outside our fold, house and
place of worship. We need to have a second look at what our religion
is offering as a tool for fostering peace, justice and human dignity
for all and not only for our own tribe. It should be an obligation
for people of different religions to offer an alternative to an
understanding of religion that sometimes seems too ready to bless
the guns and to justify terror, violence and war. We have, therefore,
an obligation to consider how our own religion is portrayed and
how it is used. We should carefully address the whole complex interaction
of religion and violence and their manifestations in our world today.
When addressing
the role of religion in the world, we should abstain from lifting
only the banners or slogans with the ideals of our religions. It
is true that Islam is literally the religion of peace. It is true
that Om Shanti, shantihi is the emphatic Vedic blessing.
It is true that Jesus greeted people with the gift of peace, "Peace
be upon you". It is true that there is an absolute emphasis
on compassion and ahimsa in Buddhism. It is true that Judaism
has given the world the word and concept shalom.
It is true that
religions, based on their ideals, in many cases seek to contribute
to building peace. But we know they are also involved in situations
of violent confrontation. There is, in the religious field, a surprising
coexistence of love and violence, of affirmation of inclusiveness
and practices of regrettable exclusion. We cannot run away from
the effect of a religious language that excludes the other and from
acts such as the Crusades, the Holocaust or apartheid. We cannot
run away from the role of religion in the caste system. We cannot
run away from the blasphemy law in Pakistan or Baruch Goldstein
in Israel. We have to ask the question about the role of religion
in violence. Religions are no innocent bystanders between Scylla
and Charybdis. We need to reflect on the ambivalent function of
religions and make an effort to clarify the different roles of religions
in relation to violence before embarking on a reflection on how
religious communities can work together for the construction of
peace.
Addressing the issue
of violence and religion is a challenge for each one of us. It is
a challenge even when you are among those of your own religion.
How much more difficult would it be to do so in the presence of
and with the participation of people of other faiths? I have a view
of my faith, but others might have another view of it, having experienced
some of its violent dimensions.
In this issue of
Behind the News, there is a message from a group of scholars,
educators and theologians, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and
Buddhists gathering in early February to discuss and address the
questions of religion and violence. In the presence of the other,
each one of the participants shared with the other in openness and
vulnerability that our religious traditions, in spite of their immense
contributions to peace and understanding, contain a streak of violence
that, if unchecked, may participate in the destruction of the other
and the world. In our meeting, we reflected on how we are to understand
the relationship between religion and violence.
In the Decade to
Overcome Violence, it seemed to us that a multifaith reflection
on religion and violence is a contribution to the thrust of this
ecumenical endeavour to overcome the spirit, logic and practice
of violence, but we must do so without shortcuts and simplistic
catchphrases.
"Media
and September 11", by Jonathan Frerichs, director of Communication,
Lutheran World Relief (USA)
One story
covered to the exclusion of much else: Perspective from the United
States
On the six-month
anniversary of September 11, a US television network sponsored by
a cell phone company offered two hours of prime time evening viewing
for a documentary on the tragedy. The subject matter and pre-show
publicity dealt exclusively with the events of September 11. The
program ran without the usual commercial interruptions. It had a
larger audience than any other non-sports broadcast in the past
year.
Much like that show,
media in America have provided extensive coverage of September 11
and its aftermath. The extraordinary amounts of time and space made
available, however, have generally been used to emphasize and re-emphasize
certain, well-defined aspects of the crisis. Other dimensions have
not been explored with comparable intensity or depth
Three images, three
colors and three phrases have framed and reframed the story from
the beginning.
The abiding images
are the terrible instants the airliners hit the towers, a determined
president rallying the nation, and a masterful secretary of defense
defining the counterattack.
The three colors
are red, white and blue. Media, including major TV networks and
web sites, have woven these national colors into their presentations
of information and even their corporate logos. In its electronic
versions, the tricolor waves.
The key words are
"the war on terrorism", "evil", and "America
strikes back". These, or variations of them, are repeated often.
In media that serve the largest audiences, the terms are rarely
clarified or questioned.
This brief overview
is based on media that have the power to "come and find"
their audiences where they live, work, travel, shop and relax. Other,
less powerful media voices can be heard, including dissenting voices,
but most citizens’ media habits mean that they would have to
make an effort to find these alternatives.
Alternative sources
of information and alternative opinions remain on the margins of
political discourse and public debate. They can be found, however,
in longer-format articles and programming including major magazines
and newspapers.
Perhaps most striking
is the variety of alternative information circulating in cyber-space.
Like a cloud of meteorites these hit e-mail addresses and websites
with elements missing from the mainstream media version of ‘the
story.’ Included are facts and opinions from abroad so often
excluded from the time and space devoted to the story by mass-audience
media.
There is no doubt
about September 11, the story. From impact to importance, it had
and still has everything that warrants maximum media coverage. Within
hours the sheer horror of what had happened gave rise to the term
"ground zero", evoking Hiroshima. The attack scorched
the heart and soul of the nation whose commercial and media capital
is Manhattan. For that reason and in compassionate deference to
the suffering symbolized by ground zero, media discussion and debate
in America have been and still are noticeably restrained.
As a result, much
that is both relevant and important about the drama begun by September
11 remains unexplored for the majority of citizens in the drama’s
leading player.
One major "story"
mostly ignored in the coverage, for example, is the pre-existing
humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and how that crisis has fared
since September. Public donations, one indicator of what story the
media are telling in a time of crisis, have broken all records for
aid to the survivors of the terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, gifts
for Afghanistan and the media listings that trigger them, are comparable
to donations toward a strong earthquake in a distant place with
no particular claim to fame.
Media coverage has
not happened in a vacuum. They reflect other forces in society.
It is as if four ‘towers’ have arisen quickly to replace
the two that were so horribly annihilated. The four towers are a
solid majority of the people, the government, the economy and the
media. All rose up in self-defense, an imperative under the circumstances.
The question now
is: Will this fortress - the united-we-stand outlook, the solid
wall of consensus between the four ‘towers,’ and the narrow
view they offer of the rest of the world - prove to be a barrier
to understanding and resolving a crisis with implications far beyond
its wall?
"Finding
other views: A perspective from South Africa", by Thapelo Mokushane,
Media and Communications manager, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation,
Cape Town, South Africa
Minutes after the
September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in the United States
last year, global media giants like the CNN bombarded the international
audience with the headline "America under attack", and
repeated the phrase "the world will never be the same again".
On the Tuesday of the attacks, the South African Broadcasting Corporation
(SABC), South Africa's public broadcaster, transmitted stories of
the attacks in the second person, borrowing from CNN sources, and
the free-to-air television channel ETV followed suit. The South
African public were soon served with a steady diet of "the
world will never be the same again" and then "America's
new war against terrorism".
But when the United
States embassies in two African countries were bombed a few years
ago, "the world will never be the same" headline was not
heard. Is it because the attacks this time happened on US soil itself?
When US strikes
against Al Qaeda targets in Afghanistan began, the rhetoric
could no longer hold since the SABC and ETV had assigned their correspondents
to cover the story first-hand. Newspaper editorials recalled memories
of the American delegation "arrogantly" storming out of
the World Conference Against Racism right here in Durban, just days
before the attacks. In the public eye, the United States was losing
the "victimhood" status that September 11 appeared to
confer, as the images of the civilian casualties of "America
Strikes Back" hit television screens across South Africa.
There was limited
discussion in the press on the US foreign policy issues that may
have perhaps contributed to September 11. The search for Osama Bin
Laden, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, took centre-stage.
Public television broadcasters presented a fairly complete picture
of issues arising from the attacks on both sides. Some South African
newspapers, however, took up the war chant - that this new "War
on Terror" was one between good and evil.
The SABC broadcast
the story on past business deals between George W. Bush, Sr. and
Osama Bin Laden, following a similar story on BBC television. But
this story died a natural death when no follow-up was made to determine
the truth of the allegations. The perspective of the Arab world
on September 11 had a significant impact on South Africa's Muslim
and Asian populations through Al Jazeera and other Arab media.
The SABC and ETV competed to present the fullest picture of events
to accommodate these interests as well.
The role of the
media in a globalising world is to tell any story as it unfolds,
in the awareness that their reports will form the basis of future
policy and today's realities. The media should make the public aware
of all reasonable perspectives.
5.
Resources for further reflection
a) "Rachel
weeping for her children" is the title of a biblical-theological
reflection
by Sr Pat Fox, the convenor of "Cry Out Now" in the Philippines
(see above). The reflection notes that the Bible is replete with
warnings not to rely on the military might of foreign powers, and
draws connections with the US military presence in the Philippines
and in Afghanistan. "The all-out war policy against the Abu
Sayyaf has not worked to date. Adding the military might of the
USA both sacrifices the integrity and sovereignty of the Philippines
and ensures further innocents will suffer, without any guarantee
of success against the bandits." Sr. Fox makes the case that
the basic causes of "terrorism" must be eliminated.
b) Azmi Bishara,
a Palestinian citizen of Israel and a member of the Knesset, has
written "Twin
towers of Horror"
for Al-Ahram Weekly Online in which he argues that "as
it stands now, the concept of terror depends on who you are, not
what you do. The murder of civilians for political purposes may
be called terror. Or it may be called violence, acts of war, or
even legitimate resistance... Right now, the international community
is less concerned with the definition of the crime than with the
individual or group that commits it. Globally speaking, you are
either a terrorist or anti-terrorist. If you are not designated
as a terrorist, you can, literally, get away with murder."
He goes on to say that "as an occupying country, Israel has
a vested interest in depicting its quest to oppress another nation
as something else, something detached from reality, preferably a
mythological fight against terror."
c) The Social Science
Research Council has established a website
to contribute social science perspectives on the events and aftermath
of 11 September. The articles include writings on globalisation,
fundamentalisms, terorrism and democratic virtues, competing narratives,
new war, new world order, and building peace. An article by James
Der Derian, for example, notes that "using networked information,
global surveillance, and virtual technologies to bring ‘there’
here in near real-time and with near-verisimiltude, virtuous war
emerged before 9-11. But it now looks to be the ultimate means by
which the US intends to re-secure its borders, maintain its hegemony,
and bring a modicum of order if not justice back to international
politics." The website also includes essays on the present
situation from various Latin American social scientists.
d) In a new book,
25 Afghan experts describe the uniquely Afghan processes of war
and peace among the various social groups of Afghanistan. Groups
such as the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Sunnis, Shias, and
women have described their processes in their own words. More
e) The October 12
edition of the National Catholic Reporter carries the
article, "Forgiveness makes future possible",
by William Bole, journalist in Lowell, Mass., and an associate fellow
of the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University in
Washington. Boyle asks: "Is it purely imaginary to think of
an international strategy that deploys forgiveness in the post-World
Trade Center era?" He argues that "Forgiveness in politics
is never about forgetting, but about remembering in a certain way,
as the South Africans chose to do in establishing a truth commission
after apartheid. Forgiveness is not a denial of human responsibility.
Rather, it rests on the moral judgment that an act was wrong. Forgiveness
is compatible with justice, never with vengeance." The Woodstock
Theological Center sponsors the project "Forgiveness in Conflict
Resolution: Reality and Utility".
f) A.N.S.W.E.R.,
which stands for ACT Now to Stop War & End Racism, is a US-based
coalition that was formed in response to the rush to war and racist
attacks following 11 September. ANSWER presently includes more than
500 organizations and prominent individuals. On 29 September, over
45,000 people joined ANSWER’s call for the first national rally
against war and racism. A rally is planned for 27 April to oppose
US president Bush’s "new war", as reflected in his
axis of exil speech but also against increased military spending
in the US, in solidarity with the Arab-American and Muslim communties
in the United States and in support of a society that puts people’s
needs before corporate profits. More
information.
To be included in ANSWER’srv
of information
g) Millions of people
around the world have reasonable doubts that military action can
stop terrorism, and honest questions on whether all that is being
"defended" by this military action is morally defensible.
The organizers of "Every Church a Peace Church" promote
the formation of weekly discussion groups, at the local level, for
those seeking to understand the current situation and its ramifications
- beyond the information disseminated by mainstream media and government
sources - and to discern together how this intersects with our religious
and civic convictions and committments. These weekly meetings -
dubbed "Tuesday
Truth Forums"
- are designed to give space and affirmation for the expression
of these viewpoints and the search for better alternatives. Some
suggestions for how to start a "Tuesday Truth Forum" in
your area are posted here.
A similar international
initiative fromSojourners has also been launched at http://www.sojo.net/get_connected/index.cfm/action/sojocircles.html.
h) In Cultures
of Peace: The Hidden Side of History, Elise Boulding offers
a collection of essays that focus on cultures and societies of peace,
and examines structural violence in terms of the major institutional
obstacles to a more peaceful future. The book was published in May
2000 by Syracuse University Press. Elise Boulding is professor emerita
of sociology at Dartmouth College and former secretary-general of
the Internation Peace Research Association.
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