Dear friends,

This issue of Current Dialogue is mainly devoted to the theme of religion and violence. September 11 and the present state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have made us aware of the insidious interrelationship of religion and violence. Although the world's religions aspire to peace, it is a fact that in many instances religious persons, resources, and organisations are implicated in conflict and violence. Religious people, communities and organisations need to reflect on and confront the ambiguous relationship of religion and violence. Should it not be the role of religion is to unmask the logic and dynamic of violence and its dehumanising and destructive influences? Should not religious communities and their leaders with emphasis refuse to provide moral or ethical support for the use of violence in response to conflict, or in the pursuit of political, economic, cultural, or yet least, religious ends?

We have in the WCC been pursuing this subject, first in the context of the Decade to Overcome Violence, launched by the WCC in 2001:
www.overcomingviolence.org

This issue of Current Dialogue bears witness to two related ways of addressing the complex reality of religion and violence:

• a multifaith consultation in February 2002 with Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish contributions
  
• a press release from a multifaith consultation, the Visser't Hooft Memorial Consultation held at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey in June 2002 entitled "Violence and Peace - An interfaith exploration into the heart of religions"
  
• The work on Jewish-Christian and Christian-Muslim relations is reflected in a report from an African Christian-Jewish consultation and a report on some recent meetings of Christians and Muslims.
  

The Advisory Group on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue has worked on a new version of the "Guidelines for Dialogue" revising substantially the WCC 1979 "Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and Ideologies", see the net:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/glines-e.html

This revision has been called for by the WCC governing board and has been prompted by the developments in interreligious relations in the last twenty-three years. The text will now be submitted to the Program Committee for action. Since many churches and Christian groups have expressed the need for such a document coming from the WCC, it is hoped that it will be soon received, forwarded to the churches for study and action, and circulated widely. We will of course publish the text on the net and as a hard copy document once it is has received the official authorisation.

Last but not least, a correction in relation to the memorial issue on Dr. Stanley Samartha (Current Dialogue no. 38). Through an oversight, the bibliography of Stanley Samartha lacks one of his most important books, "One Christ, many Religions: toward a revised Christology" (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991) .

Hans Ucko
Editor