|
|
|
The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
|
| 17.03.2003 |
|
| LWF Executive Committee Criticizes 'Coalition of the Willing' Outside UN Framework |
| |
Call for a Global Disarmament That Includes All Weapons and States
GENEVA, 17 March 2003 (LWI) - The Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has sharply criticized governments that are coercing alliances that threaten the integrity and authority of the United Nations in the current standoff on Iraq.
"We denounce unilateralism and the notions of 'pre-emptive war' and a 'coalition of the willing outside the UN framework," the Executive Committee members say in a statement drawn up after their March 14-15 meeting at the LWF Secretariat here. The eleven-member committee is chaired by the LWF President, Bishop emeritus Dr Christian Krause, from Germany, and includes five Vice-Presidents and a Treasurer, as well as the chairpersons of the LWF Program Committees.
LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, and Vice-President for the North America region, Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, jointly issued the LWF statement today, in a Geneva meeting with journalists.
The LWF governing body affirms the churches' opposition to the use of armed force. It stresses that the objective of removing an unpalatable regime cannot justify the resulting death, injury, hunger and disease, or the lasting harm that such action would incur on Christian-Muslim relations in the region and globally. "The 'just war' criteria…were designed to constrain not to justify the resort to war," the LWF Executive Committee emphasize. The critical challenge is to develop criteria for a 'just peace'.
The LWF committee agrees that President Saddam Hussein's regime should be disarmed of any weapons of mass destruction that it may possess. But committee members say they do not believe "that all diplomatic means have yet been exhausted." They note that humanity is still threatened by such weapons, since arsenals are maintained by many other states. They call for "global disarmament and the destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, whoever may possess them."
The Executive Committee oversees the proper functioning of the LWF between the meetings of the Council, which meets annually. Other members of the committee include the Treasurer and chairperson of the Program Committee for Finance and Administration, Ms Inger J. Wremer, Norway, and Vice-Presidents Ms Parmata Ishaya, Nigeria; Rev. Dr Prasanna Kumari, India; General Bishop Dr Julius Filo, Slovak Republic; and Rev. Huberto Kircheim, Brazil. Other members include chairpersons of the Program Committees: Bishop Dr Béla Harmati, Hungary (Communication Services); Rev. Susan E. Nagle, USA, (Mission and Development); Dr Joachim Track, Germany (Theology and Studies) and Bishop Dr Samson Mushemba, Tanzania, (World Service).
The full text of the statement follows:
"A Call to Peace"
Statement by the Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation on the Threat of War against Iraq
Geneva, 15 March 2003
The Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation, meeting in Geneva on 14 and 15 March 2003 to prepare for an Assembly under the theme 'For the Healing of the World', sends a message of peace to a world filled with the rumor of war. We call upon those on the road to war to return to the path of peace.
The peace we proclaim is based in our Christian faith. On 11 September 2002 - on the occasion of the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States of America - the Council of the LWF declared that “we believe that our security and hope are grounded in the Triune God, who creates, reconciles and sustains all life. Violence, in its many manifestations, is one of the signs of our broken relationship with God. We are called to repent, to turn away from violence and back to God. Reconciled with God and one another, we are called to seek reconciliation, and work together with those of other faiths for peace and justice in the world."
Today, we join with the millions of people throughout the world, of many different faiths, who have expressed their opposition to war against Iraq, in public demonstrations, statements, letters and opinion polls. We welcome the many statements by member churches and ecumenical organizations rejecting a military attack on Iraq, and the numerous prayer vigils and intercessions for peace. Political leaders have a responsibility to listen to those who oppose the policies of war, and not to take refuge behind the privilege of their office. We particularly deplore the Bush administration's refusal to meet with religious leaders in the United States who challenge its policy on Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's regime should be disarmed of any weapons of mass destruction that it may possess. But we do not believe that all diplomatic means have yet been exhausted. And even when Iraq is declared free of such weapons, the threat will still loom over humanity as a result of the arsenals maintained by many other states - including those that now demand Iraq's disarmament - and as a result of the flourishing international arms trade. We call for global disarmament and the destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, whoever may possess them.
We affirm the role of the United Nations as the legitimate authority for adjudicating the resort to armed force in international relations. The central purpose for which the UN was created is the maintenance of international peace and security through collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace. It is deeply disturbing that some of the same states that created this collective security framework in order to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" (preamble, Charter of the United Nations), now threaten its integrity and authority in their determination to go to war. We denounce unilateralism, and the notions of 'pre-emptive war' and a 'coalition of the willing' outside of the UN framework.
The issue of the legality of war might be resolved by a Security Council vote, but for us as churches the morality of the use of armed force would remain in grave doubt. Our concern is first and foremost for the innocent victims of any military action in Iraq. The objective of removing an unpalatable regime cannot justify the death, injury, hunger and disease that will inevitably be visited on innocent civilians - as collateral damage in the pursuit of Saddam Hussein and of the weapons which he is said to possess – or the lasting harm that the proposed action is likely to do to Christian-Muslim relations in the region and around the world. Even before war has started, the cost of the military build-up already represents a grossly unjust and iniquitous mis-allocation of resources in a world so full of need.
The 'just war' criteria, so much quoted in the current international debate, were designed to constrain - not to justify - the resort to war. Indeed, they stand in clear opposition to a pre-emptive war for the purpose of 'regime change'. In any event, the just war theory, which has been part of the Lutheran tradition, cannot be applied in the context of international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. In our day and age, the critical challenge is to move from 'just war' theory to the development of criteria for a 'just peace'.
We pray, at this decisive moment, for those who will feel the consequences of the planned war, in their bodies and in the lives of their communities. We pray for the soldiers who may be commanded to put their lives at risk in this dangerous venture, and for their families. And we pray for the many victims of the sanctions imposed already for over a decade - so many of them innocent children.
May the Holy Spirit transform hearts and minds that have hardened for conflict, and move in our world to overcome the violence that we do.
|
If you want to edit this article yourself and adapt it to a given format, follow our editing information
|
|
|
|
|
|
