09.04.2003
Brazilian Church President Altmann : Iraq War Probably the Greatest Tragedy Since World War II
The Best of Humanitarian Aid Could Not Compensate for Long Term Consequences of WarSAN SALVADOR, El Salvador/GENEVA, 9 April 2003, (LWI) – Brazilian Lutheran church leader Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, has strongly condemned the United States-led military attack on Iraq, and described the ongoing war as probably the greatest tragedy since the Second World War.
In his April 6 keynote address at the start of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Latin America and Caribbean region Pre-Assembly Consultation (PAC), Altmann, President of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), said the global wave of concern following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the USA could have formed the basis for global solidarity among the nations, but this unique opportunity had now been lost.
Even the best of humanitarian aid could not compensate for the long-term consequences of the destruction, said the IECLB president in reference to the Iraq war. He also expressed concern about the future of Muslim-Christian relations. The respective administrations in the USA and Iraq - President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein - repeatedly referred to divine blessing for their military actions, was Altmann's criticism as he addressed church representatives from the Latin American and Caribbean region, meeting in the Salvadoran capital to prepare for the July 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly, including focusing on its theme “For the Healing of the World.”
Altmann emphasized that for his church, like for many others in the region, the Assembly theme constitutes a challenge. The term “healing” tended to be used mainly by the Pentecostal movements in his own country, Brazil. The IECLB has 725,000 members, and joined the LWF in 1952.
Altmann thus favored a broader interpretation of the Assembly theme. Confronting pandemics like HIV/AIDS, the threat represented by the “severe acute respiratory syndrome,” SARS, and the issue of discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, culture or religion, must be given space. Other aspects of the Assembly theme include the destructive attitude of human beings to the environment, social exclusion processes and the infiltration of violence and war into international relationships.
The IECLB president spoke in detail about the issue of economic globalization. The consequences of “total competition” are particularly evident in the financial sector, in the concentration of risk and power, where they have also resulted in “social apartheid.” From a theological point of view, he noted it was important to contrast “total competition” with God’s gift of life and unmask the belief in globalization as being “idol worship.” In addition, the exclusion of community and society contradicts the doctrine of justification, according to Altmann. “God makes no distinctions,” he concluded.
The Latin American and Caribbean PAC is being hosted by the Salvadoran Lutheran Synod in El Salvador. The 51 participants are drawn from the 15 LWF churches in the region, and they include delegates to the forthcoming Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada.
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