Every Church a Peace Church St. Joan of Arc Church April 19th and 20th, 2002

Toward a Global Network of Creative Nonviolence Every Church a Peace Church is a movement to organize the church’s response to societal and global violence. It is a call to action based upon this simple proposition: “The church could turn the world toward peace if every faith community lived as Jesus lived and taught.” This weekend conference is an invitation to begin a conversation to create this network regionally. Peace Conference Vision We seek to deepen our understanding of the nature of nonviolence and the power of nonviolence as well as how to respond nonviolently in our personal lives and in the world.

Friday's KeyNote Session by Kathryn Smith

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer

More than 400 conferees were greeted as they arrived by music featuring the Vagles. Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, an assistant professor of justice and peace at St. Thomas University was the featured speaker. His speech was followed by small group discussion and questions. The audience could be characterized as middle aged and enthusiastic. This proceeding was televised by Altura Vista and will probably be shown at a later date.

"Every Church A Peace Church: Toward A Global Network of Creative Non-Violence" was the theme of the presentation. Our speaker maintained that if Christians took the teaching of Jesus seriously every church would be a peace church. The observation was made that Christ was a teacher and today he would likely be opposed to the United States and other super powers with their over emphasis on military might. Today, because few churches are peace churches, there is a crisis of faith. Therefore, we should be developing strategies for non-violence. We should no longer accept that a religion of violence means that violence saves lives or souls. Terrorism is of primarily two types:

1. state terrorism
2. non-state terrorism

To counter violence we must accept the principles of liberation theology and oppose the following:

1. oppression, hunger, poverty
2. rebellion
3. repressive violence of the state
4. breakdown of communities without hope (dysfunctional)
5. violent images of God

Passages from the Old and New Testament as well as the Koran are often cited to illustrate the violence advocated by their advocates. All traditions have conflicting views. The sacred text is often interpreted as a violence of religion. Contrary to what Jesus teaches, God is portrayed as a violent, vengeful judge. This thinking has evolved from 3 bible stories:

1. Exodus
2. If something bad happens to one, he deserves the punishment. There is a promise from God that he will be saved.
3. History is out of our control and we cannot do anything about it.

Kathryn Smith is a graduate from U of Mn in the Biological Sciences. Research in Veterinary Medicine. Teacher at Community College in Biological Sciences. Currently retired and taking the time to enjoy all that I have not had time or opportunity to do before.

Significant changes have to be made to move to Jesus' peaceful teachings and away from contemporary violence religion. Jesus understood institutions and governments of his day. He refused to blame God for these happenings. They were not a punishment, but that imperialism was a fact of life. Jesus rejected the idea of a messiah to save us and there was no apocalyptic fantasy. He addressed imperial realities and called for alternatives. He focused on how to live here and now. Resistance must be non-violent. Violence and war is a betrayal of God. Unfortunately Christians since Jesus’ time, as well as other religions, have often fallen away from his example of non-violence.

Saturday's session will be more discussion and featuring alternative strategies.

Saturday's Work Sessions by Pat Ryan Greene

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, assistant professor of Justice and Peace Studies at the University of St. Thomas, opened the Saturday session of the Every Church a Peace Church Conference addressing the power of nonviolence.

Those of us who believe in nonviolence have history on our side. President George Bush has labeled certain countries as “rogue states.” A “rogue elephant” is vicious and one that separates himself from the herd, so who’s the rogue? The United States has refused to:

1. sign the treaty banning land mines though 140 nations have signed.
2. sign the nuclear-test-ban treaty though 164 nations have signed.
3. vote at the UN to ban militarizing space, one of two nations to so vote. Israel was the other.
4. sign on to the establishment of the International Court of justice because Americans might also be subject to its jurisdiction.
5. sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights because it states that food, clothing and shelter are basic human rights.
6. sign the small-arms treaty. Nearly half the weapons in the world are supplied by us and 85 percent by the five nations on the UN Security Council-the United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain.

In 1948, a secret memo written by foreign policy expert George Kennan said 50 percent of the world’s wealth was owned by 3 ½ percent of the population and our goal should be to maintain this disparity. Nelson-Pallmeyer proposes that this is the goal of militarizing space.

Militarism makes globalism possible.

Some thoughts on the cost of militarism:

• The richest three people in the United States have as much as the total of the Gross National Product of 48 countries. The richest one percent have more than the wealth of 95 percent of the families in the country.
• If we taxed at 4 percent the world’s wealthiest 225 people, we could provide food, clothing, medical care, clean water and education for the whole world.

1. Don’t submit to unquestioning patriotism; Question everywhere-in families, Churches and the public square.
2. Repudiate the Just War Theory; all 10 conditions must be met and for most situations, probably impossible.
3. Suggest Just Peace: Make conscientious objection available for every person and also for those who refuse to pay taxes for the military.
4. God does not have power to stop earthquakes or to keep people from killing, but God’s power is the power of people using effective non-violent action.
5. Personal life choices: How we spend our time/money and our choices of vocation are elements of peacemaking. A comfortable life shouldn’t necessarily be our goal. Work for a world without hunger and poverty.
6. Urge the signing of international treaties.
7. Give good information to everyone to combat propaganda, for instance all the UN resolutions that we don’t hear about.
8. Support Dennis Kucinich in his quest to establish a Cabinet-level post as Secretary of Peace.

Tactics for Every Church a Peace Church:

1. Keep engaged.
2. We, not the hierarchy, are the church.
3. Be weeds in your churches; disturb complacency.
4. Encourage small steps.
5. Challenge hymns and messages that aren’t peaceful.
6. Re-ritualize our traditions.
7. Build alliances with other peace groups.
8. Unlock our capacity to dream-work with healthy communications; non- violent responses to evil

• Website connections: www.ecapc.org
• Peace Church Partners which assists persons to construct a relationship with one other person around nonviolent peacemaking.

In one of the workshops, Bill Hunt traced the 1500-year evolution of the Just War Theory from the time of Constantine in the 4th century, through St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and Vatican II. The group in his workshop then applied the eleven criteria and concluded that the war in Afghanistan did not qualify as a Just War, as is true of most--if not all--modern wars.

A copy of Bill’s outline of the criteria follows:

1. Just Cause: Force may be used only against a grave, public evil such as an invasion or a massive violation of the basic rights of a whole population.
2. Comparative Justice: In a conflict, there are generally injustices on both sides. The injustice suffered by the party that goes to war must significantly outweigh the injustice suffered by the other party.
3. Legitimate Authority: Only a duly constituted public authority may wage war.
4. Right Intention: The aim of political and military leaders must be peace with justice. The subjective motivation must not be hatred or vengefulness. This also applies once hostilities commence.
5. Last Resort: Force may be used only after all peaceful alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.
6. Probability of Success: Arms may not be used in a futile cause.
7. Proportionality: The overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good anticipated to be achieved.
8. Necessary Means: The means used (e.g. weapons and tactics) must be indispensable for achieving the end of peace with justice. No more violence than is absolutely necessary.
9. Proportionality: The means used must not do more harm than the harm they seek to prevent.
10. Noncombatant immunity: Civilians, the wounded, prisoners of war, etc., must not be the objects of direct attack. Also, the military must take steps to minimize indirect harm to civilian life and property (collateral damage).
11. Respect for International Law: The means used must respect the provisions of international law regarding conduct of the war, treatment of prisoners, etc.

Pat Ryan Greene a mother of six, retired writer/editor and a member of St. Joan's almost since she and her family moved to Minneapolis in 1968.

A sample packet of materials distributed at the conference may be viewed in the SJA office.