LWF President: Peace between
World Religions a Priority for Christians
Poverty, HIV/AIDS, Major Global
Challenges for World Community
WINNIPEG, Canada, 22 July 2003
(LWI) * Peace between the world's religions
and a common front against
terrorism are among the top challenges facing
Christians in the 21st century,
the president of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), Bishop emeritus Dr
Christian Krause, said here today in
his address to the LWF Tenth
Assembly.
Krause was addressing some 800 participants, including over 400
delegates
from member churches, in the first plenary session of the July
21-31
Assembly.
It is no longer enough that states commit themselves
to ending their
conflicts by peaceful means, the LWF's chief officer said.
They need to form
global alliances "in order to combat terrorism together and
to guarantee
their citizens civilized life in society." The fight against
terrorism
cannot
be separated from the struggle for justice and human
dignity, LWF's chief
officer said.
Krause expressed concern that the
United States, the only remaining world
superpower, is now militarily so
superior that it does not need to fear any
military opponent in the world.
"It has resolved to use war as a political
means when that serves its own
interests," he said. He noted that the war
against Iraq was waged in spite of
the United Nations own opposition and the
anti-war demonstrations by millions
of people worldwide. International law
cannot safeguard peace if the USA do
not respect this international law and
prefer to replace it by the right of
the mighty one," he noted.
Islm or other religions should not be equated
with terrorism, Krause warned.
While fundamentalism attracts very few
supporters, the phenomenon is also
present among Christians and among Jews.
Some 1.2 billion people in the
world
are Muslims and only a very small
number of them sympathize with terrorism,
he said. The fight against
terrorism must include as many states worldwide
as
possible, especially
those with majority Muslim populations. "But it must
never become a clash of
civilizations or even of religions." What is
imperative for the 21st century
is not a crusade against Islam, said Krause,
but peace between the religions
and their common struggle against terrorism
and its contempt for human
beings.
The aim is to find common ground between the two world faiths, as
with
similar efforts in ecumenical dialogues between Christians. The concept
of
"reconciled diversity," developed for relations between churches, may
also
be
a useful goal for relations between Christians and
Muslims.
Poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are two other top challenges
facing the
world community, Krause said. He pointed out that the call for
communio,
which has been discussed with growing intensity in recent years, is
not
primarily a call for humanitarian aid in view of poverty and HIV/AIDS,
much
as that is also important, but a call to a worldwide community of trust
and
hope in discipleship of Jesus Christ. "Are we ready for this * the rich
with
the poor? Krause asked the Assembly participants?
The call While
the East-West conflict can be consigned to history, the
conflict between
North and South is getting worse, Krause stressed.
Krause declared the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification to be
the most significant
theological achievement since the previous LWF Assembly
held in 1997. The
landmark declaration was signed by representatives of the
LWF and the Roman
Catholic Church in 1999.
The number of member churches has nearly tripled
to 136 since the LWF was
founded in 1947, Krause noted. The expansion of th
Federation mainly
involved
churches in the South becoming members. While
the churches in the North are
faced with shrinking memberships, churches in
the South are growing
significantly, mainly among charismatic, spirit-filled
congregations and
communities. According to the LWF president, the future of
Christianity will
mainly depend on whether it is possible to gather together
the historical
confessional churches and the charismatic congregations and
movements.
He said there is need for new ecumenical models in order to
meet one another
also across internal barriers, and deal constructively with
the existing
controversies and be able to celebrate worship
together.
Krause expressed his deep sense of gratitude "for the gift of
communion in
Christ which transcends all borders and divisions." He paid
tribute to the
hospitality of the many people who have received him together
with his wife
Gertrud during visits to member churches of the global Lutheran
communion.
"I
then had the strength to persevere even when the strain was
great. That gave
me the resolve to stand up for our cause also before the
governments and the
powerful of this world," he noted.
He thanked the
Assembly host the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and
its National
Bishop Raymond Schultz, the LWF Geneva staff and the many other
people who
prepared the Assembly.
Krause was appointed as LWF President at the 1997
Ninth Assembly in Hong
Kong China.
The Tenth Assembly of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is taking place
21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg,
Canada, under the theme "For the Healing of the
World." It is being hosted by
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC).
There are almost
700 men, women and youth participants in the Tenth Assembly
including 356
delegates from the 133 churches with full membership and three
associate
members. The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the
LWF, and
meets normally every six years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is
governed by
its Council that meets annually, an by its Executive Committee.
Further
information including photos, video and audio news, is posted on the
Assembly
Web site www.lwf-assembly.org
To order photographs, please contact
LWF-Photo@lutheranworld.org
*
* *
The LWF is a global communion of
Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund
(Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing
over 61.7 million of the 65.4 million
Lutherans worldwide.
The LWF
acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest
such as
ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission
and development
work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.
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