God's or the Devil's work?
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IS VIOLENCE GOD'S OR THE DEVIL'S WORK?
Can God approve violence? Well, it seems to me --and to these religious scholars-- that God cannot possibly endorse violence... Didn't he say, "turn the other cheek"?
THE ASSISI DECALOGUE
By David Waters
Syndicated Memphis, Tennessee Commercial Appeal
March 17, 2002
What if leaders of the world's major religions got together one day and
denounced all religious violence? What if they unanimously agreed to make
this plain, clear and bold statement to the world?
"Violence and terrorism are opposed to all true religious spirit and we
condemn all recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion." It
could change the world. At the very least, it would be big news, wouldn't
it? Apparently not.
More than 200 leaders of the world's dozen major religions did get together
Jan. 24 in Assisi, Italy. Maybe you missed the story about it the next day.
Most newspapers didn't carry it. And it was hidden inside many of those that
did. There was a lot of other news that day. The Enron hearings opened in
Washington. John Walker Lindh made his first court appearance.
It's no wonder the largest meeting of world religious leaders in history
couldn't even make the front page. Pope John Paul II and a number of
cardinals were at the meeting. So was Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of all
Orthodox Christians. So were a dozen Jewish rabbis, including some from
Israel. So were 30 Muslim Imams from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and
Pakistan. So were dozens of ministers representing Baptists, Lutherans,
Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ,
Mennonites, Quakers, Moravians, The Salvation Army and the World Council of
Churches.
So were dozens of monks, gurus and others representing Hindus, Buddhists,
Sikhs and Zoroastrians and native African religions. They ignored the
personal and political risk of attending such a high-profile gathering.
They convened and talked and prayed. They unanimously agreed to condemn
every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion. They also
said, "No religious goal can possibly justify the use of violence by man
against man." And that "Whoever uses religion to foment violence contradicts
religion's deepest and truest inspiration." They called their statement the
Assisi Decalogue for Peace. It consists of 10 mutual commitments to work for
peace and justice in the world, including this one:
"We commit ourselves to stand at the side of those who suffer poverty and
abandonment, speaking out for those who have no voice, and to working
effectively to change these situations." On March 4, the Pope sent a copy of
the Decalogue to all of the world's heads of state.
Maybe you missed the story. It didn't even make the newspapers the next day,
hidden inside or not. There was a lot of other news that day. Seven American
soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. Israeli troops killed 17 people in the
West Bank. Mike Tyson got a license to box.
What if leaders of the world's major religions got together one day and
denounced all religious violence --- and no one cared?
DECALOGUE OF ASSISI FOR PEACE
1. We commit ourselves to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and
terrorism are incompatible with the authentic spirit of religion, and, as we
condemn every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or of
religion, we commit ourselves to doing everything possible to eliminate the
root causes of terrorism.
2. We commit ourselves to educating people to mutual respect and esteem, in
order to help bring about a peaceful and fraternal coexistence between
people of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.
3. We commit ourselves to fostering the culture of dialogue, so that there
will be an increase of understanding and mutual trust between individuals
and among peoples, for these are the premises of authentic peace.
4. We commit ourselves to defending the right of everyone to live a decent
life in accordance with their own cultural identity, and to form freely a
family of their own.
5. We commit ourselves to frank and patient dialogue, refusing to consider
our differences as an insurmountable barrier, but recognizing instead that
to encounter the diversity of others can become an opportunity for greater
reciprocal understanding.
6. We commit ourselves to forgiving one another for past and present errors
and prejudices, and to supporting one another in a common effort both to
overcome selfishness and arrogance, hatred and violence, and to learn from
the past that peace without justice is no true peace.
7. We commit ourselves to taking the side of the poor and the helpless, to
speaking out for those who have no voice and to working effectively to
change these situations, out of the conviction that no one can be happy
alone.
8. We commit ourselves to taking up the cry of those who refuse to be
resigned to violence and evil, and we desire to make every effort possible
to offer the men and women of our time real hope for justice and peace.
9. We commit ourselves to encouraging all efforts to promote friendship
between peoples, for we are convinced that, in the absence of solidarity and
understanding between peoples, technological progress exposes the world to a
growing risk of destruction and death.
10. We commit ourselves to urging leaders of nations to make every effort to
create and consolidate, on the national and international levels, a world of
solidarity and peace based on justice.
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HOMEPAGE
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