WCC general secretary on challenges facing Arab Christians; Should U.S. Bomb Syria? Evangelical Leaders Take Surprising Vote; Breakaway parish mulls joining the Episcopalians
WCC general secretary on challenges facing Arab Christians
Christians in the Arab world “do not consider themselves as minorities, but rather want to understand themselves as full citizens of their nations, with all that this status entails in terms of duties, responsibilities and full rights”.
These views were expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his address to the conference on “Challenges facing Arab Christians”.
The conference was held 3 to 4 September in Amman, Jordan, where Dr Tveit participated on invitation from King Abdullah II of Jordan and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, chief adviser for religious and cultural affairs in Jordan.
The event brought together prominent Christian and Muslim leaders to address the challenges faced by Arab Christians in the region.
On behalf of the WCC member churches, Dr Tveit expressed a shared concern for the presence and witness of local Christians throughout the Arab world.
Arab Christians, he said, have a long history of living in plural societies that respect diversity, understanding that all people are created equal by God.
In his speech, Dr Tveit mentioned several Christian initiatives for solidarity, advocacy and inter-religious dialogue for peace and stability in the Middle East, undertaken by the WCC and other ecumenical and interfaith organizations.
Dr Tveit stressed that churches and Christians in the Middle East “read positively the signs of the times” and “see the transformations as bringing potentially new opportunities for re-commitment to Christian-Muslim engagement and for engagement with Jewish partners also working for peace and justice”.
Under the leadership of the Middle East Council of Churches, “Christians realize more than ever that their contribution in building their new societies will have a more positive impact when they act together,” he said.
In his address, Prince Ghazi reiterated these concerns, saying, “Arab Christians are suffering not only because of the blind and deaf sedition that everyone has suffered from in certain Arab countries since the beginning of what is incorrectly called the Arab Spring, but also merely because they are Christians”.
“We reject this categorically and completely. We reject it according to our sacred laws, as Muslims before God. Second, we reject it morally, as Arabs and as fellow tribesmen. Third, we reject it emotionally as neighbours and dear friends,” he added.
The WCC’s concern for the Christian presence in the region has been expressed several times by the WCC governing bodies, and stated in 2011 by a WCC Central Committee Minute on “the Presence and Witness of Christians in the Middle East”.
The Central Committee said in part, “The WCC has viewed the Middle East as a region of special interest, being the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For Christians, the region is the place where our Lord was incarnated and born, preached, suffered crucifixion and was resurrected. It is also the land from where the Good News was spread to the entire inhabited world. Our living faith has its roots in this land, and is nourished and nurtured by the unbroken witness of the local churches who have their own roots from the apostolic times.”
Should U.S. Bomb Syria? Evangelical Leaders Take Surprising Vote
As Congress debates whether or not America’s military should intervene in Syria after chemical weapons killed nearly 1,500 people, a survey of evangelical leaders nationwide reveals how they would vote.
On Tuesday, the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 churches from 40 denominations, asked its board members: “Should Congress authorize direct U.S. military intervention in Syria?”
The result: 62.5 percent said no, while 37.5 percent said yes.
“I was surprised because I expected the answers would be the other way around,” writes NAE president Leith Anderson in announcing the survey results (first to Religion News Service).
He acknowledges the broad agreement on “serious consequences” for the use of chemical weapons, but also notes, “Christians in Syria have been victims during the past two years of civil war. We don’t want to make their lives worse.”
Geoff Tunnicliffe, leader of the World Evangelical Alliance, also spoke out against American military intervention yesterday during a conference of Christian leaders being held in neighboring Jordan.
“There is a major consensus amongst the Christian leaders in this region that any military intervention by the United States will have a detrimental effect on the situation and in particular for Christians in Syria,” Tunnicliffe wrote to the White House and the United Nations. “Christians have already been threatened in Syria by some of the opposition indicating that a post regime Syria will be Muslim and Christians will not be welcome.”
Breakaway parish mulls joining the Episcopalians
St Louis USA – A breakaway Catholic church that stood up to three Catholic bishops, weathered a decade-long legal fight and embraced doctrine far afield from its Roman roots is now on the verge of becoming a parish in the Episcopal Church.
Missouri Episcopal Bishop George Wayne Smith said St. Stanislaus Kostka Church may be “coming into union” with his diocese. Under such an arrangement, Smith said, the historically Polish church would have the flexibility to retain its own rites.
“I know that given St. Stanislaus’ rich heritage, the ability to retain their cherished Polish identity, along with practices and rites are surely an important matter,” Smith wrote in a letter to his clergy. “Alternately of course, St. Stanislaus could also choose any or all the liturgies available to the Episcopal Church.”
In February, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis dropped its appeal of a 2012 court decision that handed over control of St. Stanislaus to its own lay board, ending a decade-long legal battle between the church and the archdiocese.
For years the archdiocese had asserted control over the buildings and staff of St. Stanislaus, but the parish’s unusual charter gave power to an elected lay board of directors. Ultimately, a court said that “the Archbishop may own the souls of wayward St. Stanislaus parishioners, but the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation owns its own property.”
As part of the agreement, St. Stanislaus agreed to abstain from representing itself as affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.