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United Reformed Church |
NewsletterVol. 7 no. 4 |
Who is my enemy? It is the person whose story I have not heard*Keynote Address by Revd Kate Compston, a patron of URCPF |
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One day, in November 2000, a young Israeli therapist and musician from Tel Aviv, Natalia Wieseltier, picked up the phone to call a friend. But she dialled the wrong number, and found herself speaking to a man called Jihad, an Arab in Gaza. Instead of putting the phone down, she asked him how he was, how things were with him. (This was shortly after the beginning of the second al-Aqsa intifada.) Jihad said he was frightened. It was late and there was a curfew. His wife was about to have a baby, and he didn’t know how he could get her to the hospital. Natalia listened and responded respectfully - as simply another human being. From that strangely right wrong number, a line between two hearts was opened: a string thrown over ‘the wall’. Jihad told his friends and relations about his conversation with Natalia, and then his friends and relations started calling her too. Natalia was convinced that this experience held some potential for a wider understanding between ordinary people across the Israeli-Palestinian divide. She looked around for help, an organization to sponsor an experiment in communication. She found the Parents’ Circle – Family Forum, a group of 200 Israelis and 200 Palestinians, all of whom had lost loved ones in the hostilities. In October 2002, this grouped launched Hello Shalom – Hello Salaam, a toll-free telephone service, which enables Israelis to call Palestinians and vice versa (there’s an automated voice response system, which I need not explain here, that allows an at-first anonymous approach to someone with whom one feels one might have something in common …) Since its inauguration, many millions of minutes of talking and listening have taken place between ordinary people on different sides: thousands of stories have been shared and thousands of lines opened up between hearts that beat in the same way, despite other differences. Said one contributor to the Radio 4 Programme, ‘Calls Across the Wall’ (15 August 2007), “Just imagine what would have happened if the leaders of these two crazy nations would have talked between themselves for one minute, about anything.” Said another: “The politicians reached a dead end. So they said there’s no-one to talk to on the other side. But ordinary people have proved the contrary. We can communicate. There can be peace, because there is peace between two people.” |
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And still the initiative grows. In 2006, in the attempt to create a framework for a long-term reconciliation process, there were more than a thousand classroom Palestinian-Israeli dialogues, allowing teenagers to listen to one another’s experiences. Hearing another’s story helps to prevent the habit of demonizing those whom one has hitherto had no chance even of meeting, let alone of understanding. As an Israeli man whose 14 year old daughter was killed by Palestinians said, “We are not doomed, this is not a destiny, to keep on dying. We can change it, we can break this cycle of violence. And the only way to do it is to talk.” A former Palestinian resistance fighter, whose brother was killed at point-blank range by Israelis, also questioned the natural desire for revenge: “How many shall I kill? Even if I kill them all, I will not feel better. My brother will not come back.” We need to hear about ventures such as Hello Shalom – Hello Salaam, to inspire us in our own peacemaking, whether at home or further afield. We need to make these stories of hope more widely known. In the main, we hear only tales of atrocity and intransigence. It is, of course, not only the ‘happy accident’ that can lead to greater things, but also more intentional, perhaps more structured attempts, like the Alexandria Process between leaders of different religions, and the Quaker-led Compassionate Listening Project, all working in the Middle East, and all convinced that it becomes very difficult to hate anyone whose personal story you have heard. As one Peninnah Schram puts it: “Since storytelling is a dialogue, shared stories … serve as a string that binds one heart to another. (And I believe that the universe is made up of string.)” Yes, open the lines, this is a ‘string-theory’ that’s really vital. This is what reconciliation is about… Kate Compston works as a part-time NHS counsellor, with an interest in the psychological aspects of peace and conflict. She believes that many insights of psychotherapy bear on peace-making at all levels: family, community, nation and the international stage. She has written worship and other material published by Donald Hilton, Geoffrey Duncan and others. |
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Letter from the Convenor |
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Two out of the three I have mentioned involve British Troops and there are signs that the media are again starting to suggest that by opposing the invasions we are undermining the troops. Firstly, the troops are involved because of political decisions and it is ludicrous to suggest that opposing the political decision should stop once the troops are involved. There is a wider issue, which is: do we need troops to defend ourselves or should we not place our future in God’s hands? I have no intention of developing that issue now, the only thing I would say is that in the Decade to Overcome Violence we ask every recruit to our armed forces to commit themselves to violence. |
Peace is often seen as being the opposite to physical violence, but non-violent conflict is also a barrier to peace. I mention this because I do believe that the United Reformed Church could not in all honesty claim that such conflict does not exist within the denomination. If all I have written so far is true, what effect is the Fellowship having? I would say that all of us on the committee believe that we have and can at least raise awareness of the need for followers of Jesus Christ to love all and not find weird interpretations to justify ignoring Jesus’ teaching. I finish with a quote I heard on the radio though I cannot remember to whom it was attributed or in which programme I heard it: If you think you are too small to have an impact, go to bed with a mosquito. Andrew Jack |
Conference Reports by Hazel Barkham1. Violence: a stubborn pandemic | |
The Conference divided into groups each day except the last, to discuss the theme. We had an opening meditation prepared by the Conference Chaplain, Revd Angela Weaver. Bishop Gordon Mursell spoke on "The Psalms and Violence – What kind of God?" beginning with Psalm 58. Evil was a powerful cancerous force. We had to integrate prayer, theology and prophetic speech. We were part of a covenant relationship, in which we were loved and part of a wider community. Pharoah was xenophobic. Primo Levi suffered brutalities. As we read violent Psalms we might ask: who might feel like that today? David Firth's Surrendering retribution in the Psalms was referred to. We needed imaginative intercession and the corporate personality of Augustine's totus Christus. Erich Zeyer's Understanding the psalms in the face of the vengeance of God was mentioned, as well as Metz' exciting language of prayer. Each day began with Holy Communion, Calling us Together, Holding the Contradictions and Equipping us for the Task. The clinical pyschologist Dorothy Rowe spoke on “Enemies and Friends”. Enemies are people who hold different ideas. If this leads to violence it could be the end of our species. We had to ask why we have enemies and whether we can live with them. Neurology explains underlying behaviour. We are not capable of seeing reality. No two pictures are the same. Babies born in kraals have a different perception from those born in rectangular rooms. We are meaning, creating creatures of a structure I, me, myself. This structure is ever-changing and is subject to shakiness and wrong predictions (Dorothy Rowe). Serious discrepancies lead to terror, crumbling, and annihilation of the person. We hold ourselves together in grief and fear. We accept loss and recreate. It is important not to lie to ourselves. Simon Phipps was cited as being tolerant of uncertainty – a mark of maturity. We project the unacceptable racist, homophobic, sexist, sectarian parts of ourselves on to non-members. To be good we have to work hard to be acceptable. Postmodernists say every individual truth is valid but some of these truths are fantasy. We were given a list of twenty-five advantages of having an enemy from Dorothy Rowe's Friends and Enemies. There are conflicts between people when we force others to be what we want because our absolute truth is better. |
Professor Paul Rogers introduced "Current trends in international relations affecting war and peace", concluding that the solutions to the problems we face already exist, and it is not too late to change the dangerous course we are on. Afterwards he let us have copies of Beyond Terror—The truth about the real threats to our world by Chris Abbott, Paul Rogers & John Sloboda, published by Rider in 2007 ISBN 978-1-84-604070-2 £4.99 for £3. Dr Tony Kempster ajkempster@aol.com from the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship discussed "The Ethics of Pacifism and Just War in an Age of Terrorist Violence" opening with a song "The birds they sang" by Leonard Cohen. Dr Alan Billings followed. He was obsessed by Muslim extremists and the theopolitical agenda of an Islamist State, indiscriminately inducing fear in liberal democracies. He wasn't a pacifist, dismissing it as Utopian. He believed it was necessary for the police and army to provide a countervailing range of coercive measures including 90-day detention. Christians were marginalized and peripheral. He believed in Just War. He thought there would be suitcase nuclear bombs and biological weapons and we could lose the war. Dr Leonard Swidler was supposed to talk about Religiously Motivated Violence but never really got into the subject. Dr Giles Fraser treated us to "Theological Perspectives on Violence". Liberals recognised that religions were dangerous and the crucial relationship between Christianity and violence. He outlined Nietsche's idea of ressentiment and Girard's idea of scapegoating from Violence and the Sacred and Rose's solution of right law. Some of us visited the Jain Temple at Potters Bar and returned to hear Norman Kember "Taking Bonhoeffer too seriously." Although I had read his account in Hostage in Iraq he showed extra pictures. Creative Worship began with Sue Gilmurray's song Disadvantage. Then conference members offered prayers, poems and stories that had come to mind during the conference. We finished with Fred Kaan's For the Healing of the Nations. After dinner, Garth Hewitt gave us an evening of music and song including "The Lemon Tree". In the final session, Dr Derick Wilson spoke about "Conflict Resolution in a Violent World" as practised at Corrymela. I recommend the book by Sandy Tolan: the True story of a friendship, spanning four decades of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, published by Bantam ISBN 9780593057469 in 2006 £12.99. |
Conference Reports by Hazel Barkham2. US Missile Defence: towards a new Cold War? | |
Kate Hudson said there was no question about the new cold war. There was tension with Russia, who felt there was a strategic threat. Russia had suggested alternative sites in Southern Russia and Azerbaijan but was ignored. It was up to us to expose the lie. It was nothing to do with defence. It was an aggressive pre-emptive attack leading to first strike. The age of nuclear primacy had begun. Bruce Gagnon from Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space said that the Missile Defence Agency was spending £10b a year on research and development and there was a secret budget of £30b. Satellites controlled 70% of the weapons sent to Iraq. Others were denied access. It was an offensive deployment. China had launched a “kinetic energy bomb” in the new arms race. The US intended China as a supplier of cheap labour. The entitlement programme budget was to be diverted to Missile defence. The aim of the US was global resource extraction, security export and global war. Adolf Hitler didn't ask permission to invade and neither would the US. In Cape Cod there were signs of leukaemia. There was resistance to the Strategic Command in Omaha. There would be full spectrum global strike by April 11th 2008. Marcus and Kay from Australia, who had led the Footprints walk from Dublin To Aldermaston, said they had linked the Woomera launch Anniversary on August 6th with Hiroshima. The US wanted to use Australia's remoteness and had a secret base at Pine Gap. The Labour party in Australia was little different from Howard and had torn up the policy against uranium mining. The West Coast near Perth was being destroyed by the arrival of the US Programme Forces Swap. The US had tested depleted uranium on Aboriginal land before Iraq. There was an agreement for a new US base in Geraldton at huge cost. It was impossible for Australia to be neutral. At an Information Workshop on The Consequences of US Commitment to National Missile Defence, Lindis Percy- from the Campaign for Accountability of American Bases spoke about the health issues and concerns about Fylingdales and two leukaemia cases of 15 year-olds in Harrogate. A report suggesting rises in radiation was dismissed as a typing error. In case of a nuclear accident, people would have to go to Leeds as there was no other disaster plan. Helen John, of Menwith Women' Peace Camp, said that while MPs were only asked for a vote we should demand local and national referenda on Missile Defence. Bruce Gagnon thought that the emphasis on security was already warfare on health. The economic consequences were to destroy social progress and deny health care. Bridges were collapsing. US hypocrisy showed in the Nuclear India deal ignoring the NPT. We should work for the demilitarisation of industry. At Colorado Springs, 47% worked for the military-industrial complex. We needed an alternative vision to the global marketing strategy. We needed conversion to solar and to rail to reduce global warming. We were now living under fascism: democracy had gone. Bush described the Constitution as a piece of paper. But Cindy Sheehan was running against Nancy Pelosi. |
The Final Plenary was on The Importance of Opposing US Missile Defence. A Statement was being put together on the CND website for individuals to endorse. John Trickett MP was to raise the issue in Parliament. The decision to include Menwith Hill in US Missile defence had only been announced in a written statement the day before the summer recess so it could not be challenged. Andrew Murray from Stop the War Coalition advocating opposing US foreign policy, the transfer of wealth to the rich, the department of global aggression and the threat to Iran. When MPs returned on October 8th there would be a demonstration in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square on Troops Out. He said missile defence was leading to rising friction with Russia and an attempt to encircle China. Our objective must be to break out of alliance with the US. George Wood from the National Union of Students with 7 million members said they were committed to opposing missile defence because it made war more likely and wasted money better spent on other things, to spreading the message of the conference and doing their bit. Ivona Novomestská said the Czech Republic's active opposition to Missile Defence by 65% of the population was an example for other countries. They depended on us to let their media know of our unity and our belief in democracy. She had hope in their Mayors. Filip Ilkowski from Poland believed there was unity in the world. Poland was dissatisfied with the involvement of its troops in Afghanistan where they had killed civilians, and the militarisation of Poland. There was strong opposition to the bases of the foreign imperial powers. Poland wanted more independence and less involvement with the US. 60% were opposed to the base in Warsaw and would make it an election issue. Paul from Belgium described the Mayors for Peace in 122 countries giving a voice to the people. People were afraid of US offensive strategy, designs on their resources, climate change, the gap between rich and poor and military expenditure and wanted a perspective for change taking hope from Hiroshima and the 20-20 vision of No Nukes. |
Book review: |
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Conversion in early Christianity was an intense and prolonged process, Kreider notes that the catechumenate took upwards of three years to complete before one could even be admitted to the eucharist. The defining principle is summarised in one of the oft-cited biblical passages used in the catechism of new (would-be) believers, in this case as relayed by Origen: “For who of all believers does not know the words of Isaiah [and Micah]? ... And he [God] shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more” (P. 27). In short, in the Church's rigorous initiation process, it sought to teach initiates the necessity of following in the ethic of Jesus; hence the emphasis that to belong, one not only had to believe right, but also behave right (hence the reason that one could not be a member of the military and also a member of the Church). And then – gradually – Christendom happened. This emphasis on the countercultural ethic of Jesus and the Church's witness to it changed as, after Constantine, the Church entered into a position of power. |
In 1999, the late Robert E Webber wrote a book (Ancient-Future Faith) that sought to re-imagine contemporary faith in a creative dialogue with traditional, mainly patristic theology. The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom can, I think, serve a similar purpose. We are living in an age of declining church membership and the breaking down of the vestiges of Christendom. Unlike some, I believe this is a positive phenomenon. It is an opportunity to re-imagine a Christianity that again seeks believers to be resident aliens in this world, witnessing in real ways and local communities to the peace of Christ. And, as some no longer know of this Christianity of which we speak, this is an opportunity in dialogue with our resident alien ancestors, to reimagine what it means to be converted by renouncing the way of the sword (and the way of Christendom) and instead beating the swords into ploughshares. Alan Kreider, The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom, Wipf and Stock, (2007). 126pp. ISBN: 9781556353932. Richard Gillingham Richard Gillingham is a member of Radcliffe URC, Greater Manchester. He has studied Theology at Chester College and an MA in Religion, Politics and International Relations at the University of Wales, Lampeter. |
URCPF Committe notes |
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Dates for your Diary: |
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13-14 Oct: CND Annual Conference; London. 020 7700 2393, www.cnduk.org 21-28 Oct: One World Week All Together Now. One World Week, PO Box 2555 , Reading , RG1 4XW 0118 939 4933. 24 Oct: United Nations Day. 24-30 Oct: Disarmament Week 11 Nov: Remembrance Day. First Sunday after is Remembrance Sunday. Guest Speaker Karen Abi-Ezzi, who is co-director of the Peace Studies MA course at Bradford University. Her keynote speech will be about her work with the Inter-Cultural Leadership School in Bradford, but will also give input later in the day on the Middle-East situation; she visited Lebanon earlier this summer. |
29 Nov: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. 1 Dec: Prisoners for Peace Day. 2 Dec: International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. 10 Dec: Human Rights Day. Next Committee meeting 6th Dec. If you wish to raise any issue, please address your comment or question to Andrew Jack c/o the Church and Society office. |
Your contribution to the newsletter is needed! Letters, book reviews, devotional pieces, poems, reports, cartoons, all are welcome. Also please let us know of any peace actions, vigils, correspondence with MPs etc you have been involved in. Deadline for the next issue: |
Letters and other material for the newsletter can be sent to the editor (Tony Compton):
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United Reformed Church Peace Fellowship — part of Church and Society. |
Revd. Kate Compston Ms Gabrielle Cox Revd John Johansen-Berg Revd. Dr. Fred Kaan Revd. John Reardon Revd. Roberta Rominger |
Convenor and Secretary: Mr Andrew Jack Treasurer: Ms Wendy Cooper NCPO representative: Revd. Hazel Barkham Revd Sîan Collins Mrs Anne Lewitt Mrs Anne Parker Revd Diana Townsend |
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Opinions expressed in articles in this Newsletter do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the United Reformed Church or its constituent parts. |