30-May-14: Terrorism raises serious issues that ought to be on the World Council of Churches' agenda but evidently are not

Click for last Friday's post

A week ago, we posted an item that we want to draw now to the attention of people who might not have seen it, or have read it. 

Not for the first time, we are trying to achieve something we feel is constructive, something firmly against terror and those who practice it and encourage it. And we need help from you. The background is at this link: 23-May-14: On the dignity of murderers and their victims: An appeal to Christian friends. 

What we seek is to draw the leadership of the World Council of Churches into an overdue, serious and issues-based discussion. They have ignored our communications with them until now, apart from two relatively perfunctory emails we received from their head of communications (!) It may be that this is something they strongly prefer not to do. But the call by their chief executive a month ago (we described it here: "17-Apr-14: Christian solidarity with unrepentant murderers: where's the outrage?") raises ethical, moral and (yes) religious questions of a serious nature that ought to affect thoughtful Christians no less than other thoughtful people. It's disappointing to see how that discussion is being evaded. 

All support and help is welcome. We are especially hoping to attract the participation and backing of people who worship in the churches affiliated with the WCC. Those worshipers are said to number about half a billion. The names of all the member churches are listed at the bottom of that same blog post, here.

If the president of any other nation state, seeking to take its place
among the members of the international community, were to triumphantly
raise the arms of confessed, unrepentant killers of innocent civilians
as Mahmoud Abbas is doing in this August 14, 2013 UPI photo,
and declared them to be role models for his people's children,
would that raise any ethical and religious issues worth considering? 

    
We view the WCC, for all its problematic position taking, as a serious, respectable and professionally-run organization that speaks in the name of a large part of the world's Christians. As concerned and troubled as we are by public pronouncements that seem to misunderstand terrorism, we are simply an ordinary couple with  no relevant public position. In that sense, we understand the reluctance of the Geneva-base management to trouble themselves. 

But as the parents of a child murdered by ideologically-driven Palestinian Arabs, and as individuals who take an active role in the global community of victims of terror, we feel there is a learning moment here - not just for Israelis, not only for bereaved parents, not merely for people with political axes to grind - for people with mutual understanding, justice, dignity, tolerance and co-existence on their minds.

If you are willing to help us with this, or know people who might, you are invited to make make contact. If the link is not working, the email address here is thisongoingwar@gmail.com