Oikotree

Ecumenical conference calls for grassroots involvement

January 11, 2009 has been set as a Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Victims of human trafficking worldwide are defined as those who are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. An ecumenical conference at the end of September 2008 highlighted specific programs to counter this abuse that can be used locally, preferrably by ecumenical groupings. Conference participants included Presbyterians Una Stevenson, Betty Jones, Ann Hayman, Martha Bettis Gee, and Jon Chapman.

Ecumenical resources are available:

* National Council of Churches (NCC) links to resources online

* Church Women United's (CWU) resource list and 2008 work plan online (Presbyterians Virginia Hadsell and Una Stevenson are among authors of articles in the CWU list.)

* An article on sexual exploitation written by Una Stevenson in Horizons, the magazine for PC(USA) women (May-June 2008 issue)
* The NCC governing board's 2008 resolution on human trafficking

* A World Council of Churches (WCC) memorandum adopted several years ago

* Articles on human trafficking in the May 2007 issue of Contact, a WCC magazine

Trafficking connected to tourism

One action and advocacy group, ECPAT-USA (or End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), is an outgrowth of an Asian ecumenical effort to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism. The ECPAT-USA board of directors includes Presbyterian Perry Wooten (pictured).

Slavery is abolished but not destroyed

An ecumenically diverse constituency in the U.S. has been drawn to the issue of present-day slavery, including not only the National Council of Churches (NCC) but also the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

Internationally, a December 2007 group organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), and the Council for World Mission (CWM) issued a statement with recommendations about both modern forms of slavery and the continued legacy of the former transatlantic trade. Their extensive recommendations include the offering of reparations "for the healing of peoples that were once enslaved," the establishment of a process to "examine the tools of empire and how these tools are used," education and dialogue -- involving all age groups and various religious communities. Read the entire statement. See a preparatory concept paper, including a useful list of questions.

At the end of July 2008, Jim Wallis's blog site on Beliefnet highlighted the passage of a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives that apologizes to African Americans for "wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow" and -- without further specification -- commits to "rectify the lingering consequences." The web site (July 31 entry) quickly collected responses.

Episcopal Church apologizes for involvement in slavery

Hundreds of Episcopalians gathered at the beginning of October in Philadelphia to make public apology for their church's involvement in the institution of the transatlantic slave trade. "We are saying that we have marginalized and oppressed others, and have not regarded every one as God's equal creation but we're not going to be that way anymore," said the church's program officer for anti-racism. The Episcopal Church understands itself to have joined other denominations and the Church of England by acknowledging complicity.

Reformed World publishes issue on slavery

The March 2008 issue of Reformed World, a publication of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, is focused on "Do not submit again to the yoke of slavery." Its guest editor is PC(USA) ecumenical officer and associate stated clerk Robina Winbush. The entire issue can be read online or downloaded.

Click to return to ecumenical organizational links.

Ecumenical leaders call attention to economically most vulnerable

As the U.S. election campaign comes to its final phase and the economic crisis extends, heads of a number of National Council of Churches member communions have joined with the council's leaders to send a letter to the two major U.S. presidential candidates. They say, “Today it is not enough simply to address the misdeeds of those who bear significant responsibility for this crisis, or to respond to the problems and anxieties of the middle class, as important as they may be. Our Christian faith calls us to give particular attention to our most vulnerable neighbors, to children, and to people living in extreme poverty.“ PC(USA) stated clerk Gradye Parsons is one of the signers.

In the face of the global credit crisis, from Geneva the director of ACT International (Action by Churches Together) also focused attention on the poor "because those who fund them are hit by the breakdown." He said that governments were pumping moneys into their banks and financial institutions but making their first cuts on aid.

Feminist theologians address empire, ecology, economy

A small consultation organized by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) in August issued a statement, “Exploring the Reality and Theological Challenges of Ecology, Economy and Empire from Feminist Perspectives,” that offered several recommendations. U.S. Presbyterians Rebecca Todd Peters (pictured left) and Margaret Aymer Oget (pictured right) attended the meeting in Bangalore, India together with American Susan Davies, of the United Church of Christ.

An international electronic network on ethics established within the ecumenical movement, globethics.net, seeks to make ethics resources accessible to people and institutions who normally have problems with the expense of books or conference attendance. It is also intended to enable networking and common research among participants, who can build electronic working groups. The secretariat that facilitates the network is concentrating on three research areas: economic ethics, interreligious ethics, and responsible leadership. Presbyterian Heidi Hadsell represents North America on the network's board.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches' (WARC) Covenanting for Justice Network equips churches to reflect theologically and act for global economic justice. Gretel Van Wieren (pictured), a Reformed Church in America minister, is its consultant in North America.

See also the resolution on just globalization approved by the 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The effects of North American financial activity, as these are felt in Latin America, were highlighted in a statement made by the Alliance of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of Latin Americ (AIPRAL) in November 2008. The AIPRAL leaders noted that WARC's Accra Confession

points to an economic order that demands "an unending chain of sacrifices on the part of the poor and creation. It promises the fallacy of saving the world by means of creating wealth and prosperity, attributing to itself sovereignty over life and demanding loyalty equivalent to idolatry.”

As one in a series of regional consultations being carried out by the WCC's AGAPE project (Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and Earth), a consultation on "Poverty, wealth, and ecological debt" brought together Latin American and Caribbean perspectives on October 6-10, 2008 in San Cristóbal, Guatemala. See its final declaration. See also the participants' message from an earlier Africa consultation of November 2007. Both documents speak to concern about relationships with North America. A consultation in North America itself will occur before the end of 2009. Read a background paper to the study process.

Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, issued a statement on the global food crisis for World Food Day on October 16. In it, he says, "On the whole, the global food crisis stems from and reflects a failure to uphold justice and sustainability within an economic system that is driven by the values of greed and materialism." He issues calls to institutions and government and to WCC member churches.

A social encyclical from Pope Benedict XVI now under development is expected to consider love, as practiced in solidarity with the whole human family, to be a litmus test for Christian faith. The encyclical will outline principles needed to confront poverty, terrorism, globalization, the environment. Even before becoming pope, Benedict showed concern about economic issues. He has forcefully encouraged countries to implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Faith-based organizations must not relent on their responsibility to agitate for multilateral solutions that ensure fair and just lending and borrowing practices globally, said Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recently at a symposium mounted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) together with the Church of Sweden and the Norwegian foreign ministry. Participants heard that people in the poorest countries are being forced into poverty to repay loans made by wealthy western countries to dictators; "the lives of successive generations of children can be mortgaged to the greed of a dictator." One roundtable discussant was Neil Watkins, national coordinator of Jubilee USA.

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) reaffirmed its policy priorities -- including the environment, human rights, and poverty -- when it rebuffed leaders of the Christian right who called it to silence its involvement that could shift emphasis away from the "great moral issues" of our time. Among environmental statements evangelicals have signed are:

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Ecumenical & Interfaith Network - PCUSA