We Call for Peace: Statements on Peace by Canadian Churches and Religious Organizations

Tasneem Jamal

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Working Paper 94-3

Table of Contents

Introduction The Canadian Council of Churches The Anglican Church of Canada The Catholic Church and organizations The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Mennonite conferences and organizations The Presbyterian Church in Canada The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) The United Church of Canada

Introduction

By Martin Rumscheidt, Project Ploughshares National Board member

There is no peace to keep,” said the blue-helmeted soldier. Such has been the experience of the United Nations in its nearly 40-year-long effort to find the way to peace. Was Mahatma Gandhi right when he declared that there is no way to peace but that peace is the way?

Churches throughout the world have

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Outer Space and Global Security

Tasneem Jamal

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A seminar convened by: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research; Simons Centre for Peace and Disarmament Studies; Project Ploughshares Canada; and The Simons Foundation

26-27 November 2002 — Room V — Palais des Nations, Geneva

Table of Contents Agenda

Militarization, Weaponization, and Space Sanctuary: Past Dialogues, Current Discourse, Important Distinctions Bruce DeBlois, United States Council on Foreign Relations

The Current and Future Military/Security Uses of Space Lt. Col. Peter Hays, USAF

The Current International Legal Regime Governing the Use of Outer Space Jonathan Dean, Union of Concerned Scientists

Space Security: Options and Approaches Rebecca Johnson, Simons Centre for Peace and Disarmament Studies

Remarks from the Geneva Meeting on Outer Space and Global Security James Clay

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United Church of Canada Seminar Presentation

Tasneem Jamal

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Author Moderator Mardi Tindal

I have been asked to summarize the approach of The United Church of Canada to ‘just peacemaking’—in 10 minutes. We must not take ourselves too seriously!

Our United Church approach is one of soul, community, and creation. We seek to be in right relationship with God and one another, to be ecumenical in the broadest sense of the word, and to make the wellbeing of the whole world our central concern, because we understand this to be God’s central concern. I will speak to these three aspects of our approach.

Our most often recited words of faith in the United Church begin with the declaration that “We are not alone. We live in God’s world.”

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Response to an Ecumenical Call to Just Peace

Tasneem Jamal

…and the justification of military intervention as Peacekeepers under the United Nations. Whether these are truly a new path forward or simply some more manifestations of just war, which is declared obsolete, is not yet a newly gained consensus within our church.3

A third response

I would be remiss in not also pointing to some causes of disquiet in the document. I will sketch these in a bit more detail.

The irony and addiction of Christendom

The vestiges of Christendom continue to permeate the logic of the document. The church today is not a territorial regime: it governs no geographical space; it has no emperor, king/queen, or Prime Minister; it has no parliament; it neither has nor controls any military…

Just Peacemaking: Canadian Church Perspectives and Contributions

Tasneem Jamal

…from Glen Stassen on the 10 practices of just peacemaking, a Catholic view on just peace excerpted from the concluding document of the Roman Catholic–Mennonite dialogue (2003), and the Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change (October 2011). Also included is a list of symposium participants and the agenda for the day.

Contributed Papers A Christian Reformed Perspective on Peace and War Canadian Quakers and “Just Peace” United Church of Canada Seminar Presentation No War, Just War, Just Peace: Statements by the Anglican Church of Canada 1934-2004 Roman Catholic perspectives on peace Creating Peace: Unitarian Universalist Perspectives A Contribution from The Presbyterian Church in Canada A Lutheran Response to Glory to God and Peace on Earth: The…

Humanitarian Intervention: A Review of Literature

Tasneem Jamal 0 Comments

…Practical/Political Arguments for and against Humanitarian Intervention Is there an Emerging Norm of Humanitarian Intervention?

Criteria for Unauthorised Humanitarian Intervention?

Points for Discussion Triggering Events/Situation Notice and Refusal to Comply Exhaustion of Peaceful Means to Resolve the Situation Recourse to the United Nations Unauthorised Humanitarian Intervention Conditions for the Conduct of Legitimate Intervention

Conclusion

Notes

References

Introduction

It is estimated that civilian casualties now constitute ninety per cent of the victims of armed conflict (Weiss 1999, p. 1). The civil wars which are raging in many parts of the globe are mainly the result of intra-state conflict and/or ethnic violence and are often characterised by the collapse of state institutions and the breakdown of law and order (UN…

Humanitarian Intervention: A Review of Literature

Tasneem Jamal

…Practical/Political Arguments for and against Humanitarian Intervention Is there an Emerging Norm of Humanitarian Intervention?

Criteria for Unauthorised Humanitarian Intervention?

Points for Discussion Triggering Events/Situation Notice and Refusal to Comply Exhaustion of Peaceful Means to Resolve the Situation Recourse to the United Nations Unauthorised Humanitarian Intervention Conditions for the Conduct of Legitimate Intervention

Conclusion

Notes

References

Introduction

It is estimated that civilian casualties now constitute ninety per cent of the victims of armed conflict (Weiss 1999, p. 1). The civil wars which are raging in many parts of the globe are mainly the result of intra-state conflict and/or ethnic violence and are often characterised by the collapse of state institutions and the breakdown of law and order (UN…

Assessing Economic Sanctions: Report on Project Ploughshares’ Forum on Economic Sanctions

Tasneem Jamal

…further measures against Iraq. Finally, there has been over the years a constant stream of statements by faith-based communities and coalitions expressing grave ethical concerns about UNSC sanctions. These have often been articulated in pamphlets and press releases like “Sanctions & Suffering: A Quaker Appeal for the People of Iraq,” and recent statements by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the National Council of Churches in the United States.

The impact of sanctions on the civilian population of Iraq has been immense, including the deaths of over a million persons over the past seven years, of which over a half million are children. This raises the serious question of their usefulness in the long run as a form of political coercion,…

Church Leaders United Against War in Iraq

Tasneem Jamal

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World Council of Churches press release.

Cf. WCC Press Release, PR-03-08 of 3 February 2003-02-05

Three U.S. church leaders have joined 22 church leaders in Europe and the Middle East in opposing war in Iraq and calling for a peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The meeting of church leaders in Berlin today (February 5) was convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in consultation with the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA) and the Middle East Council of Churches, hosted by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

The leaders deplored the fact that the United States and other nations “regard war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy” and

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An Unequivocal Landmark: The 2000 Review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty

Tasneem Jamal

…the Review part of that conference could not produce a consensus document, as occurred also in 1990 and 1980. In 1985, consensus was obtained only because delegates agreed to a document that said they were not agreed. Only in 1975 was there a genuine consensus. Thus, the Sixth Review in 2000 opened with a record of only one true consensus in the previous five conferences.

2. The Opening: The NPT ‘Paradox’

2.1 The outlook was apprehensive as 155 of the 187 states parties to the NPT* gathered in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations at 11:00 a.m. on April 24. The President, Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the 45-year-old Permanent Representative of Algeria to the U.N. who was suddenly pressed…