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The Rev. Dr.
Michael Kinnamon, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
clergyman and a long-time educator and ecumenical leader, is the
ninth General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of
Christ in the USA. The NCC is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These 35 communions have 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.
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The enemy of peace
September 22, 2008 Provocative, belligerent rhetoric is the enemy of peace! Therefore, those who claim to be peacemakers must know when to say No! to rhetoric that threatens the neighbor. Now is such a time.
Such rhetoric has another consequence: It makes it difficult to trust other things that the person says. If President Ahmadinejad has so little regard for the verifiable facts of history and the legitimacy of a state created by UN decision, it is hard to believe he means it when he insists that Iran’s nuclear program is only intended for peaceful purposes. And as he continues that program in defiance of Security Council resolutions, he also shows his contempt for the community of nations. The National Council of Churches has, throughout its history, been actively committed to dialogue, even with enemies. But dialogue cannot be built on the basis of truly reprehensible public positions. Those who would be peacemakers must know when to say No! to rhetoric that threatens the neighbor. And now is such a time.
General Secretary National Council of Churches |
President
Ahmadinejad’s hateful language, denying the Holocaust and apparently
calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” must be persistently
and forcefully denounced by all who value peace. The Rev. John
Thomas, General Minister and President of the United Church of
Christ and a leader in the National Council of Churches, has put it
this way: “Revisionist history of genocide must never be accorded
credibility among civilized people of any faith tradition. Anti-semitic
efforts to rewrite evil events—not new in history or unknown even in
the United States—endanger the Jewish people, disgrace faith
communities who perpetuate them or choose to remain silent in their
presence, and degrade the value of human life everywhere.” Indeed,
we must not be silent when others use their voices to incite
violence. 