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Friends United Meeting |
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December 2000
A Knocking at Our Door
By Bridget Moix
"...So I humbly suggest that today's meeting is also an opportunity for religious, spiritual and political leaders, as well as their followers, to look within, and to consider what they can do to promote justice, equality, reconciliation and peace..."
Sitting in the balcony of the great hall, I let the words of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan roll over me as my eyes scanned the floor below. Although I'd only recently begun work with the Quaker UN Office and become a regular visitor to the United Nations, I'd never seen the hall of the General Assembly so filled with color and spirit. Flowing robes, twisted turbans, and shaved heads dotted the room. Today's conference--the first ever gathering of world religious leaders at the UN--had opened with the pounding of African drums, a penetrating percussion that still vibrated silently in the air. Women dressed in matching pink, orange, yellow, and white scarves danced spinning across the floor, letting the Light speak through flowing arms, shaking hips, and stomping feet.
Introducing the event, Bawa Jain, the conference convener, evoked the image of the Prince of Peace knocking on the door of the UN, requesting entry and engagement with the world's leaders. As Kofi Annan opened the meeting in familiar Friends fashion, with a moment of silence, I could almost hear a quiet tapping, a call waiting to be answered.
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders,
held at the UN from August 28-31, brought together over 1,000 religious
leaders from around the world to discuss how faith traditions and their
institutions could contribute to building peace and resolving global conflicts.
Speakers represented all five of the world's major faiths (Christianity,
Islam, Judaism, Hindu, and Buddhism), along with a sprinkling of smaller
sects like the Jains, the Shinto, the Yoruba, and various indigenous religions
unknown to me. The agenda included plenary sessions on Interfaith Dialogue,
Conflict Transformation and Nonviolence, Poverty and Environmental Degradation,
and Forgiveness and Reconciliation, as well as smaller workshops on specific
regions of conflict.
In many ways, it was an inspiring and historic event. The Summit called on people of faith to take up the "fundamental responsibility" of all religious communities to work with the United Nations, individual governments, and local communities to resolve conflicts nonviolently. Many of those present signed the Commitment to Global Peace, acknowledging their "special responsibility for the well-being of the human family and peace on earth" committing themselves to "collaborate with the United Nations and all men and women of goodwill locally, regionally and globally in the pursuit of peace in all its dimensions;" and pledging "to work together to promote the inner and outer conditions that foster peace and the nonviolent management and resolution of conflict." (For the full statement, see www.millenniumpeacesummit.org.) Considering how often religion has been used to fuel conflict in past and present wars, these are certainly impressive and encouraging commitments.
Yet, the Summit was also strangely lacking in some ways. The most controversial absence was that of the Dalai Lama, a Nobel laureate and one of the most respected voices for peace in the global religious community. The Tibetan Buddhist leader was not invited to the UN portion of the Summit because of pressure from China, and fears of offending the veto-wielding member of the Security Council. The press picked up on the political conflict within the conference, and in a speech to the gathering, Nobel laureate Betty Williams announced that the Dalai Lama was still "conspicuous in his absence."
Many also criticized the Summit for a lack of organized action, either within the workings of the conference itself or in the prospects for follow-up. Delegates did affirm the Commitment to Global Peace, and there was discussion of creating action agendas to bring back to local faith communities. The conveners even raised the possibility of establishing an interfaith advisory body for the UN to offer guidance on issues of global peace and conflict. But, at the end of the four-day gathering, it was difficult to identify concrete peacemaking initiatives that religious leaders or their followers would pursue once they dispersed.
Where Were Friends?
For me, however, the conference's most notable absence was not that of
any particular world-renowned spiritual leader or even a well-thought-out
plan of action. Rather, it was the dearth of those quiet, often invisible
ministers who have worked diligently for years to live out God's love
and contribute to a more peaceful and just global society. Scanning the
crowd during that opening session, I naturally found myself looking for
familiar names and faces, a small contingent of gray-haired, simply-dressed
folk sitting quietly toward the back perhaps. Yet, Friends seemed noticeably
out of sight, as did the other historic peace churches. I did notice a
few colleagues from the Mennonite UN Office in the balcony with me, sitting
in as observers, but, there appeared to be no significant delegate participation
from Quaker, Mennonite, or Brethren churches.
Where were Friends? Were we just too few, too insignificant in the larger scheme of things, to be invited to what appeared in many ways to be a high-level, prestigious gathering? Had the organizers of the Summit been unable to identify whom to invite from such a decentralized worldwide body? Or, had Friends chosen not to participate for some reason--the showiness of the event, the sense of grandiose words overwhelming practical actions, or an unidentifiable wisdom I was overlooking? I sat, listening to the speeches--the sermons--on peacemaking, one after the next, perplexed.
A Call to Friends
I believe firmly that Friends have a vital role to play in helping resolve
the world's conflicts peacefully, preventing the outbreak of future violence,
and transforming human relations toward a culture of peace. This is not
new thinking. The Peace Testimony has been leading Friends to engage in
active witness and reconciliation efforts for over three centuries. George
Fox and his early followers withstood persecution for their refusal to
bear arms. John Woolman pushed the Society to renounce slavery and work
toward its abolishment. Friends were some of the first to protest the
payment of war taxes and among the lone voices calling for peace during
WWI. In WWII, Quakers underwent voluntary experiments and served in civilian
workcamps rather than fight, and Friends actively protested the wars in
Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and most recently the former Yugoslavia.
For more than three centuries, the Peace Testimony has remained at the core of our witness to the presence of God's love in every human heart. Our convictions to not only refuse participation in war, but also to "take away the occasion of war," have remained steadfast, while their practical expression has evolved with the times, responding to and impacting upon world events, national politics, and social culture.
Today, our testimony to peace still guides the organized work of Friends in the world--from the Quaker UN Offices in New York and Geneva, to FCNL on Capitol Hill, to the community-based work of the American Friends Service Committee, to the witness of New Call to Peacemaking, and in newer initiatives like the Alternatives to Violence project, Help Increase the Peace, and Friends Peace Teams. Indeed, one could argue that the Religious Society of Friends has been dedicated to the callings embodied in the Millennium Peace Summit's Commitment to Global Peace since the Declaration of 1660. At the same time, however, perhaps it is time for us, as Friends, to reexamine and reinvigorate our Peace Testimony, both as a religious tenet and as an active expression of our beliefs.
That day at the Summit, as I sat listening to people of faith from around the world call on each other to serve the "transcendent spirituality of the human experience" and become active peacemakers in the world, I heard a small, still voice raising questions in my mind: How are Friends called to live out the Peace Testimony today? Are we engaged actively and supportively with other religious communities in seeking a more peaceful and just society for all? Do Quaker institutions--not just the large organizations, but our local churches and meetings, our schools and colleges, our homes themselves--truly nurture peace and reconciliation in our own communities and the wider world? How do we handle our own conflicts? And in the coming years, can we bridge our own divisions to grow a new generation of spirit-filled leaders, working together to build a world based on equity, justice, nonviolence, and stewardship of the earth?
Today's world of shifting geo-political relations, ethnic and intrastate violence, and socio-economic globalization beckons ever louder for Quaker involvement in local, national, and international affairs. We are summoned now, perhaps more than ever, to follow Christ's example and witness as peacemakers in a troubled world.
At the UN this past fall, the Prince of Peace came knocking on the world's door. As people of faith, as Friends, we are called to answer. Let us ask ourselves, in this season of Light--"How will we respond?"
Copyright (c) 2000 Friends United Meeting
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