Peace with Justice

165 The World Community

God’s world is one world. The unity now being thrust upon us by technological revolution has far outrun our moral and spiritual capacity to achieve a stable world. The enforced unity of humanity, increasingly evident on all levels of life, presents the Church as well as all people with problems that will not wait for answer: injustice, war, exploitation, privilege, population, international ecological crisis, proliferation of arsenals of nuclear weapons, development of transnational business organizations that operate beyond the effective control of any governmental structure, and the increase of tyranny in all its forms. This generation must find viable answers to these and related questions if humanity is to continue on this earth. We commit ourselves as a Church to the achievement of a world community that is a fellowship of persons who honestly love one another. We pledge ourselves to seek the meaning of the gospel in all issues that divide people and threaten the growth of world community.

Click here for all of ¶165.

C. War and Peace

We believe war is incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. We therefore reject war as an instrument of national foreign policy. We oppose unilateral first/preemptive strike actions and strategies on the part of any government. As disciples of Christ, we are called to love our enemies, seek justice, and serve as reconcilers of conflict. We insist that the first moral duty of all nations is to work together to resolve by peaceful means every dispute that arises between or among them. We advocate the extension and strengthening of international treaties and institutions that provide a framework within the rule of law for responding to aggression, terrorism, and genocide. We believe that human values must outweigh military claims as governments determine their priorities; that the militarization of society must be challenged and stopped; that the manufacture, sale, and deployment of armaments must be reduced and controlled; and that the production, possession, or use of nuclear weapons be condemned. Consequently, we endorse general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.

In Search of Security
This 32-page study guide invites United Methodists to thoughtfully consider and prayerfully understand security in a post-Sept. 11 world. The document is not an official document of the Council but is approved by the Council for use by local congregations to stimulate conversation and reflection. It sets a foundation to deepen our Christian conversation about what security means within our faith and asks United Methodists to consider how inadequate fear-based ethics are in personal and political decision-making and to wrestle with the myth of human invulnerability.

Mideast Peace Advocacy Resource: Working for a Just and Lasting Peace for Israelis and Palestinians
This advocacy packet was created in response to 2004 General Conference Resolution #312 that states:
"The General Board of Global Ministries, working together with the General Board of Church & Society and interfaith organizations, develop advocacy
packets for use in local congregations to promote a just and lasting peace and human rights for all in the region."

Ecumenical Forum for Korea

The Urgent Statement for Peace on the Korean Peninsula
(Ecumenical Forum for Korea, 6/1/2010)

PROK Position on the current crisis of the Korean peninsula
(Ecumenical Forum for Korea, 5/31/2010)

PROK's Comments on the Cheonan, South Korean Navy ship
(Ecumenical Forum for Korea, 5/27/2010)

50 Years is Enough Network
50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice is a coalition of more than 200 U.S. grassroots, women's, solidarity, faith-based, policy, social and economic justice, youth, labor and development organizations dedicated to the profound transformation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Africa Action
Africa Action is the oldest organization in the U.S. working on African affairs. Its mission is to change U.S. Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in Africa. The organization provides accessible information and analysis and mobilizes popular support for campaigns to achieve this mission.

Africa Renewal
The Africa Renewal information program, produced by the Africa Section of the United Nations Department of Public Information, provides up-to-date information and analysis of the major economic and development challenges facing Africa today. Among the major items it produces is the renowned magazine, Africa Renewal (formerly Africa Recovery).

African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation
The Africa Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) was set up in 2003 to ensure that voices of African civil society are represented and heard at international and regional policy forums and in the increasingly political water debates. ANEW aims to promote dialogue, learning and cooperation on water issues in the region.

African Forum and Network on Debt and Development
The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development, is a civil society organization born of a desire to secure lasting solutions to Africa's mounting debt problem that has impacted negatively on the continent's development process.

All Africa Council of Churches
The All Africa Conference of Churches is a fellowship of Christian churches in Africa that confess Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures. This fellowship accounts for over 120 million Christians across the continent. AACC is the largest association of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and indigenous churches in Africa and is a member of the worldwide ecumenical network.

All Africa News
AllAfrica Global Media is a multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. Registered in Mauritius, with offices in Johannesburg, South Africa; Dakar, Senegal; Lagos, Nigeria; and Washington, D.C., AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users.

Amnesty International Reports on Killings in the Philippines
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. Amnesty's vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.

Arms Control Association
The Arms Control Association is a national non-partisan membership organization dedicated to promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies.

Bread for the World
Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian movement that seeks justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers.

Caribbean Council of Churches
The CCC has been serving the people of the region for three decades through its various programmatic initiatives and other mechanisms, striving to be faithful to its mandate "Promoting Ecumenism and Social Change in Obedience to Jesus Christ and in Solidarity with the Poor." Indeed, in so doing it has had many accomplishments in the social, economic and theological spheres. Throughout its existence, the CCC has also been able to establish sound collaborative relationships with other ecumenical and developmental organizations on a territorial, regional and international level.

Christian Aid
Christian Aid works in 50 countries, helping people regardless of religion or race to improve their own lives and tackle the causes of poverty and injustice.

Christian Peacemaker's Team in Colombia
Christian Peacemaker Teams arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war. Enlisting the whole church in an organized, nonviolent alternative to war, today CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers.

Church World Service
Founded in 1946, Church World Service is the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States. Working in partnership with indigenous organizations in more than 80 countries, CWS works worldwide to meet human needs and foster self-reliance for all whose way is hard. This Web site contains curriculum on various social justice issues.

The Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy
The Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy is a national, ecumenical research center, drawing upon the theological resources of the churches and other sources of expertise. Its goal is to discern and study the relationship between Christian faith and critical issues of public policy, and to enable the churches to contribute more fruitfully to public dialogue and action. The center has partnered with the Islamic Society of North America on the "Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapon Danger."

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
The coaltion works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilisation and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Colombia Human Rights Committee
The Colombia Human Rights Network formed in October 1990 as a way of pooling the efforts of several volunteer organizations working for peace and justice in Colombia in several cities in the United States. The Network's activities are directed at defending and promoting human rights in Colombia through coalition building between organizations in the United States and in Colombia. Since its inception, the Network has sponsored visits by numerous grassroots community activists and human rights workers from various regions of Colombia.

Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean
CIEMAL binds together Methodist churches of 19 nations of Latin American and the Caribbean (with two united churches) in vital relationships of mutual support, mission and service. CIEMAL has named three priorities for mission and ministry, inviting colleague churches and friends from abroad to join through sharing their gifts and prayers: new church development and evangelism; women, children and youth; and comprehensive community based health care (including AIDS and Environmental Issues).

Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an influential and independent, nonpartisan foreign policy membership organization founded in 1921. Through its membership, meetings, and studies, it has been called the most powerful agent of foreign policy outside the State Department. It publishes the respected bi-monthly journal Foreign Affairs.

Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security, commonly known in the US as Homeland Security, is a Cabinet department of the federal government of the United States with the responsibility of protecting the territory of the United States from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters.

Economic Justice Network of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa
The Economic Justice Network is the implementing agency of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa. The network represents the interests of 133,000,000 people on the poorest continent.

Enough: The Project to Abolish Genocide and Mass Atrocities
Enough is a non-profit bringing people together through a comprehensive approach to ending incidents of genocide and mass atrocities in Darfur, Eastern Congo, and Northern Uganda.

Faithful Security
The goal of faithful security is to work toward the permanent elimination of nuclear weapons by empowering religious communities to take action at the local level. The General Board of Church and Society is a member.

FIAN International
FIAN International is a human rights organization that works to enable people to feed themselves with members in all parts of the world. There is enough food for everyone, now and in the future. FIAN International defends the right of ordinary people to feed themselves in dignity.

Food First
The purpose of the Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.

For the Peace of the World: A Christian Curriculum on International Relations
The National Council of Churches has available a six-session study guide on foreign policy from a Christian perspective. This 87-page book examines the issue with in-depth essays and Bible studies. The book also contains prayers, litanies and other worship resources for us in congregational settings. The book is available for $7.95 plus shipping and handling ($4.50). 

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Nuclear Web page
FCNL is a Quaker lobby active on disarmament issues.

Friends of the Congo
The FOTC was established at the behest of Congolese human rights and grassroots institutions in 2004, to work together to bring about peaceful and lasting change in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire.

Global Campaign for Education
The Global Campaign for Education promotes education as a basic human right, and mobilizes public pressure on governments and the international community to fulfill their promises to provide free, compulsory public basic education for all people; in particular for children, women and all disadvantaged, deprived sections of society.

Global Trade Campaign
The global campaign, Trade for People - Not People for Trade, works to build a movement of people within the churches and church-related organizations to promote trade justice. The campaign does this by calling for recognition of the priority of human rights agreements over trade agreements.

Human Rights Watch Americas
Human Rights Watch is the largest human rights organization based in the United States. Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world. Human Rights Watch then publishes those findings in dozens of books and reports every year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. Human Rights Watch then meets with government officials to urge changes in policy and practice - at the United Nations, the European Union, in Washington, D.C., and in capitals around the world. In extreme circumstances, Human Rights Watch presses for the withdrawal of military and economic support from governments that egregiously violate the rights of their people. In moments of crisis, Human Rights Watch provides up-to-the-minute information about conflicts while they are underway.

International Atomic Energy Agency
The IAEA is the world's center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world';s "Atoms for Peace" organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The agency works with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies. The three main pillars - or areas of work - that underpin the IAEA's mission include Safety and Security; Science and Technology; and Safeguards and Verification.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is an international nongovernmental organization committed to an international ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and sale, transfer, or export of antipersonnel landmines. In its work, it has called for the universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty; compliance with the treaty provisions; increased and sustained resource commitments (e.g., government, international financial institutions, etc.) for mine clearance, mine risk education and victim assistance, and for stockpile destruction; firm establishment of the norm, as an international standard of behavior by all. It also calls for universal membership and implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty which offers the best framework for putting the ban into practice and assisting affected communities.

International Crisis Group
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, with roughly 130 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

Jubilee South
Jubilee South is a network of debt campaigns, social movements, people's organizations, communities, nongovernmental organizations and political formations. The Jubilee South network aims to develop and strengthen a global South movement on the debt. The network has members from over 40 countries from the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia/Pacific, representing 85 anti-debt groups.

Jubilee USA Network
Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 80 religious denominations and faith communities, human rights, environmental, labor, and community groups working for the definitive cancellation of crushing debts to fight poverty and injustice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights)
KARAPATAN is the "major human rights alliance in the Philippines. It is made up of human-rights institutions and the human rights desks of people's organizations, and the regional and provincial human rights formations all over the Philippines." The National Council of Churches in the Philippines, which includes the United Methodist Church, is actively involved in the defense of human rights and cooperates with KARAPATAN.

Latin America Council of Churches
This Spanish language Web site of the Latin American Council of Churches is an organization of churches and Christian movements founded in Huampani, Lima in November 1982, created to promote unity among Christians throughout all of Latin America.

Latin America Working Group
The Latin America Working Group is one of the nation's longest standing coalitions dedicated to foreign policy. The Latin America Working Group and its sister organization, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, carry out the coalition's mission to encourage U.S. policies towards Latin America that promote human rights, justice, peace and sustainable development. As a coalition, LAWG represents the interests of over 60 major religious, humanitarian, grassroots and policy organizations to decision makers in Washington, D.C. LAWG is a trusted voice in Congress, and provides reliable guidance to policymakers who want their decisions to be grounded in human rights.

Mexico Solidarity Network
The Mexico Solidarity Network is dedicated to the struggle for democracy, economic justice and human rights on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The network believes that civil society must play the leading role in development of these values. Our program develops grassroots consciousness and organizing skills, increases links between Mexican and U.S.-based civil society, increases educational opportunities so that people on both sides of the border can better understand common problems and can develop effective strategies, and increases opportunities for strategic, effective activism that will impact bi-national policies.

National Council of Churches in the Philippines
The National Council of Churches in the Philippines, is the embodiment of more than six decades of the aspirations of non-Roman Catholic churches for unity and common Christian witness. Our faith and vision move us to be deeply involved in the struggle of the people, a channel of united witness and common action, and to be in solidarity with those who dream and work for a better life.

Nicaragua Network
For almost 25 years, the Nicaragua Network has provided information and organizing tools to solidarity and peace and justice committees across the country working in support of sound U.S. policies toward Nicaragua.

North American Congress on Latin America
NACLA provides policy makers, analysts, academics, organizers, journalists and religious and community groups with information on major trends in Latin America and its relations with the United States.

Nuclear Threat Initiative
Founded by former Sen. Sam Nunn in 2001, the Nuclear Threat Initiative aims to strengthen global security by decreasing the risk of the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons.

ONE Campaign
The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans - one by one - to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is students and ministers, punk rockers and NASCAR moms, Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life, united to help make poverty history. The General Board of Church and Society is a member of the ONE Campaign.

Oxfam International
Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations working together with more than 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice. With many of the causes of poverty global in nature, the 13 affiliate members of Oxfam International think they can achieve greater impact through their collective efforts.

Pambazuka News
Pambazuka News is a tool for progressive social change in Africa. Pambazuka News offers a comprehensive weekly round-up of news on human rights, conflict, health, environment, social welfare, development, the internet, literature and arts in Africa. Pambazuka means arise or awaken in Kiswahili.

PEPFAR Watch
PEPFAR Watch is a new Web resource intended to inform and spur action on U.S. global HIV/AIDS policies and related issues in which U.S. policy and funding is of concern, including reproductive and sexual health, access to treatment, and health care systems. PEPFAR Watch is a joint effort of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) and Health GAP (Global Access Project) with the aim of promoting accountability of U.S. global AIDS policies to health and human rights.

The Philippine Working Group
The Philippine Working Group is an ecumenical platform organized to respond to requests by the ecumenical community in the Philippines to accompany and be in solidarity with them in dealing with the escalating human rights violations, especially the disturbing rise in extrajudicial and summary executions in the Philippines.

Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility is a non-profit advocacy organization that is the medical and public health voice for policies to stop nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.

Rights Action
Rights Action funds community-controlled development, environmental, human rights and emergency-relief projects in Guatemala, Chiapas (Mexico), Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti. We do education and activism work with North Americans and help form north-south alliances to address and remedy global exploitation, repression, enviro-destruction and racism.

Save Darfur Coalition
The Save Darfur Coalition's mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of two million people in the Darfur region.

Sojourners
The organization's mission is to articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world.

Stand Up Congress
Stand Up Congress is a "one-stop-shop" for Americans seeking information and tools to move Congress to take a stand to end the war in Iraq and prevent an escalation of war into Iran. The Web site is organized by the Win Without War coalition and allied groups, and their mission is sort through the political labyrinth on Capitol Hill and provide information to make a difference and move Congress to bring U.S. troops back from Iraq.

Stop Cluster Bombs
Stop Killing civilians, start banning cluster bombs.

Strategic Peacemaking
A new website that pulls together practical knowledge on (1) the many ways of peacemaking and (2) methods for achieving demilitarization and disarmament.

Sudan Divestment Task Force
As the coordinating entity for the Sudan divestment movement, the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Genocide Intervention Network, is actively involved in dozens of successful and developing targeted Sudan divestment campaigns around the world at the university, asset manager, city, state, and national levels.

Third World Network Africa
TWN Africa is a non-governmental organization that carries out research and advocacy on issues of social and economic policy that advances the needs and interests of peoples of African and other third world countries (especially marginalized social groups), a fair distribution of world's resources, and forms of development that are sustainable and fulfill human needs.

TransAfrica Forum
TransAfrica Forum serves as a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African-American community offering constructive analyses of issues concerning U.S. policy as it affects Africa and the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The U.S. Interfaith Trade Justice Campaign
The U.S. Interfaith Trade Justice Campaign, in partnership with religious institutions, mobilizes and facilitates an active engagement of faith communities in educational activities, policy advocacy and Fair Trade efforts, so that global trade and investment policies promote economic and social justice, human development and ecological sustainability.

U.S. Office on Colombia
USOC seeks to promote peace, democracy, and human rights and international humanitarian law in Colombia by providing detailed, informed analysis to assist in the development of alternative policy solutions. To this end it maintains relations with the U.S. administration, Congress, Colombian authorities and EU governments and encourages each to examine these questions from new perspectives. Through advocacy and education with the media and public it aims to broaden knowledge, understanding and debate of such key issues. In particular it seeks to support initiatives from Colombian civil society, whose voice is so often marginalized in a society polarized by conflict.

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
The Economic Commission for Africa was established by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in 1958. ECA's mandate is to promote the economic and social development of its member states, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development.

United Nation's Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean
ECLAC, which is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. It was founded for the purposes of contributing to the economic development of Latin America, coordinating actions directed towards this end, and reinforcing economic relationships among the countries and with the other nations of the world. The promotion of the region's social development was later included among its primary objectives.

Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Extrajudicial Killings

United for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to protest the immoral and disastrous Iraq war and oppose our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building.

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
UMCOR is the humanitarian relief and development agency of the United Methodist Church. For 65 years UMCOR has responded internationally to natural or human made disasters - those interruptions of such magnitude that they overwhelm a community's ability to recover on its own.

The United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues.

United Nations Millennium Campaign
The Millennium Campaign informs, inspires and encourages people's involvement and action for the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. An initiative of the United Nations, the campaign supports citizens' efforts to hold their government accountable to the millennium promise.

US Department of State, Office of Counterterrorism
The United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet foreign affairs agency of the United States government, equivalent to foreign ministries in other countries. It is administered by the secretary of state. The primary mission of the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism is to forge partnerships with non-state actors, multilateral organizations, and foreign governments to advance the counterterrorism objectives and national security of the United States.

Voices on the Border
Voices on the Border promotes sustainable and equitable human development in El Salvador through long-term community based partnerships, grassroots organizing and accompaniment.

Washington Office on Latin America
One of WOLA's most important roles is to function as a key resource and interlocutor for Latin American non-governmental organizations working for human rights and social justice. WOLA also plays an important role in fostering dialogue, debate, and policy-consensus among U.S. and Latin American NGO's with diverse perspectives that share the same goals. WOLA plays a leadership role in several advocacy coalitions and regularly organizes workshops, conferences, roundtables, and briefings designed to stimulate policy debate.

World Council of Churches - Churches' Commission on International Affairs
The Churches Commission on International Affairs (CCIA) comprises thirty people nominated by churches and regional ecumenical organizations to advise the WCC in international affairs. The staff of the WCC International Affairs, Peace and Human Security team - experienced professionals from around the world – engage with and support churches and ecumenical bodies on these urgent priorities: peace-making and peaceful resolution of conflicts; militarism, disarmament and arms control; human security and the root causes of terrorism; human rights, religious liberty and intolerance; impunity, justice and reconciliation; and international law and global governance.

Win Without War
Win Without War is a coalition of national organizations representing broad constituencies that aim to Keep America Safe by advocating that international cooperation and enforceable international law provide the greatest security for the United States and the world. The coalition offers a mainstream, patriotic voice for engaging opinion makers, activating concerned citizens, and communicating effectively to the media. The General Board of Church and Society is a member of Win Without War.

Witness for Peace
Witness for Peace is a politically independent, nationwide grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. WFP's mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices that contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean.