Title: Peace Prize Forum Feb. 18-19 Focuses on Reconciliation and Risk
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 19, 2000

PEACE PRIZE FORUM FEB. 18-19 FOCUSES ON RECONCILIATION AND RISK
00-16-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- John Hume and David Trimble, 1998 Nobel Peace
Prize laureates, will address the 12th annual Peace Prize Forum,
"Striving for Peace: Risk and Reconciliation," Feb. 18-19 at St. Olaf
College, Northfield, Minn. St. Olaf is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     Students attending the Peace Prize Forum will examine the issue of
war with enemies close to home. They will consider topics on religion
and peace.
     Hume and Trimble were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for
undertaking the process that culminated in the Belfast Agreement enacted
on April 10 (Good Friday), 1998. The agreement established a process
for resolving long-standing differences over the national sovereignty of
Northern Ireland and its relationship with the island of Ireland, and
the union with Great Britain -- a process that is still being played out
today.
     Hume currently leads the Social, Democratic and Labour Party, the
second largest political party in Northern Ireland, and is a member of
the European Parliament in Brussels. Trimble is the First Minister of
the new government in Northern Ireland.
     Other forum speakers include Paul Arthur, professor of politics at
the University of Ulster, Ireland; Sissela Bok, an associate of the
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Mass.; J. Bryan Hehir, professor of religion and
society at Harvard Divinity School and faculty associate at Harvard's
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs; and Janet and John
Wallach, founders of Seeds of Peace, an internationally recognized
conflict-resolution program.
     In addition to plenary sessions, the Peace Prize Forum will
include concurrent seminars on a variety of topics designed for college
students, faculty, staff and others. Seminar topics range from religion
and politics in Northern Ireland to women in the Middle East.
     A new feature of the 2000 Peace Prize Forum is student-led
sessions. One session will be a moderated discussion for students to
address three questions in response to the forum's theme: "What actions
are students and groups currently planning on their respective campuses?
What important issues should be addressed by students? How can students
from different colleges maintain communication among each other?"
     The Peace Prize Forum rotates annually among five Midwestern
colleges of the ELCA with Norwegian heritage: Augsburg College,
Minneapolis; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia College,
Moorhead, Minn.; Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; and St. Olaf.
     Held in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo,
this series of forums was created to offer an opportunity for Nobel
Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, young people and the general
public to come together in expression of their personal commitment to
peace.

Editor's note: Registration information on this year's Peace Prize Forum
is available online at www.peaceprizeforum.org

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html