ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 8, 2007  

Lutheran Holy Land Bishop, Other Faith Leaders Make Peace Commitments
07-188-AL

     WASHINGTON (ELCA) -- The Council of Religious Institutions
of the Holy Land, a group of senior Israeli and Palestinian
religious leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith
organizations, announced Nov. 7 new efforts toward limiting
violence, protecting holy sites and opening dialogue for peace in
the Holy Land.  The Rev. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL)
and member of the council, is participating in meetings here Nov.
5-8.
     "I am very convinced that the only way to combat extremism
is by prophetic interfaith dialogue and by education," said
Younan, who is also vice president of the Lutheran World
Federation for the Asian region.  The LWF is a global communion
of 140 Lutheran churches in 78 countries, with nearly 66.7
million members.
     On Nov. 5 the council released a communique in which its
members committed to specific actions to work toward peace in the
Holy Land, including:
     + establishing procedures of rapid communication among
themselves for quick response to issues of protection and access
to holy sites;
     + monitoring media for derogatory representations of any
religion and issuing group statements in response;
     + protecting holy sites and working to secure open access to
the Old City of Jerusalem for all communities;
     + promoting education for mutual respect and acceptance in
schools and in the media; and
     + providing ongoing consultation to government leaders.
     "Religion is now part of the solution and not part of the
problem," Younan said in response to the communique, of which he
is a signatory.
     The council grew out of the Alexandria Declaration of Jan.
21, 2002, in which the religious leaders of the region made a
"commitment to ending the violence and bloodshed that denies the
right to life and dignity" in the Holy Land.  The council is one
of the first bodies of its kind in the region representing the
three faiths of the Abrahamic tradition and bridging the Israeli
and Palestinian peoples.
     Members of the council are meeting with members of Congress
and the Bush Administration to discuss support for their peace
initiatives.  They met Nov. 6 with Sen. Joseph Liebermann (I-
Conn.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.).
The council met Nov. 7 with more than a dozen members of the U.S.
House of Representatives, and it is scheduled to meet Nov. 8 with
David Welch, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Near
Eastern affairs.  Younan is also scheduled to meet Nov. 8 with
Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), Rep. Jeff
Fortenberry (R-Neb.) and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.).
     "As a U.S. religious leader, I welcome as a sign of hope the
creation of the Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy
Land and their visit to the United States," said the Rev. Mark S.
Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) and president of the LWF.  Hanson participated in
the council's meetings on Nov. 5.  "I think as they engage U.S.
elected leaders both in Congress and this administration, it will
strengthen the resolve of the U.S. government to play a helpful
role in convening Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that would
also include a broader representation of Middle Eastern
governments," he said.
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     Audio of comments by Bishop Younan is at
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/071107a.mp3 and of Bishop Hanson
is at http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/071107b.mp3 and
http://media.ELCA.org/audionews/071107c.mp3 on the Web.

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