September 13, 2004

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has called on Christians and leaders from different faiths to build bridges of understanding between people, and to work together for peace and justice in the world.

"We should be united to give a message of reconciliation, healing and hope, and to construct a society where there is peace and justice," Hanson said at an interfaith gathering for peace and nonviolence held Sept. 11 here in the Episcopal San Juan Evangelista Church. The National Council of Churches of El Salvador and the Communion of Lutheran Churches in Central America convened the event, which was attended by representatives from Jewish, Islamic and Baha'i communities, as well as from Lutheran, Episcopal, Calvinist Reform Churches and the Emmanuel Baptist Church. The mayor of San Salvador, Carlos Rivas Zamora, and the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of San Salvador, Gregorio Rosa Chavez, attended.

Leaders from various religious communities took part, reading texts from the Koran, the Baha'i writings, the Torah and the Bible. Their prayers asked that peace, tolerance and understanding prevail in the world.

Hanson said violence and terrorism spark a great deal of fear but "they do not have the last word." Our response to violence should not be to hide, he said. "We have the peace of God, the promise that God loves us and has mercy on us and even in the most difficult moments God is in our midst bringing life."

Hanson called on Christians and those of other faiths to make their best efforts to ensure that there is peace and justice in the world. The Lutheran leader made reference to Msgr. Oscar Romero, who was murdered in March 1980 for what he preached in his struggle alongside the poor. Romero "taught us the power of non- violence" to confront the institutionalized violence that condemned majority sectors of the population to greater poverty, Hanson said.

During his homily, Hanson emphasized the importance of dialogue and interreligious cooperation. He lamented that Christians had frequently used Bible texts to justify violence and hatred against Jews, and he recalled that the ELCA in 1993 had rejected the anti-Semitic writings of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther.

Hanson also apologized to Muslims for all the accusations and offenses suffered by them after the events of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 on the United States. All of these acts generate violence, and we must keep hatred from expanding among the different sectors of our society for religious or other reasons, he said.

ELCA News Service
Fernando Oshige, director, Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribena de Comunicacion, Lima, Peru, reported for Lutheran World Information, the information service of the Lutheran World Federation, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland.