October 20, 2006
By Kathy L. Gilbert

WASHINGTON – Nuclear weapons testing in North Korea, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and the recent school shooting in Pennsylvania were of utmost concern to the members of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society during the agency's fall meeting.

In a statement titled, "From brokenness and ruin to trust and understanding," the board condemns North Korea's recent nuclear weapons testing. The board's governing members passed that statement and others at their Oct. 12-15 meeting.

"Clearly the action by North Korea is a major destabilizing action not only for the world but specifically for the Korean peninsula," said the Rev. Steve Sprecher, chairperson of the Peace with Justice/United Nations and International Affairs work area of the board.

"Our concerns are the well-being of people on both sides of the border," he said. "We felt we had to make a statement based on our concerns for justice."

The statement urges North Korea to pursue peaceful means rather than "take the nuclear path."

"This recent nuclear testing undermines the dream for reunification even as it imperils the desired atmosphere of mutual respect and trust among parties involved."

Crisis in Darfur

Recent action by Congress prompted the board to update its statement on the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Congress recently passed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, directing President Bush to block assets of and deny visas to individuals believed to be involved in acts of genocide or other war crimes in Darfur.

The statement calls for the immediate deployment of the 17,500 United Nations peacekeepers and more than 3,000 U.N. civilian police.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan released a report on the situation saying "a new kind of terrifying violence" has erupted. The report said more than 200,000 civilians have died and more than 2 million people have been displaced.

"We take our call for this action from the prophet Micah, who said, ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks' (4:3) and from Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace."

School shootings

In response to the recent school gun violence in the United States, the board approved a theological statement that it will recommend to the 2008 General Conference, the denomination's lawmaking body.

In the United States, 98,575 children and teens were killed by guns between 1979 and last June. Firearm deaths among children under age 15 are far higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized nations combined, the statement says.

"These children would have filled 3,943 public school classrooms of 25 students each."

The statement calls upon the United Methodist Church to:

• Support gun safety measures and advocate for federal legislation that includes "provisions for the registration and licensing of gun purchasers and owners, appropriate background investigation and waiting periods prior to gun purchase and regulation of subsequent sale." Furthermore, we support "national bans on ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits, and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices." (2004 United Methodist Book of Resolutions, #251 "Gun Violence")

• Create climates of nonviolence in its congregations, communities and homes.

• Monitor the media in terms of television programming, movies and music targeted at children and youth.

• Advocate with constancy and consistency for every child.

"Like Rachel, we weep," the statement says. "We mourn for the family who, instead of their daughter, now hold onto her final text message. We grieve for the children whose nightmares are punctuated by the smell of gunpowder. We ache for the quiet community where the ring of gunfire replaced the peal of school bells."

United Methodist News Service
Kathy L. Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.