Peace

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) Decade to Overcome Violence, which continues through 2010, centres on themes related to the spirit and logic of violence; the use, misuse, and abuse of power; issues of justice; and religious identity and plurality.

The United Church of Canada is involved in the Decade to Overcome Violence in a number of ways:

• The church continues to work for Justice and Right Relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples as a concrete way of addressing violence.
• The United Church of Canada is a member of Project Ploughshares*, a key Canadian partner in peace campaigns.

The Decade is an invitation for all Christian bodies to offer their own gifts for peacemaking according to their particular calling, to learn from one another, and to act together. It is more than a matter of changing individual behaviour. It is about seeking the root causes behind personal violence. It is about overcoming the systemic inequalities that lead to violence in the first place.

Root Causes of Violence

In an attempt to stimulate reflection and action around the Decade to Overcome Violence, the WCC has identified four major root causes of violence:

1. The spirit and logic of violence recognizes that violence is often legitimized by the prevailing norms, values, belief systems, cultures, and structures of relationships in our societies.
2. The use, abuse and misuse of power acknowledges that the concentration of power, of any kind, in the hands of only one or a few people tends to corrupt, and leads to the dehumanization and destruction of relationships.
3. Issues of justice affirms that there can be no peace without justice, since violence is rooted in injustice of every conceivable form. To overcome violence will mean in great measure striving to uproot the systemic causes of injustice, by peaceful means.
4. Religious identity and plurality highlights how fanaticism, fundamentalism, and the presumption of ethnic superiority are centred in distorted identity formation, whether patriotic, ideological, or reactionary.

The topics have been set not just for academic study, but rather for deep reflection focused on digging down to the very roots of violence and cultivating creative approaches for transforming ourselves, our churches, and our world.

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Geographic Foci by Year

• 2008: Pacific Islands*
• 2007: Europe*
• 2006: Latin America*
• 2005: Asia–Building Communities of Peace for All*
• 2004: The United States—The Power and Promise of Peace*
• 2003: Sudan, Africa–Healing and Reconciliation*
• 2002: Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East*

Upcoming Geographic Focus

• 2009: Caribbean

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Key Resources

WCC Decade to Overcome Violence*

The official website of the World Council of Churches' Decade including a detailed overview of the decade as well as a number of World Council of Churches resources.

Toward Justice and Right Relationship

This study guide and video serve as a road map for a journey of healing, justice and building right relationship with First Nations peoples. See also, the Aboriginal Peoples page for more information on work for Justice and Right Relationship.