Peace

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) centred 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 Decade invited all Christians 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

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

• 2011: International Ecumenical Peace Convention*
• 2010: Africa*
• 2009: The Caribbean*
• 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*

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