Expanding the Peace Movement

The number of churches in the peace movement may just have jumped by 45,000. That is how many churches belong to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which a few days before Christmas unveiled its Guidelines for a new Peace, Freedom, and Security Studies Program. Note the name of the program, for it indicates why this ambitious project is not merely more of the same. The peace movement, according to the NAE, must also be a freedom and security movement, or else it will end up being very bad for peace, freedom, and security alike.

Those who thought they had a corner on the religion-and-peace agenda are, to say the least, somewhat ambivalent about these new recruits to the movement. At a conference in New York, critics of the NAE Guidelines said the document was intemperate in using words such as “scandal,” “shameful,” and “tragedy” to describe positions taken by what it calls “some of our most influential religious agencies.” The positions in question include propagandizing for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, denying or minimizing religious persecution in the Soviet Union, and exploiting Central American refugees to score points against U.S. policy. In short, they are positions that thoughtful people might describe as scandalous, shameful, and tragic.

RJ

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Richard John Neuhaus

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Religious Persecution

The number of churches in the peace movement may just have jumped by 45,000. That is how many churches belong to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which a few days before Christmas unveiled its Guidelines for a new Peace, Freedom, and Security Studies Program. Note the name of the program, for it indicates why this ambitious project is not merely more of the same. The peace movement, according to the NAE, must also be a freedom and security movement, or else it will end up being very bad for peace, freedom, and security alike.

Those who thought they had a corner on the religion-and-peace agenda are, to say the least, somewhat ambivalent about these new recruits to the movement. At a conference in New York, critics of the NAE Guidelines said the document was intemperate in using words such as “scandal,” “shameful,” and “tragedy” to describe positions taken by what it calls “some of our most influential religious agencies.” The positions in question include propagandizing for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, denying or minimizing religious persecution in the Soviet Union, and exploiting Central American refugees to score points against U.S. policy. In short, they are positions that thoughtful people might describe as scandalous, shameful, and tragic.