SCHOEFFENGRUND, Germany, 14 June 2017 – Church and Peace is calling churches and government leaders to make decisive choices for nonviolence and to turn away from putting trust in military-based security concepts.

At its Annual General Meeting on 9-11 June in Strasbourg, the European peace church network explored the theme “Freed from fear, empowered to nonviolence” through the lens of an ongoing call to (R)reformation 500 years after Martin Luther proposed his theses for debate in Wittenberg, Germany.

The encouragement “Do not be afraid”, found throughout the Bible, was the basis for a sermon by Ana Raffai, Roman Catholic theologian from Croatia and co-founder of the interreligious group Believers for Peace, during the AGM’s closing worship, and formed the common thread between workshops on a variety of topics including security in Europe; just policing and a logic of security versus a logic of peace; Church and Peace, the Bible and sexual identities; fear, populism, nationalism and the return of fascism; and addressing personal fears in a constructive manner.

Church and Peace Chairperson Antje Heider-Rottwilm took a closer look at what “500 years of Reformation” means in the face of the many personal, societal and global challenges in today’s world and came to the conclusion that experiencing God’s love and mercy freed Martin Luther from his self-destructive fears
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• Download: Press release: Reformation 2017: Freed from fear, empowered to nonviolence (15 June 2017)
• Download: Reformation 2017: Freed from fear, empowered to nonviolence. Opening Remarks by Antje Heider-Rottwilm

SCHOEFFENGRUND, Germany, 14 June 2017 – The members of Church and Peace have expressed clear opposition at the network’s Annual General Meeting on 9-11 June in Strasbourg to recent security and defence recommendations by the European Commission, says Chairperson
Antje Heider-Rottwilm.

On 7 June the Commission announced the launch of a European Defence Fund, proposed a regulation establishing a European Defence Industrial Development Programme to give financial support to the European arms industry and outlined possible future scenarios in a reflection paper on the future of European defence.

Church and Peace members were alarmed that instead of coordinating member state armament plans, and consequently saving considerable sums of money, Commission funds would be taken from the current – civilian – EU budget.
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Download: Press release: Use EU funds to strengthen civilian, not military instruments, says Church and Peace (15 June 2017)

Schöffengrund, Germany, 27 April 2017 – “Re:Action – Believers for Peace in Times of Nationalism and Xenophobia” was the theme of a conference which was held at the beginning of April near Zagreb, Croatia, with more than 70 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, and guests from Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the USA. Muslims and Christians, including imams, Serbian Orthodox priests, members of religious orders, and pastors of various denominations, took part. The conference was organised by the European network “Church and Peace” and RAND, a member organisation of Church and Peace in the region. Financial support was provided by: the Protestant Church in Baden; the Bremen-based foundation “die schwelle”; the German Catholic solidarity campaign with the people in Central and Eastern Europe, Renovabis; and the Ecumenical Women’s Initiative in Omis.

Press release (PDF) | Declaration of Conference