“Live from God’s Peace; Care for Just Peace”–A new report from the EKD

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

In the foreward to its new Memorandum, the Chairman of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) Council, Bishop Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Huber writes,

“The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has always considered peace to be a central theme of public responsibility. The shock over the devastation caused by the Second World War, the outbreak and course of the Cold War, the controversies about rearmament and mandatory military service, the mutual deterrence with nuclear weapons and growing attention to the North-South conflict – all these were important issues in the development of judgement within the Church. Some of these were tough tests for the unity of the Church, in particular the nuclear arms debate of the late fifties and, once again, early eighties….

This Memorandum consistently expresses principles and maxims that are as straightforward as they are convincing. Who wants peace must prepare for peace. Who lives on the basis of God’s peace must stand up for peace in the world. Just peace in a globalized world presupposes the development of the system of international law. Security and peace policy of states must be considered from the perspective of concepts of ‘human security’ and ‘human development’. These clear main ideas lead to concrete and specific options for action. Thus, the necessary legal structure for an international peace order is coupled with the need for this structure to be committed to the primacy of civilian conflict management and to tying the use of force to strict ethical and international law criteria. Therefore not even the challenge of modern international terrorism justifies a revival of the notion of ‘just war’. Rather, particularly in such a situation, an orientation of all peace policy considerations towards the guiding ideas of ‘just peace’ proves its worth.”

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