CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The contemporary and traditional modes of warfare as well as new and traditional avenues of conflict resolution will be topics of the 11th annual Peace Prize Forum, "Striving for Peace: The Morality and Machinery of Modern Conflict," Feb. 19-20 at Augsburg College, Minneapolis. Augsburg is a college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The forum will feature a presentation by the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams. She is founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which was formally launched by six nongovernmental organizations in October 1992. Williams has written and spoken extensively on the problem of land mines and the movement to ban them. The ELCA and the Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, are members of the ICBL. =20
Other speakers include Stephen Goose, program director for the arms division of Human Rights Watch, the largest United States-based nongovernmental human rights organization; Larry Rasmussen, professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, New York; John J. Hamre, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense; Jan Egeland, special advisor to the Norwegian Red Cross and International Peace Research Institute of Oslo; and the Rev. Rebecca Larson, secretary for research and development education in the Department for World Service of the Lutheran World Federation.
At the forum's opening ceremony Knut Vollebaek, Norwegian foreign minister, will speak on values and interests in international politics and the political upheaval and armed conflict in the Balkans -- the southeastern states of Europe. The Rev. Gunnar Stalsett, bishop of the Lutheran Church in Oslo and member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, will also speak at the forum.
In addition to plenary sessions, the Peace Prize Forum will include concurrent seminars on a variety of topics designed for college students, faculty, staff and other churchgoers. Seminar topics range from faith and peacemaking to Norwegian heritage.
The event rotates annually among five midwestern colleges of the ELCA of Norwegian heritage: Augsburg College; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Held in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, this series of forums was created to offer an opportunity for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars and the general public to share in a dialogue on the underlying causes of conflict in modern society and on the dynamics of peacemaking.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
