Lutherans Commit to Living Faithfully in a Violent World

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (ELCA) -- Lutherans can live faithfully in a violent world but not without effort, participants learned at "Living Faithfully in a Violent World: Congregations and Communities Working Together to End Violence," a conference hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) here Dec. 8-9.
Spousal, sexual, child, ethnic and racial abuse around the world are producing "more violence than ever before," said Barry Weisberg, founder and director of Violence Prevention Peace Promotion Strategy, Chicago.
In his keynote presentation, Weisberg told 77 participants from across the country that people must work to prevent violence, promote nonviolence and strive for peace. He defined violence as "the threat or use of force, physical or psychological, to destroy, damage or disturb people, other species or the environment."
Seeds of violence "are planted in your family and mine," Weisberg said, referring to child abuse in the United States and the genocide in Rwanda. Those seeds must be rooted out for violence to be eliminated, he added.
"We have to replace attitudes, values, institutions, systems and behavior of violence with attitudes, values, institutions, systems and behavior of peace," Weisberg said.
"We require intervention and prevention initiatives that are on a scale and as complex as the challenges we face. All the pieces of the global violence puzzle must be identified and targeted -- breaking the chains/cycles of violence," Weisberg said in explaining what must be done to root out violence.
Another part of prevention is "a continuum of science-based services to families, schools, congregations and communities to address the principal risks and behaviors of violence," Weisberg added.
Weisberg and workshop leaders at the conference called this time in history the most violent. They cited television and violent video games as major causes of youth violence in the United States.
At a workshop titled, "Ready, Aim ... the Gun, the Skill, the Will," presenter Dr. John J. Scibilia cited a study conducted by the University of Washington, Seattle, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control: "If television technology had never been developed, there would be 10,000 fewer murders, 70,000 fewer rapes and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults."
Scibilia is director for schools, ELCA Division for Higher Education and Schools, Chicago.
"If a child watches two hours of cartoons daily, the child will see 10,000 episodes of violence each year," Scibilia said. "Forty percent of violent episodes in all television programming have characters called heroes or positive role models. A typical American child will have seen 200,000 dramatized or actual violent acts on television by the time the child reaches age 18."
Regarding violent video games and their effect on children, Scibilia said the Army uses these same games, slightly changed, to train people to shoot to kill ... to become willing to shoot to kill. Now these same games are sold to 14-year-olds, he added.
What violence in television and video games has done is desensitize youth to such actions, Scibilia said. He cited the example of a youth who, during a fight, knocked a friend off a balcony, killing him. The youth showed no remorse and resumed watching television as if nothing had happened. Scibilia called what the youth displayed as "AVIDS -- an acquired violence immune deficiency syndrome."
Noting the role violent video games played in the Columbine High School massacre, Scibilia declared, "Thank God, something woke people up."
"People are now asking questions and working together to confront violent video game sales, but that is only part of the answer," Scibilia said. "We need to ask young people what are the answers."
Youth like video games because they are in control, so children need to be given some control of their lives, hence feeling less need for violence, Scibilia asserted.
At another workshop, Jim Vogt, Parenting for Peace and Justice Network, Covington, Ky., said a "Family Pledge of Nonviolence" agreed to by all family members can help decrease violence.
Such a pledge calls for each family member "to respect self and others, to communicate better, to listen, to forgive, to respect nature, to play creatively and to be courageous," Vogt said.
Jean Martensen, director for leadership development and studies, ELCA Commission for Women, Chicago, told participants at another workshop that attitudes of support and establishment of shelters for spousal abuse victims are needed to help reduce such violence. About 95 percent of shelter occupants are women, she said.
The ELCA plans to host nine other "Living Faithfully in a Violent World" conferences in the next three to four years around the country, said Loretta E. Horton, director for social ministry for congregations, ELCA Division for Congregational Ministries, Chicago, and conference organizer. The next conference will be held Mar. 2-4, 2001, in Estes Park, Colo.
The idea for the conference "started a year and a half ago around a coffee pot at work," Horton said. Violent incidents happen. We need to promote peace strategies and organize such conferences, she said.
Horton said the first conference was held here because the city's interfaith Peace Center, headed by the Rev. Ann E. Helmke, invited the church to do so. Helmke is an ELCA pastor.
The three-year-old Peace Center grew out of the 1994 San Antonio Gang Summit, Helmke said. Most of the center's work is devoted to building a culture of peace and nonviolence, she said. "Most of our work happens in schools, churches and community centers."
The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly committed the church to joining other denominations and organizations in designating 2001- 2010 as the "Decade for a Culture of Nonviolence," and declared 2000 as a "Year of Education for Nonviolence."

*James Price is a retired daily newspaper reporter and editor. Currently he serves as chair of the Commission for Communication, ELCA Southwestern Texas Synod, San Antonio.

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