The E-Newsletter of
Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Violence

Vol. 2, No. 12, December 2006
Luis T. Gutierrez, Editor
Newsletter Home Page

Current mission statement:

Humanity is currently on a global journey from patriarchal violence to solidarity, sustainability, and sustainable human development. The Solidarity & Sustainability newsletter is a series of reflections on how to mitigate patriarchal barriers to human development and, in particular, how to overcome the enormous obstacles caused by religious patriarchies. The newsletter integrates existing and emerging knowledge (empirical evidence, tradition, relevant experience, wisdom) to show that true religion radically transcends the patriarchal mindset. In fact, true religion always enhances human development, and should never be an obstacle to it. The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals are used as a point of reference.

Revised mission statement as of December 2006:

Humanity is currently on a global journey from patriarchy to solidarity, sustainability, and sustainable human development. Violence is the main obstacle in this journey. There is an intrinsic link between violence and religion, and patriarchal gender violence is the primary expression of religious violence. Mitigating violence requires overcoming the patriarchal mindset, especially in religious institutions. In the process of testing this working hypothesis, and elucidating strategies to mitigate violence, the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals are used as a point of reference.

Theme of this Issue:
Sabbatical Activity ~ December 2006

[merrychristmas]

SUMMARY

The mission statement continues to be reconsidered. The amount of content coming online at the intersection of global solidarity, sustainable technologies, and religious violence is overwhelming.

Links are provided to significant recent news within the current scope of the newsletter. The news commentary for December is very concise: violence begets violence. The deteriorating situation in Iraq is considered.

Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross, by S. Mark Heim, is our selected "book of the year." A book review is provided.

The "website of the month" is Maps of War. Animated maps provide a dynamic perspective on the unfolding history of international armed violence. A direct link to one of the maps, "Imperial History of the Middle East," is provided.

As usual, annotated links to significant new resources online are provided. An important recent addition is The Global Gender Gap Report 2006 by the World Economic Council.

Based on new inputs from experts, the knowledge organization model to be used is again being researched. The newly introduced Knowledge 2006 Map of Chaim Zins is being investigated.

Editor's Note: There is no invited article this month. The last invited article is The Theology of Sacrifice and the Non-Ordination of Women, by Mary T. Condren. The article focuses on Matthew 9:13 .... "I Desire Mercy Not Sacrifice".

[hollybar]

OUTLINE

1. Mission Statement
2. Current Trends
3. Debacle in Iraq
4. Book of the Year
5. Website of the Month
6. New Resources
7. Newsletter Website Upgrade
8. Prayer, Study, and Action
9. Links to Archived Newsletters
10. Link to Last Invited Article

[hollybar]

CHRISTMAS PRAYER

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled,
as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi - 13th Century

[hollybar]


1. Revision of Mission Statement

The mission statement for the newsletter is being reconsidered. The current mission statement is the green text above, under the header. The current revised statement is shown in black. The latest version of the mission statement revision checklist is shown below.

Points for Revision of the Mission Statement

  • Violence is the main obstacle to solidarity and sustainability
    • There is an intrinsic link between religion and violence
    • Religious violence originates in sacrificial myths of primitive societies
    • Religious violence and secular violence feed each other
    • Gender violence is the most pervasive form of violence
    • Religious gender violence is the root cause for all forms of violence
    • This requires gender balance in roles of religious authority
    • Reducing religious violence mitigates secular violence
    • Religious institutions have the greatest moral responsibility
    • Technological fixes may buy time, but cannot exorcise the root cause

  • Mitigating violence requires overcoming the patriarchal mindset
    • Both solidarity and sustainability are contingent on nonviolence
    • Global solidarity in both resource usage and pollution abatement
    • Neither is possible without giving up the "patriarchal mindset"
    • Addictions to wealth accumulation, absolute power, worldly honors
    • The political process is key for both secular and religious institutions
    • The effects of violence materialize via the political process
    • The principle of "subsidiarity" should guide institutional redesign
    • The political process encapsulates both secular and religious factors

  • The U.N. Millennium Development Goals as a point of reference
    • A politically viable process is needed to attain the U.N. MDGs
    • Some research possibilities
      • Improved methods of knowledge organization (e.g., UDC)
      • Matrix analysis for interdisciplinary integration (Steward et al)
      • System dynamics analysis and synthesis (Forrester et al)
      • Mimetic theory to mitigate "sacred violence" (Girard et al)
    • Some critical TBDs
      • Useful indices of solidarity, sustainability, and violence
      • Useful indices of local, regional, and global common good
      • Useful indices of integral human development

The newsletter's name may include the "religious violence" factor: "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Violence". One reason is that the religious ingredient in violence has received inadequate attention from social scientists and interdisciplinary researches.

Another critical issue is gender violence (or the other side of the coin, gender equality). Stephen Lewis, the UN's Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV-AIDS in Africa, recently reiterated that "the struggle for gender equality is the single most important struggle on the face of the planet" (see 2006 World Forum: Future Directions in Child Welfare, Vancouver, November 19-22, 2006, and Gender equality is tops: UN envoy). Question: which of the following would be the best name?

  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Violence"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Gender Violence"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Gender Equality"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Gender Violence"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Religious Gender Equality"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Gender"
  • "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Violence"
Is there a single word that captures all the above? Please send your mission statement and newsletter name feedback to the Editor.


2. Current Trends

Given their relevance to worldwide human solidarity, environmental sustainability, and religious violence, the following recent news are worth noting:

2.1 International Solidarity

Muslim women find their voice: Conference to set up female advisory panel to interpret Islamic law, Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune, 10 November 2006.

Lech Walesa suggests solidarity as a method of fighting poverty, International Herald Tribune, 10 November 2006.

250 million Christians suffer for faith, British group says, Catholic World News, 27 November 2006. See also Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

2.2 Sustainability of the Human Habitat

Putting the right price on nature: environmental economics, Anantha Duraiappah, SciDev Net, 30 November 2006.

Promoting sustainability is building the future, Ioan Voicu, Online Opinion, 30 November 2006.

Organizing for sustainability, Lynda King, Harvard Post, 24 November 2006.

2.3 Religious & Secular Violence

Rigid Interpretation of Religion Hampers Women’s Progress, Javid Hassan, Arab News, 30 November 2006.

Theologians to discuss cruelty, the ugly face of violence, WCC, 30 November 2006.

What we call it doesn't change the war, Kenneth Bunting, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1 December 2006.

Njoya urges churches to lead war against gender violence, Sunday Times, Kenya, 10 December 2006.

2.4 Summary & Outlook

Violence begets violence. Violence exacerbates violence. Violence is a remnant of primitive, sacrificial religious thinking. Global solidarity is the only path leading to social justice, world peace, and sustainable human development.


3. Debacle in Iraq

The "war on terror" has gone astray. It is a war in which terror is being used as an antidote for terror. The result is not less terror, but more. The saddest example is the worsening situation in Iraq. It should be noted that most of the violence is religiously induced (Sunnis versus Shiites). The religious violence is exacerbated by a war that was precipitated by another act of religious violence: 9/11. Violence begets violence.

IRAQ

Cost of the War
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VIOLENCE
BEGETS
VIOLENCE
 View Database

As William Hull has pointed out, "it may prove easier to win the war against terrorism than to win the peace against that desperation which makes it possible," Religion and the World Crisis, Christian Ethics Today, Issue 61, Fall 2006.


4. Book of the Year

The "book of the year" is the same as the "book of the month" for October, November, and December 2006: Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross, by S. Mark Heim, Eerdmans, 2006, 346 pages.

BOOK REVIEW

This book is the theological counterpart to René Girard's mimetic theory of religious violence. Girard's theory traces the intrinsic link between religion and violence back to the emergence of homo sapiens and the formation of primitive societies. In these primitive societies, human sacrifice was a sacred ritual and the way to placate the wrath of God. A mimetic cycle starts with desiring something someone else "has" (or "is," in the sense of human traits or abilities). This escalates to mimetic rivalry, and eventually to social turmoil or crisis, with detrimental effect for everyone in the community. To escape the crisis, a person is chosen (usually among the weakest and most vulnerable) as scapegoat and assumed to be guilty of inducing the crisis. The scapegoat is then sacrificed to the gods, whereupon the crisis vanishes and things go back to "business as usual." The victimization of the scapegoat is carefully hidden in primitive religious myths.

Heim shows how the passion and crucifixion of Jesus follow this process of mimetic violence. But Jesus is vindicated by the resurrection, which turns the entire process inside out. It becomes clear that God always takes the side of the innocent scapegoat, not the side of the guilty scapegoaters. This insight has a number of ramifications, the most important being that our image of God need no longer be distorted by thinking that there is a divine demand for reparation -- with blood -- to compensate for all human sins. It is in this sense that we are "saved from sacrifice." This in no way cancels the Christian vocation to obey the ten commandments, renounce violence, practice solidarity with the victims of injustice, and act according to the Golden Rule, even if this means that such behavior will attract ridicule and persecution. But now, reconciliation with God means to embrace the victims of oppression, and to embrace the victimizers without victimizing them.

Following the "Introduction: A Stumble to Start With," the book has ten chapters:

    1. Atonement on Trial
    2. The Cross no One Sees: Invisible Scapegoats
    3. The Voice of Job: Sacrificed Revealed and Contested
    4. The Paradox of the Passion: Saved by What Shouldn't Happen
    5. Sacrifice to End Sacrifice: Satan's House Divided
    6. The Sign of Jonah and Susanna: Innocent Blood and False Acusers
    7. God's Wisdom and Two Mistakes: The Struggle of Historical Christianity
    8. Substitute for Sacrifice: Living with an Empty Cross
    9. The Bad News about Revelation: Two Kinds of Apocalypses
    10. Saved from Sacrifice: Renewing the Theology of the Cross

It is not Heim's intention to suggest that giving visibility to Jesus as the Scapegoat exhausts our understanding of the paschal mystery. Traditional understandings and insights about the meaning of the cross retain their validity, except for the mistaken view that God demands "an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth" in reparation for our sins. Undoubtely, additional insights will be elucidated by the Christian churches in the future. These points are clearly stated in the Introduction and Chapter 1. Chapter 10, however, should have included a reiteration of the same points. Anyone who reads chapter 10 first might get the impression that, with the new Girardian dimension, the theology of the cross has been exhausted. Again, this is not Heim's pressumption, and this possible defficiency is insignificant in comparison with the refreshing new understanding of the cross.

In terms of understanding the link of violence between religion and society, this may be the best book published during the United Nations' Decade for Overcoming Violence. Any person who wants to embrace non-violence, or simply wants to understand the roots of violent human behavior, should study this book with diligent care and go back to it frequently. Indeed, the book is a significant contribution to both Christian theology and the Girardian corpus.


5. Website of the Month

The "website of the month" for December is Maps of War. I am grateful to Steven Salmony for bringing this website to my attention. It is very educational on issues of violence and war. The animated maps are among the best I have seen. Running the animated maps require shockwave flash. Some of the maps are free downloads that you can insert in your own website.

For instance, there is an Imperial History of the Middle East which, in 90 seconds, gives a very profound insight about the historical background of the current debacle in Iraq. Just click on PLAY below. If your browser does not show the map, click HERE.


6. New Resources

JUST PUBLISHED

GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT 2006, World Economic Forum (WEF), 2006, 156 pages.

See the summary analysis by WEF economists:

"The Global Gender Gap Report 2006 covers all current and candidate European Union countries, 20 from Latin America and the Caribbean, over 20 from sub-Saharan Africa and 10 from the Arab world. Together, the 115 economies cover over 90% of the world’s population. The index mainly uses publicly available "hard data" indicators drawn from international organizations and some qualitative information from the Forum’s own Executive Opinion Survey. The Global Gender Gap Report 2006 includes an innovative new methodology including detailed profiles of each economy that provide insight into the economic, legal and social aspects of the gender gap. The Report measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women:

1. Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
2. Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level education
3. Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making structures
4. Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio

The Nordic countries, Sweden (1), Norway (2), Finland (3) and Iceland (4), top the latest Gender Gap Index. Germany (5), the Philippines (6), New Zealand (7), Denmark (8), the United Kingdom (9) and Ireland (10) complete the top 10 countries with the smallest "gender gap".

See also the incisive analysis by Nevil Gibson:

"The status of women in a society is an important guide to its general standard of living. So it is notable the 10 Arab countries' low ratings, despite some with considerable oil wealth, give lie to the claim that Islam does not discriminate against women. It plainly does, with the highest Arab country, Kuwait, rating 86 out of 115.

Muslim countries make up nearly all the bottom 20 countries. Among them are supposedly secular Turkey (105), the rich United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen (bottom).

Worse, the highest non-Arab Islamic countries, Indonesia (68th) and Malaysia 72nd), rate well behind even Borat's homeland, Kazakhstan (31st), a former Soviet republic in central Asia but with a Muslim majority."

A summary table of the 2006 gender gap index for 115 countries is shown HERE.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2006, UNDP, 9 November 2006, 440 pages. Subtitle: Beyond scarcity: Power, Poverty, and the global water crisis. "In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries."

LIVING PLANET REPORT 2006, WWF, 2006, 44 pages. "The Living Planet Report is WWF's periodic update on the state of the world's ecosystems. It describes the changing state of global biodiversity and the pressure on the biosphere arising from human consumption of natural resources. It is built around two indicators: the Living Planet Index, which reflects the health of the planet’s ecosystems; and the Ecological Footprint, which shows the extent of human demand on these ecosystems. These measures are tracked over several decades to reveal past trends, then three scenarios explore what might lie ahead. The scenarios show how the choices we make might lead to a sustainable society living in harmony with robust ecosystems, or to the collapse of these same ecosystems, resulting in a permanent loss of biodiversity and erosion of the planet’s ability to support people."

GEO YEAR BOOK 2006. "The GEO (Global Environment Outlook) Year Book 2006 is the third annual survey of the changing global environment produced by the United Nations Environment Programme, in collaboration with many world experts in environmental research and action. The Year Book includes global and regional overviews. It highlights the linkages between environmental well-being, vulnerability and poverty; records recent findings on the value of ecosystem services; and describes new research findings on polar and ocean changes that may prove a turning point in the urgency of our awareness and response to global change."

STERN REVIEW ON THE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE, HM Treasury, UK, 30 October 2006, 700 pages. "The most comprehensive review ever carried out on the economics of climate change.... It has been carried out by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service and former World Bank Chief Economist. Sir Nicholas said today: "The conclusion of the Review is essentially optimistic. There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now and act internationally. Governments, businesses and individuals all need to work together to respond to the challenge. Strong, deliberate policy choices by governments are essential to motivate change. But the task is urgent. Delaying action, even by a decade or two, will take us into dangerous territory. We must not let this window of opportunity close." The Executive Summary, and the entire report, can be downloaded from the Index Page.

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT 2006, United Nations, July 2006, 32 pages. "This report shows that some progress has been made. This should provide the incentive to keep moving forward. But .... there is still a long way to go to keep our promises to current and future generations."

TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2006, United Nations, April 2006, 33 pages. "At the political level sustainable development has grown from being a movement mostly focusing on environmental concerns to a widely recognized framework utilized by individuals, governments, corporations and civil society that attempts to balance economic, social, environmental and generational concerns in decision-making and actions at all levels...."


7. Newsletter Website Upgrade

The newsletter home page now includes links to a growing number of resource directories:

The "knowledge organization" required for this project is itself a complex project. The following knowledge organization models are under consideration:

There are several adaptations of the DDC, UDC, and LCC for classification of internet resources. The UDC is based on the DDC. Both are parsimonious at the top level, but the UDC now designates number 4 as being vacant. This may be the place to organize links to websites with interdisciplinary content. The LCC model is well known, but has too many many numbers with some duplications and overlaps. The DDC, UDC, and LCC models have proven to be useful for libraries of hard copy resources. However, it is still uncertain whether or not the traditional library classifications will do the job when dealing with massive digital/web content. There is also the Colon Classification (CC) of S. R. Ranganathan, which has some advantages for electronic content classification, but it is used mostly in India. The knowledge mapping model of Chaim Zins is worthy of consideration. His division of human knowledge into 10 pillars based on 4 generic phenomena is conceptually very appealing, and is intended for classification of web content. But this is a new model that has yet to be tested in the real/virtual web, so it may be a risky path to take. The following table summarizes the four models:

Summary of Knowledge Organization Models

Dewey
Decimal
Classification
(DDC)

0 - Generalities

1 - Philosophy & psychology

2 - Religion

3 - Social sciences

4 - Language

5 - Natural sciences/math

6 - Technology

7 - The arts

8 - Literature

9 - Geography & history

Universal
Decimal
Classification
(UDC)

0 - Generalities

1 - Philosophy & psychology

2 - Religion

3 - Social sciences

4 - Vacant

5 - Natural sciences

6 - Technology

7 - The arts

8 - Language & literature

9 - Geography & history

Library
of Congress
Classification
(LCC)

A - General works
B - Philosophy, psychology, religion
C - History sources
D - History: World
E - History: Europe
F - History: America
G - Geography, anthropology
H - Social sciences
J - Political science
K - Law
L - Education
M - Music
N - Fine arts
P - Language, literature
Q - Science
R - Medicine
S - Agriculture
T - Technology
U - Military science
V - Naval science
Z - Info/Lib science

Knowledge
2006
Mapping
(Chaim Zins)

I. KNOWLEDGE
[1] Foundations of Knowledge

II. SUPERNATURAL
[2] The Supernatural

III. UNIVERSE
[3] Matter and Energy
[4] Space and Earth
[5] Non-Human Organisms

IV. HUMANS
[6] Body and Mind
[7] Society
[8] Thought and Art
[9] Technology
[10] History

DDC for Internet

An adaptation of DDC to classify internet resources is CyberDewey.

UDC for Internet

An adaptation of UDC to classify internet resources is NISS.

LCC for Internet

An adaptation of LCC to classify internet resources is ICRC.

Knowledge 2006

The Knowledge 2006 model is specifically designed for classification of internet resources.

Note: I am indebted to Chaim Zins, University of Haifa, Israel, for bringing to my attention his work on knowledge mapping as well as pointers to relevant information science literature. Douglas Black, Reference Librarian at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, provided valuable advice on online classification systems, for which I am grateful.

What do you think? Please let us know if you have any recommendation to improve our knowledge organization framework.


8. Prayer, Study, and Action

PRAYER

Luke 1:38
Luke 1:46-55
Luke 2:14

STUDY

Matthew 1:18-25
Luke 1 & 2
John 1:1-18

ACTION

Mark 1:1-8
Luke 1:39
Luke 2:39-52


9. Links to Archived Newsletters

The following are links to previous issues of the newsletter:

V1 N1 May 2005: Cross-Gender Solidarity
V1 N2 June 2005: The Phallocentric Syndrome
V1 N3 July 2005: From Patriarchy to Solidarity
V1 N4 August 2005: Synthesis of Patriarchy and Solidarity
V1 N5 September 2005: From Solidarity to Sustainability
V1 N6 October 2005: Dimensions of Sustainability
V1 N7 November 2005: Analysis and Synthesis of Objective Evidence
V1 N8 December 2005: Solidarity, Subsidiarity, and Sustainability
V2 N1 January 2006: Synthesis of Solidarity and Sustainability
V2 N2 February 2006: Sustainable Human Development
V2 N3 March 2006: Patriarchy and Mimetic Violence
V2 N4 April 2006: Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions
V2 N5 May 2006: Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions 2
V2 N6 June 2006: Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions 3
V2 N7 July 2006: Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions 4
V2 N8 August 2006: Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions 5
V2 N9 September 2006: Sabbatical Activity ~ September 2006
V2 N10 October 2006: Sabbatical Activity ~ October 2006
V2 N11 November 2006: Sabbatical Activity ~ November 2006

|Back to SUMMARY| |Back to OUTLINE|
|Back to SECTION 1| |Back to SECTION 2| |Back to SECTION 3|
|Back to SECTION 4| |Back to SECTION 5| |Back to SECTION 6|
|Back to SECTION 7| |Back to SECTION 8| |Back to SECTION 9|
|Link to Last Invited Article|
|Link to Newsletter Home Page|



[navidadflores]

The Pelican Symbol

[pclogo]

The pelican is a legendary symbol of commitment to the service of others, especially those who are weak and most vulnerable to physical and/or psychological violence. See The Physiologus.

Gender violence is usually rooted in religious violence. It is the most pervasive form of violence, and the main obstacle to both solidarity and sustainability. See sermon by Rev. Sylvia Roberts.

Call for Papers

This newsletter is now seeking scholars willing to write (pro-bono) short articles about the impacts of religious violence on human solidarity and ecological sustainability, as well as critical reviews of this work from the perspective of various religious traditions, i.e., Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, etc.

Articles should be 1000 words minimum and 3000 words maximum, with no images. Please submit only material that has not been already published elsewhere. The author's CV should be submitted with the paper. The newsletter is published monthly, but there are no specific deadlines. Papers approved by the editor will be included as an "invited paper" when time and space allows.

Please share this invitation with your friends and associates. Send all correspondence to the editor, Luis T. Gutierrez.

U.N. MDGs

Millennium Development Goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Interested in more information and data? Click the map below:

[mdgindicators]

Need the latest environmental facts and figures? See the GEO Year Book 2006:

[GEO2006]

Just released:

[HDR2006]


Gender Gap Index 2006

Gender Gap Index
(0 to 1 scale, 0=inequality, 1=equality)
Ranking Country Score
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115 		Sweden
Norway
Finland
Iceland
Germany
Philippines
New Zealand
Denmark
United Kingdom
Ireland
Spain
Netherlands
Sri Lanka
Canada
Australia
Croatia
Moldova
South Africa
Latvia
Lithuania
Colombia
United States
Tanzania
Jamaica
Switzerland
Austria
Macedonia
Estonia
Costa Rica
Panama
Kazakhstan
Portugal
Belgium
Botswana
Israel
Uzbekistan
Bulgaria
Namibia
El Salvador
Thailand
Argentina
Mongolia
Lesotho
Poland
Trinidad & Tobago
Romania
Ukraine
Uganda
Russian Federation
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Kyrgyz Republic
Czech Republic
Georgia
Hungary
Luxembourg
Venezuela
Ghana
Dominican Republic
Peru
Albania
Nicaragua
China
Paraguay
Singapore
Uruguay
Brazil
Indonesia
Greece
France
Malta
Malaysia
Kenya
Honduras
Mexico
Zimbabwe
Italy
Chile
Japan
Gambia
Malawi
Ecuador
Cyprus
Madagascar
Zambia
Kuwait
Bolivia
Mauritius
Cambodia
Tunisia
Bangladesh
Korea, Rep.
Jordan
Nigeria
Guatemala
Angola
Algeria
India
Mali
Ethiopia
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Cameroon
Burkina Faso
Turkey
Mauritania
Morocco
Iran
Egypt
Benin
Nepal
Pakistan
Chad
Saudi Arabia
Yemen 		0.8133
0.7994
0.7958
0.7813
0.7524
0.7516
0.7509
0.7462
0.7365
0.7335
0.7319
0.7250
0.7199
0.7165
0.7163
0.7145
0.7128
0.7125
0.7090
0.7077
0.7049
0.7042
0.7036
0.7014
0.6997
0.6986
0.6982
0.6944
0.6936
0.6935
0.6928
0.6922
0.6906
0.6897
0.6889
0.6886
0.6870
0.6864
0.6836
0.6832
0.6829
0.6821
0.6807
0.6802
0.6797
0.6797
0.6797
0.6796
0.6770
0.6757
0.6745
0.6741
0.6712
0.6700
0.6698
0.6671
0.6664
0.6652
0.6639
0.6619
0.6607
0.6566
0.6560
0.6556
0.6550
0.6550
0.6543
0.6541
0.6540
0.6520
0.6518
0.6509
0.6485
0.6483
0.6462
0.6460
0.6456
0.6455
0.6447
0.6446
0.6435
0.6433
0.6430
0.6385
0.6358
0.6341
0.6335
0.6327
0.6290
0.6288
0.6269
0.6157
0.6109
0.6104
0.6066
0.6038
0.6018
0.6010
0.5994
0.5945
0.5919
0.5894
0.5865
0.5853
0.5850
0.5833
0.5826
0.5802
0.5785
0.5778
0.5477
0.5433
0.5246
0.5241
0.4762
Source: Global Gender Gap Report 2006,
World Economic Forum (WEF)


Religious Violence

The term "religious violence" includes both physical and psychological violence, as well as other abuses of religious authority such as coercion to agree with doctrines and regulations manufactured by human hands. In particular, it includes the exclusion of women from roles of religious authority.

Islamic Violence

Islam is very fragmented. The following examples may or may not be applicable to specific Islamic communities. Several initiatives are underway in order to mitigate religious violence in the Islamic world.

Gender violence is also widespread in Islamic countries, as evidenced by the ten countries with the lowest rankings in gender equality. Gender violence starts at home ....



.... and spreads to all social and religious institutions, with many women in Islamic cultures suffering from "Stockholm syndrome."

Christian Violence

There are many Christian churches. The following examples are related to the Roman Catholic Church. Similar examples of religious violence could be found in all the other Christian churches.

[reddot] In the USA alone, from 1950 to 2002, 4000+ priests were accused of sexual abuse of 10000+ minors, with bishops routinely covering up the crime until the the "pedophilia" scandal broke in 2002. The cost of legal settlements is now close to one billion dollars. The worldwide number of sexual abuse incidents by Roman Catholic clergy (including abuse of both children and women) is incalculable.

[reddot] After the Second Vatican Council (which refrained from defining any new dogma), the manipulation of both doctrine and canon law has followed a trajectory toward increasing the absolute power of the Roman curia, and reducing most of the faithful to virtual passivity in decisions related to church governance and doctrinal issues.

1989, an oath of loyalty is created which introduces a new category of "definitive" doctrines which have never been defined as revealed truth.

1994, the apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis bluntly perpetuates the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone, claiming this is a "definitive teaching" but without providing any credible scriptural or theological basis.

1998, the code of canon law is modified (Ad Tuendam Fidem) to update the oath of loyalty and "legalize" several "definitive teachings," including (surprise!) the non-ordination of women.

[reddot] As of this writing, there are about 400000 Roman Catholic priests worldwide. Assuming that Christ is also calling women to ordained ministry, and with empirical evidence (from churches that ordain women) that as many women as men are called, it is reasonable to estimate that the priestly vocations of about 400000 women have been prevented, thus harming the body of Christ.

Hindu Violence

India is a very complex country with multiple ethnical and religious traditions, as well as significant regional differences regarding practices of religious violence. The following examples are not to be taken as typical of religious violence in India, even within the Hindu traditions.
Gujarat, India, 2002

Source: BBC News
Casualties: 1044 dead
--790 Muslims, 254 Hindus.
For more information:
Religious Intolerance in India,
Gujarat's nightmare,
2002 Gujarat violence.

Space does not permit to include more examples. But the fact is that there is an intrinsic link between religion and violence, and this link appears to be present in all religious traditions worldwide. This linkage between religion and violence must be researched, understood, and mitigated in order to make further progress toward human solidarity.


Person of the Month

Bishop Margot Kaessmann
Lutheran Church, Germany

Hanover, Germany (ENI-epd). German Lutheran Bishop Margot Kaessmann has been voted "woman of the year" by readers of Funk Uhr, a mass-circulation weekly television listings magazine. "She has been able, with four children, to occupy a position which is both a profession and a true calling," said the magazine's editor-in-chief, Jan von Frenckell, presenting the award. Despite being diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, Kaessmann had been able to deal with her illness in a way that offered reassurance to other women, he said. Source: Ecumenical News International, PO Box 2100, CH - 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland.


Iraq Report
The Iraq Study Group Report is now available as a free download:


Chaired by
James A. Baker, III,
and Lee H. Hamilton,
6 December 2006, 84 pages.
Source: United States Institute of Peace


Announcements

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM 2007
From January 25th to 27th, 2007, in Nairobi, Kenya. Agenda: 1. Building a world of peace, justice, ethics and respect for diverse spiritualities;
2. Liberating the world from the domination of multinational and financial capital;
3. Ensuring universal and sustainable access to the common goods of humanity and nature;
4. Democratization of knowledge and information;
5. Ensuring dignity, defending diversity, guaranteeing gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination;
6. Guaranteeing economic, social, human and cultural rights especially the right to food, healthcare, education, housing, employment and decent work;
7. Building a world order based on sovereignty, self-determination and rights of peoples;
8. Constructing a people-centred and sustainable economy;
9. Building real democratic political structures and institutions with full people’s participation on decisions and control of public affairs and resources.

NON-VIOLENT ATONEMENT CONFERENCE
January 22-23, 2007, 9 am - 9 pm, Mennonite Central Committee's Welcoming Place, Akron, PA. From the conference flyer: "How shall we understand the death of Jesus? Is it necessary to speak of the wrath of God when discussing atonement? These questions have been asked and answered many times throughout the history of the church. In today's world with our growing awareness of the dangers of violence, sacrifice, and militant religion, the death of Jesus need no longer be construed with divine violence. For more information contact Michael Hardin.

WORLD FUTURE 2007
The World Future Society will hold its annual conference, "World Future 2007: Fostering Hope and Vision for the 21st Century" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Hilton Minneapolis, July 29-31, 2007. This 2-1/2-day conference will focus on ideas, insights, and strategies for coping with, adapting to, and taking advantage of the tremendous changes occurring on our planet. The deadline for papers is February 28, 2007. If additional information is needed, please let me know: Timothy C. Mack.

VULNERABILITY AND TOLERANCE
Blaise Pascal Instituut, Amsterdam Vrije Universiteit July, 4-8, 2007. This is the annual meeting of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, an scholarly society focused on the exploration, criticism, and development of René Girard's Mimetic Theory. See the conference website for subthemes, deadlines for abstracts, etc. For more information, contact Thérèse Onderdenwijngaard.

20TH WORLD ENERGY CONGRESS
11 Nov 2007 - 15 Nov 2007, Rome, Italy. The World Energy Congress is the most authoritative international energy meeting held by the World Energy Council (WEC) every three years. Papers and posters are accepted in either of the WEC official languages: English or French. Deadlines: Submission of papers and posters: from 1st June 2006 to 31st December 2006. Notification of acceptance: by 31st May 2007. Contact: Organising Secretariat


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