Creating culture of peace

IT’S encouraging to see the Pope and Bishop Kevin Farrell of Washington speaking so strongly about terrorism (CL 19/9/04).

‘We must not give way to fear,’ said the Holy Father, but rather have ‘the courage to globalise solidarity and peace’.

Bishop Farrell spoke of the challenge ‘to bring peace back into the world’, and identified ‘terrible situations of injustice’ as being at the root of terrorism.

The bishop’s words were echoed from an unlikely source last week. According to The Guardian newspaper, an Iraqi fighter opposing the US forces in Baghdad, said, ‘if everyone had full bellies, no one would fight’.

Their words expose a weakness in the policies of both sides in the current election campaign.

Especially in the wake of the bombing in Jakarta, the emphasis has been on creating more impregnable defences and hunting down the terrorists.

Of course that has to be done. But unless we acknowledge that we in ‘the West’ have played our part in creating a world of gross injustices – a world that is a fertile breeding ground for terrorists – and accelerate our efforts to address these injustices, then we’ll be under attack from terrorists for a long time.

The challenge of creating a culture of peace, founded on social and economic justice, is a basic part of our Christian commitment.

The Social Action Office (SAO), sponsored by the religious orders of Queensland, is putting questions on the creation of a culture of peace to candidates from all major parties.

SAO is making it easy for anyone who wishes to do the same in their electorate.