Making Peace Heroic

Address by Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue to the National Council of Churches in Australia
Launch of the Decade to Overcome Violence
March 21st 2003, Sydney

Thank you. I am delighted to be the Patron of the National Council of Churches program of the Decade to Overcome Violence, and to be with you today.

As I prepare these notes, Australia is at war with Iraq.  And there seems no longer any hope of a last minute peaceful solution.

And so it is with a particularly heavy heart that I speak about peace today.

In these circumstances, where lives will be lost, horrendous injuries will be suffered and communities will be torn apart, we are forced to look at violence as a reality - not as an academic concept.

Many people, I know, feel overwhelmed at the gravity of the global situation at the moment. And helpless in the face of the military might that we see nightly on our television screens.

The sheer size of the war machine is daunting.  And technological developments (that we could hardly have imagined even a few years ago) make the darkest possible scenarios seem a likely reality.

Perhaps what is even more frightening about this is that we have learnt to accept it as normal.

I do not mean that if asked, people would say that they approve of violence.

But rather, that they have come to take it for granted it as part of everyday life.

For example, there is the language commonly used in relation to the war.

The contradictions of, 'smart bombs', 'friendly fire', 'war for peace'.

The expressions which pussy-foot around harsh realities - 'countries being disciplined', 'end games', 'playing trump cards' - all serving to create a distance between what is actually going on, and our human responses to it. 

Warfare, described in these ways, takes on the quality of a story.

An adventure story about winners and losers, about good people and evil people, and about being on the 'winning side'.

It evokes for many bored young people a sense of excitement - another form of entertainment, another type of 'virtual reality" and another way of cheering for the 'home side'.

And, apart from the particular focus on this war of the moment, we also live in a world of more 'everyday' violence that is mostly just regarded as 'how the world is'.

And I speak here of the violence underlying:

* Racism
* Much of what passes as entertainment
* The treatment of people in poverty
* The treatment of many women by men
* The treatment of the environment
* The treatment of asylum seekers
* And the treatment of people who are seen as unacceptable for whatever reason, for example, because of their mental health, a disability, or their sexual orientation.

It seems to me, that there is little point in talking about peace as an abstract ideal, in a world such as this, unless we actively respond to the values that support and maintain violence as the norm.

This, for me, is the linchpin of my commitment to the mission of Overcoming Violence.

I believe that violence is not a given. It is a choice. And we have to learn to choose differently.

I believe that to do this effectively there needs to be leadership. And what more obvious leadership could there be than the teachings of Jesus Christ?

It is clear to me that the Church must play a leading role in showing people a different path. And in demonstrating that this different path is a viable one.

Given what we are up against, this cannot be achieved simply with an assurance that at a higher level everyone is loved.

Faith is a necessary - but not sufficient - ideal to change the hearts and minds of people.

I believe that the church in order to fulfil its mission, must, in its actions and teachings show a different way.

Its moral and ethical position needs to be apparent.

And it needs to become an obvious place that people turn to, when they look for truth and an alternative value system to the one that confronts them in their daily dealings with the world.

In order to become this "obvious place" I believe that the church needs to not only support peace - but to stand for peace in all of its work.

This of course, has real implications.  There are real choices to be made. It means for instance:

* Advocating and working for social justice
* Advancing understanding and tolerance
* Supporting disenfranchised groups
* Supporting the movement for reconciliation
* Transforming attitudes and behaviours
* Contributing to education programs
* Helping people in need
* Demanding ethical codes in the public sphere
* Involving Church leaders in all levels of public debate on matters of justice and peace.
* Being brave enough to speak out in the interests of truth
* Resisting the use of God's name to justify and glorify violence.

All of the things in fact, that Jesus demonstrated to us.

Individuals can take up this challenge but it is particularly encouraging that Churches are organising globally to connect people in support of peace.
 
This is the sort of leadership that is so desperately called for in these troubled times. 

The Decade to Overcome Violence offers us the possibility of peace.

This is the greatest gift imaginable.

To bring about a culture of peace, where difference is respected and where human beings treat each other with compassion, is both a simple and profound goal.

We have demonstrated as human beings that we are capable of rapid development in our technological evolution.

The challenge is now before us to evolve just as rapidly as generous, tolerant and ethical beings, who work together for the common good.

It was John Dewey who said, and I quote:

The only way to abolish war is to make peace heroic

I hope and pray that the aims of the National Council of Churches are met during this decade, and that the work of overcoming violence will become understood as the courageous way.

Church leaders have taken a major role in Australia in supporting and working for Reconciliation with Indigenous people.

Their position in making formal apology for wrongs of the past has had great influence on citizens of the land to see this issue as an important moral issue.

Their commitment to projects of reconciliation and to working with Indigenous people has been important - not only in its benefits to my people - but also in demonstrating to Australians in general, that reconciliation is both possible and necessary.

And it is more important than ever that they continue in this example.

I believe it is through their work and actions that people are known.

And that it is crucial that the Church is known for its leadership in overcoming violence. This would indeed make it the true hero of our age.

I congratulate everyone who has committed to the goals of peace and I pray for your strength to achieve it.

It is in a spirit of hope and love that I formally launch the Decade to Overcome Violence.

Thank you.