Conversation on sin: Top religion stories of 1998

Christian Century, Jan 6, 1999

Move toward peace in Northern Ireland

An historic peace agreement was hammered out in Northern Ireland in 1998, after generations of bloodshed which include the past 30 years of violence known as "the Troubles"--a period in which over 3,200 persons lost their lives largely through acts of terrorism. The groundbreaking pact was struck on Good Friday, April 10, 17 hours after the deadline for negotiations had passed. It was ratified by a May 22 referendum when 71.1 percent of voters said an enthusiastic yes to the agreement.

Two of the principle figures in the negotiations, David Trimble, head of the largely Protestant Ulster Unionist Party, and John Hume, who heads the Catholic Social Democratic and Labor Party, were jointly awarded the Noble Peace Prize for their efforts, but as many observers noted, the prize was awarded as much for the intention to achieve peace nonviolently as for the attainment of such a peace.

The tenuousness of the accord become apparent quickly. On July 12 three Catholic boys, aged 11, nine and eight, were burned to death in their beds when their home in Ballymoney, north of Portadown, was fire bombed.

Then on August 15 a bombing in Omagh took the lives of 28 people, including seven children and 14 women. Church leaders around the world pleaded that the violence not be allowed to kill the peace process. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Keith Clements, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, said in a joint statement that the Omagh bombing was carried out by persons who "realize their aims and methods have been decisively rejected by the majority of people in Ireland, including the political leadership of all communities and allegiances."

By the time Trimble and Hume picked up their Nobel awards in Oslo on December 10, the peace process had ground pretty much to a halt. The two men expressed differences on the details of disarming the paramilitary groups on both sides, and key provisions of the April 10 agreement remain unfulfilled. Hume pointed to one reason for optimism when he said that the "real issue about guns and arms is that they have been totally silent." That silence will prove to be only a brief interlude, others fear, unless obstacles that hinder the peace process can be overcome quickly.

The Orthodox churches and the WCC

Both the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church suspended relations with the World Council of Churches in 1998, and other Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches declared their dissatisfaction with aspects of the WCC. Though fears of further Orthodox defections were eased at the WCC's assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, which called for a special commission to evaluate the terms of Orthodox participation, the future of Orthodox-WCC relations remains clouded.

The Orthodox concerns are fueled in part by some WCC members' emphasis on certain issues--such as abortion, homosexuality, inclusive language and feminist theology--which are theologically troubling for the Orthodox. The criticisms also reflect internal Orthodox tensions that have emerged since the fall of communism. During the cold war, the WCC offered Orthodox Christians in the Eastern bloc the opportunity for contacts with and support from the West. But as new freedoms in these countries have been accompanied by economic crises and social dislocations, many Orthodox believers have become suspicious of the West, especially of those who come as "proselytizers" for non-Orthodox brands of the faith.