By IPS Correspondents
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Feb 23 2006 (IPS)

Dialogue has been one of the most frequently mentioned words at the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which ends Friday in this southern Brazilian city after 10 days of debates marked by the controversy triggered by the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in newspapers in Europe.

South African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the most important thing is to move forward, through dialogue, and not “shout at one another.”

“Like my father used to say, we should not raise our voices, but hone our arguments,” said Tutu.

Concern over the need for tolerance and “religious democracy” was expressed in virtually all of the debates and workshops attended by the roughly 3,300 participants in the assembly, which began Feb. 14 in the Pontifical University of Porto Alegre, the capital of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The crisis that broke out after a conservative Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons depicting Muhammad was one of the most widely discussed issues at the assembly.

The cartoons, which were republished by newspapers and magazines in Europe and around the world after they initially appeared in Denmark on Sept. 30, sparked outrage across the Middle East that gradually escalated over the last few months, eventually leaving dozens dead in violent protests.

“Religion is often used as a subterfuge for other problems that have nothing to do with religiosity,” Bishop Margot Käsmann of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hannover, Germany told IPS.

It is the task of Christian churches in Europe to establish and foment dialogue with their counterparts in the United States, as a route towards “neutralising the interventionist policy” of the government of George W. Bush, said Colin Williams, Emeritus of Lancaster in the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn, England, and secretary-general of the Conference of European Churches.

“We must support churches in the United States, help as far as possible to search for dialogue and peace, without violence, and against interventionism,” he told IPS.

Catholicos Aram I, of the Armenian Apostolic Church and moderator of the World Council of Churches, said people of all faiths “must live as a community, recognising and respecting our diversities. Whether we like it or not, we are neighbours. We are no longer strangers …We cannot impose our traditions on our neighbours.”

The roots of these conflicts can be traced to two different sources, said Elías Crisóstomo Abramides, an Argentine ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, a Greek orthodox church founded in Turkey.

One of these relates to invasions of countries, such as those that have taken place in the Caribbean, Afghanistan, and more recently, in Iraq.

The second stems from the differences between the Christian and Islamic worlds. “Because we are a Christian church born in Turkey, surrounded by Muslims on all sides, we have a commitment to seek mediation in this conflict,” said Abramides. “Respect and dialogue are the keys to finding the road to peace,” he commented to IPS.

Meanwhile, the religious leaders gathered in Porto Alegre were critical of the cartoons published by the Danish newspaper. “The cartoons sparked the fire, and now the question is how to put it out. Christians and Muslims must work together to promote dialogue,” said Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the WCC and an ordained minister in the Methodist Church of Kenya.

Henry Sobel, chief rabbi of the Israelite Congregation of Sao Paulo, Brazil, launched a manifesto at the WCC meeting stressing the importance of freedom of expression as a fundamental principle of democracy and an inalienable right of human beings, which must always be preserved. But, he added, so must respect for others.

“If it is not accompanied by respect for others, (freedom of expression) can become destructive,” he maintained. “The only way to build a more peaceful world is to seek to understand the point of view of others and respect what is sacred to others,” he added.

These observations also call to mind problems faced by Christians within their own communities, which were also addressed by the Assembly.

The Geneva-based WCC brings together more than 340 churches, denominations and church fellowships around the world, including eastern orthodox churches, major Protestant denominations such as Anglican, Baptist and Lutheran, and united and independent churches. It represents some 550 million Christians, but does not include members of the Roman Catholic Church, the world’s largest Christian denomination.

The division of Christians among so many different churches poses a serious challenge to the WCC. “What separates Christians is the fact that some think they are better than others. We must first accept and understand one another mutually in order to unite,” said Rev. Ezamo Murry, a representative of the Council of Baptist Churches of North-East India.

For his part, Dioskoros Hagos of the Eritrean Orthodox Church lamented that Christians are separated by differences in dogma and rules, when Jesus Christ signifies unity though the church established by his blood.

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