Source: Religion News Service
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, October 10, 2002: The Global Peace Initiative of Women ended three days of meeting Wednesday, decrying all forms of violence and seeking to forge new strategies to bring peace to areas engulfed in conflict. Some 500 delegates from more than 75 nations ended the meeting with a statement, “The Geneva Declaration of Women for Global Harmony, Peace and Justice,” that said they condemn “all forms of violence against women whether in the name of religion, custom or tradition, and call upon the world community to outlaw all inhumane and barbaric forms of punishment deployed against women.” The meeting was generated by the Millennium World Peace Summit in August, 2000, which brought more than 2,000 religious and spiritual leaders to the United Nations in New York City. “The operative word is ‘respect.’ Respect means that you can’t force anyone to pursue God in your way, and no one else can force you to pursue God their way,” said the Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from Ellicott City, Maryland. “Education is key, for many women don’t know their rights, even within their own families,” said Joan Helpern, cofounder of Joan & David, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. Delegates in Geneva, who repeatedly stressed that politics without spirituality is doomed to failure, called for a greater reliance on the power of prayer. They declared November 3 as a Worldwide Day of Prayer for Peace. On this day, women religious leaders across the globe will wear white ribbons and are asking their congregates and followers do the same.