Minneapolis conference report

Minnesota Conference a Great Success

The "Every Church A Peace Church" conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 19,20, 2002 asked a hard question: "Why is Jesus against Christianity?" Keynote speaker Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer told more than 300 people in attendance that Christian images of a violent God betray the explicit teaching and example of Jesus. "This puts Jesus in opposition to Christianity," said Nelson-Pallmeyer.

The speaker quoted Old and new Testament Bible texts which attribute "pathological violence" to God, and called on followers of Jesus to repudiate the claims of these texts. "People of faith," he said, "have little choice but to make a choice: Either God is a pathological killer because the Bible says so, or the Bible is sometimes wrong about God."

Nelson-Pallmeyer, a university teaacher and auther, claimed that Jesus took sides on that choice when he taught love of enemies and presented his teaching as a radical alternative to the received tradition. "Jesus is against war-justifying Christianity," said Nelson-Pallmeyer.

The conference was hosted by the Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) committee of Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolis. More than 30 Minnesota churches and peace organizations co-sponsored the event.

Workshop topics included "Conscientious Objection: The Right to Refust to Kill," "the Church and the Just War Theory," "The Power of Nonviolence," and "Challenges for Nonviolent Youth."

Every church A Peace Church is a national movement to restore the life and teachings to a central place in the church. In his book JESUS AGAINST CHRISTIANITY: RECLAIMING THE MISSING JESUS, Nelson-Pallmeyer says, "Christianity has followed the Apostles' Creed in passing over the life and teachings of Jesus with a comma."

The Minneapolis conference was the third in a series of Every Church A Peace Church conferences around the country. More information is available at the website www.ecapc.org.

Dick Bernard of Woodbury, MN attended the conference. He wrote that he was "tremendously impressed" and sent the address of his new website look at it

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