and rule in our hearts and lives. I cannot bring peace to others if I am myself a walking battlefield.
In their document Choose Life3 the Inter-Church Group on Faith and Politics makes a declaration of faith and commitment. The Group is sponsored by Corrymeela, the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation and the Irish School of Ecumenics. Within six months of its publication some 34,000 copies of their declaration had been distributed. They say:
The whole of creation belongs to God. All human beings are made in God's image. All human life is sacred. Therefore: - we believe that all our land belongs to God: not to Unionists or Nationalists. All of us have to live in it and share it together. We believe that all human life is sacred. All Christians must recognise that murder is evil by whomsoever and for whatsoever reason it is committed. The sin of murder is shared by those who co-operate in it whether before, during or after its execution ... our differences are no excuse for refusing to seek reconciliation with God and with each other.
The Churches need not wait on events to start getting their relationships right. Catholicism has been over-identified with Gaelic/Nationalist culture. Northern Irish Protestantism has been over-identified with the Unionist ascendency and with the Orange Order. The Church's concern must be with the whole of society. When the Church fails to seek reconciliation it ceases to be a Sign of God's Kingdom. While locked in division it cannot reflect the Kingdom and without bold manifestations of Christian love no one will take its mission seriously. In places such as Limavady4 where the Presbyterian Minister, David Armstrong, did reach out across the divide it was not without a price. He was spat at, ostracised and rejected. Churches who claim the Cross of Christ know only too well that the Cross is not a symbol of success, but of pain and rejection. Yet death on the Cross was the precursor for total renewal. The Church must own up to its share of the blame for what has happened in the North of Ireland. It will have to learn how to pray and worship together. It may find the starting point for co-operation (as in Liverpool) will be most easily discovered in working for commonly agreed values (e.g. social justice, respect for life, and active compassion towards the needy). Certainly, one of the most fruitful