A conference focused on the role of churches in situations where the rule of law has broken down or is under threat is set to open Sunday in Geneva, Switzerland. The two-day event, Churches and the Rule of Law, runs from 28 October to 30 October at the John Knox International Reformed Centre.
Conference organizer, Douwe Visser, says the event is designed to strengthen the ability of churches to play an effective role in countries where the rule of law is fragile due to weak political structures. Visser, who heads the theology programme of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, says aid and human rights organizations often choose to work with churches because they can provide trustworthy structures.
“It is more and more often the case that non-governmental organizations and international agencies such as the United Nations are turning to the churches for assistance when law and order in a country is not so robust”, Visser says. “This conference is intended to help churches better understand what they can do in those situations.”
Featured speakers include Carlos Lopez of the International Commission of Jurists and Elizabeth van der Heide of the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism in the Netherlands. Martin Robra of the World Council of Churches and John Langlois of the World
Evangelical Alliance will address the theme from the perspective of global church organizations.
Visser notes that up to now, churches have tended to respond to concerns about human rights abuses or the collapse of law and order on a case-by-case basis. The conference, he says, is intended to expand churches’ understanding of their potential role in strengthening social stability by introducing them to the broader principles of the rule of law.
At the same time, Visser recognizes that churches need to grapple with cases in which they consider themselves to be above the law. He cites situations in Europe and North America where churches seek to bypass laws such as those ensuring the rights of homosexual
persons to marry or those which protect gay and lesbian people from discrimination in hiring practices.Thirty-eight participants from churches and non-governmental organizations in Africa, Asia, North America, the Pacific and Europe, including Switzerland, have registered for the event.