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ANNUAL Board MEETING: Dr. Reiss Potterveld, "How words create reality" Sunday, January 27, 2008
"Axis" suggests a working link between the countries so designated by President Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address – North Korea, Iran and Iraq – when there was no such link between them. The word is evocative of the "enemy" powers of WW II. We have a history of expectation in this country that if people are "illegal," they give up certain rights, hence the term "illegal combatants." Such constructs are used to "delegitimize, control and dominate public conversation." Such perjorative and stigmatized terms are used to justify "the deliberate infliction of violence." The media seizes on the rhetoric which then becomes the lens imposed on public discourse. Potterveld noted the importance of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (www.nrcat.org) to counter the mistreatment of war prisoners. The day's agenda included a review of LIPW activity in 2007, and group discussion on priorities for the next two years. Concern about violence was the integrating theme in the issues raised by the meeting – violence in our society, death penalty, immigration, gun violence and nuclear proliferation. Efforts to end the Iraq war, it was suggested, should be ongoing. The meeting was attended by around 50 people. A letter regarding the situation in Gaza was sent to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. It was signed by 18 people at the Meeting. Read the letter here. ~ Summary by Robert Lowing & Urbane Peachey
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The second Annual Meeting of the Lancaster Interchurch Peace Witness (LIPW) was held at Friends Meeting House in Lancaster on January 27, 2008. "How Words Create Reality" set the tone for the meeting, the theme of the address by the President of Lancaster Theological Seminary, Dr. Reiss Potterveld. The guiding examples for the theme given by the speaker were "axis of evil" and "illegal combatants."