NCC Japan: Peace and Nuclear Issues

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

First Preference:
Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)
Second Preference:
Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)
04 July 2013
christian conference of Asia, Asia christianity

Peace and Nuclear Issues: Statement by NCC-Japan

Japan is entering a very critical phase in terms of how the people of Japan interpret and treat their Constitution and nuclear issues. Many are apprehensive about calls by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to amend the country's pacifist constitution and to give the government more power to abridge civil liberties. The National Council of Churches in Japan, through the Peace and Nuclear Issue Committee, has issued a statement titled Our Posture regarding these issues. The Statement deals with Peace and Nuclear issues separately. A gist of the statement is given below.

Our Posture

Peace

After the Prime Minister Abe returned to power, he has been declaring in public that he would amend the Constitution. This move to amend the Constitution would not be for the better but for the worse. Through these amendments the Abe administration intends to approve the use of the right of collective self-defense, to revive the Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security (APRLBS) and disregard Article 9 of the Constitution, thus overturning people’s sovereignty, pacifism and basic human rights. They stand firmly against tolerating such a move that threatens peace and human rights. Their opinion is that the Constitution is approved and accepted by the Japanese people and the responsibility of upholding and respecting it by the Diet members is a constitutional obligation. Any attempt to change the procedures involved in amending the constitution, for the sole purpose to make it easier for the Government to make changes, by keeping out the voice of the people, is a betrayal of the people of Japan.

The statement affirms with pride that Article 9 is a treasure of the world which was recognized at the Hague Appeal for Peace Civil Society Conference in 1999 and appreciated by many countries, some of whom have already adopted this. Strongly condemning attempts to tamper with Article 9 the statement emphasizes “Japan must not change the Article 9 of the Constitution. The Bible says, “All who take the sword will perish by the sword.” History has proved that peace cannot be made with arms.

Declaring an emphatic NO regarding the US military bases that have been installed at various places in Japan under the Japan-US Security Treaty, the statement pointed out that, “The bases do not protect Japan’s security, but rather are creating various dangers. We would like to follow the word of Christ who said, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.

On the Nuclear Issue

The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March, 2011, caused four reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of the Tokyo Electric Power Company to bring about a huge disaster of the Level 7 pollution, the same level as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The victims’ “rights to evacuation” have not been guaranteed, and their relief has not been in progress. The pollution spread nationwide, and their spill into the sea is especially enormous, the worst ever in history.

In order to prevent such a tragedy from being repeated and in order to protect all living things on the Earth that were created by God, the statement underlined the necessity of stopping all the nuclear power plants and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the country immediately. To the question whether nuclear power plants could be restarted if their safety is guaranteed, we are faced with another question about the dangers of the staggering quantities of nuclear waste that is generated. Reportedly, the nuclear wastes that have been generated so far from the nuclear power plants in Japan, are as much as those equal to 1.2 million atomic bombs on Hiroshima. With no place to dispose this, the entire country and gradually the whole world will pay for this dearly.

Stating that Nuclear power plants are built upon the sacrifices of the weak such as their construction site workers, who are over exposed to radiation and are not aware of the dangers, attention is called to the issue of social justice saying, “We cannot tolerate nuclear power plants that are built upon the sacrifices of the socially weak. We would like to walk by following Christ who stood on the side of the weak and the little, liberated the oppressed, and broke the yoke of evil.” The statement concludes that Nukes and humankind cannot coexist, and the need of the day is to change our way of life. We need to change this society from being one of greed and competition to a society of sufficiency and coexistence.

Kindly read the full text of the statement at http://ncc-j.org/eng/

http://ncc-j.org/uploads/photos/89.pdf