Czech Ecumenical Council of Churches supports services for overcoming violence on 1 May

Joel Ruml, the chair of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic and a synod elder of the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren has expressed his support for a religious service planned for 1 May to express resistance to the neo-Nazi actions on that date. Addressing the organizers of the service, Ruml said, “The ecumenical religious service gathering you are preparing in Brno is a response to the planned extremist march. Extremist ideas do nothing but divide people and encourage them to view some differently than others. Once such ideas find fertile ground and public acceptance, any other ideas – even those held by the majority – are rendered invisible.”

The aim of the religious service is to stand up to violence through the power of prayer, to express rejection of extremism, and to carry on the Decade to Overcome Violence announced in 2001 by the World Council of Churches (http://overcomingviolence.org/). “As Christians we are disturbed by the rising activities of neo-Nazis and we have therefore decided to meet for an ecumenical religious service to overcome the violence of neo-Nazism,” organizers say.

The services will include readings from Holy Writ, prayers, communal reading of the Psalms, and songs from the Taizé religious community. The organizers are also planning to read testimonies by those who remember the Nazi era and greetings from church representatives. Participants will hold lighted candles, which organizers say will symbolize the light of Christ’s love overcoming the darkness of violence. The services will not be held anywhere along the routes announced for the neo-Nazi march.