| Stop the killing. Now! bishop says By Ciona Rouse
UMConnection Staff Two prominent United Methodists joined with other religious leaders in the nations capital to support a call for a peaceful resolution to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians.  Saying the faith community is called to provide hope to the people of the Middle East, Bishop Felton Edwin May and the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, pastor of Foundry UMC in Washington, D.C., added their endorsements to the Alexandria Declaration. They were among 11 leaders who voiced support March 27 for the document. The result of a collaborative effort by Jewish, Islamic and Christian religious and government leaders in the Holy Land, the declaration was adopted Jan. 21 at an interfaith summit in Alexandria, Egypt. It puts forth six calls for action, including a religiously sanctioned cease-fire, respected and observed on all sides. The United Methodist Church has long been active in seeking peace in the Middle East, Bishop May said. Our purpose is not to judge either side but to call both sides to the kind of creative compromises that can bring peace. United Methodists as people of faith are called to offer hope to those who suffer, he said. The bishop spoke about a recent delegation of four United Methodist bishops, two general agency top executives and a staff member who traveled to Jerusalem in February. Holy Week is a time of hope, hope made flesh in Jesus, the Christ. There can be no hope without being agents of reconciliation, he declared. Religious leaders cannot pretend to be the experts on all the complex issues of statecraft, Bishop May said. We do speak with one voice and the deepest authority of our religious traditions when we say, stop the killing. Now! Wogaman said that people on both sides of the struggle have a false hope that violence will deliver peace. He said faithful people must offer another solution. We need to remember the immense importance of hope in the midst of this, hope that the future is going to be very different from the present, Wogaman stressed. The religious leaders said their support of the Alexandria document will serve as a sign of hope for the people of the Holy Land. The Alexandria Declaration signals a new possibility for justice, peace and security for all the peoples of that land, holy to three faiths, said Episcopal Bishop Allen Bartlett, of the Diocese of Washington. We enthusiastically endorse the declaration and pledge our support of its principles. Beyond acknowledging the support of their Middle Eastern counterparts, the Washington religious leaders emphasized the need for the faith community in the United States to pray and actively offer hope to the Holy Land. Bartlett announced a May 5 interfaith prayer vigil at the National Cathedral in Washington. A similar vigil will be held at the same time in Jerusalem. Ecumenical prayer vigils have been held daily since December 2000 across the United States, said the Rev. Mark Brown, director of government relations for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He also mentioned a World Council of Churches program in which religious leaders accompany activists in the Holy Land to bring peace nonviolently. Other Washington religious leaders who endorsed the Alexandria Declaration included Jews, Muslims, a Catholic priest, an Orthodox bishop and a Presbyterian. | 
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