A group of 17 Reformed theologians from around the world has released a statement saying that Christians must resist global empire, which represents a massive threat to life of all kinds.
The theologians said global empire is a critical theological and political issue and they urged a broad debate among theologians and religious people. They drew on the stubborn resistance to empire of both the Hebrew prophets and the Galilean Jesus in their critique.The statement read: “This new reality has economic, political, social, cultural, religious and spiritual dimensions. It presents life and death challenges for Christians, as the empire uses religion to justify its domination and violence and makes claims that belong to God alone.”
The Manila Declaration originated in the call of the 24th General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) at Accra, Ghana, in 2004, which called for faith-based resistance to the global empire.
It is the result of an international consultation titled “Theological Analysis and Action on Global Empire Today” which took place in Manila, Philippines, 13 to 15 July and was organised by WARC’s Covenanting for Justice Project.
The statement calls on the 218 member churches of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) to resist empire and to build peaceful communities.
It also urges the wider ecumenical movement to join in the process of analysing their relationship with empire and resisting it.
“We ask all churches whose missions and peoples have historically been involved in empire building to seriously scrutinise - in partnership with the victims of their imperial past - their structure, teaching, liturgy, funding agencies and policies as well as their political allegiances, in order to repent and reshape their life in all aspects in the spirit of the anti-imperial biblical heritage.”The statement says that there are two key aspects to global empire today: neoliberal capitalistic globalisation and global militarisation.
