Decade to Overcome Violence focuses on the United States in 2004.

"The Power and Promise of Peace" is the 2004 theme for the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV) focus on the United States. DOV is a program of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

A worship service on Monday, Jan. 12 in New York opened a two-day DOV meeting by lifting up the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The meeting gathered denominational representatives, a DOV reference group, and an international advisory group to draw up a calendar of events dedicated to strengthening American churches and movements working for peace.

The WCC Central Committee chose to focus on the U.S. in 2004 on the basis of courageous opposition of American churches to the war in Iraq, and their efforts to alleviate suffering at home and abroad. The committee also highlighted work by U.S. churches on domestic violence, gun control, and restorative justice. At the same time, the committee evoked American problems of poverty, violence, racism, interfaith relations, migration, and inequality in education and employment, as well as what it saw as the unchallenged power of the U.S. to disregard the international order and ignore the concerns of the world's populations.

This is the third year in a row that DOV has targeted a particular region. In 2003 the focus was on Sudan, while in 2002 it was on Israel and Palestine.

Source: Newsline 1/16/2004
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