Today is International Women’s Day. It is a day to celebrate the contributions of women to the well being of the world. And a day to remember the need to continue to work for women to have complete access to human rights and power so that they can offer their contributions to society the world over.
This is also a day to remember Tawakkol Karman, a journalist from Yemen who has spent her life working for freedom of the press, full inclusion of women, and democracy in Yemen, in Arab countries, and around the world. Karman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia. Karman is the first Yemeni to receive a Nobel Prize. She is the first Arab woman to receive a Nobel Prize. She is the second Muslim woman to receive a Nobel Prize. And she is the youngest Nobel Peace Laureate in the history of the prize.
In her Nobel acceptance speech, Karman, a journalist referred to the strong religious traditions of peace that come from the Middle East:
Since the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, millions of people have died in wars which could have been avoided with a little wisdom and courage. The Arab countries had their share in these tragic wars, though their land is the land of prophecies and divine messages calling for peace. From this land came the Torah carrying the message: “Thou shalt not kill” and the Bible promising: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and the final message of the Koran urging “O ye who believe, enter ye into the peace, one and all.” And the warning that “whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind.”
However, in spite of its great scientific achievements, the history of humanity is stained with blood. Millions have fallen victims in the rise and fall of kingdoms. That is what ancient history tells us and what recent history confirms! Today’s recent evidence tells us that the essence of messages calling for peace has repeatedly been trampled, and the human conscience has often been overrun by the voice of warplanes, rocket and missile launchers, bombs and all means of killing!
Karman offers us a stark view of the weakness of the church and the Christian community to truly adhere to the teachings of our faith. We have ignored and even rebelled against Christian teachings of peace. Many of the leaders of our country and countries around the world claim Christianity as their faith. Countless voters in the US and around the world consider themselves Christians. And what do we have to show for it? Where is the commitment to peace that was at the heart of the life of Jesus?
Prayer: We give thanks for women and men around the world who work for peace in many settings from their homes and villages to the community of nations. We pray that we would have the courage to nurture the teachings of peace at the heart of the message of Jesus. May we, like Tawakkol Karman, take the risks needed to truly be peacemakers. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 