Militarism working group offers educational event on security and its use to justify military action

Dec. 7 webinar will be hosted by Presbyterian Mission Agency ministries and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

by Kathy Melvin | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Militarism Working Group has scheduled a 90-minute webinar on security and how it is used to justify military action.

The militarism working group includes the Compassion, Peace & Justice and World Mission ministries and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.

This is the first in a series of educational webinars called “Connecting the Dots.”

Speakers from Korea, Colombia and the United States will examine the theological foundation for Christians in relation to the concept of security and examine how that plays out in each context. Spanish and Korean translation will be available.

The Rev. Deborah Lee

Speakers include the Rev. Deborah Lee, executive director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity. Lee is a founding member of Women for Genuine Security and the International Women’s Network Against Militarism, which seeks to hold the U.S. government accountable for the violence, sexual exploitation and the economic and environmental effects of U.S. militarism in the many countries which host U.S. bases. She has consistently sought to strengthen the voice and role of faith communities in today’s social movements. As an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Lee’s leadership has been recognized as visionary and impactful and has garnered Lee national and international awards.

The Rev. Milton Mejía

The Rev. Milton Mejía is vice president for outreach at the Reformed University in Barranquilla, Colombia, and a junior researcher with Colombia’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. A doctoral candidate in social sciences, he has a Master of Theological Studies degree from McCormick Theological Seminary and a theology degree from the Reformed University. He represents the Presbyterian Church of Colombia with the ecumenical platform DIPaz in accompanying the peace accord implementation process, working directly with individuals who signed on to the peace accords after having held membership in the FARC guerrilla group. These individuals have been working to develop alternative proposals for peace and sustainable development alongside some of Colombia’s vulnerable rural communities.

Prof. Kiho Yi

Kiho Yi is a professor and dean of the Graduate School of Social Innovation Business and the executive director of Center for Peace and Public Integrity in Hanshin University, South Korea.  He founded a nongovernmental organization named ARI (Asia Regional Initiative) working with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability around 2008 and also worked as the  secretary general of the Korea Peace Forum from 2003 to 2006, focusing on peace and cooperation issues between North Korea and South Korea in the context of northeast Asian cooperation. From 1999 to 2002, Yi was a visiting scholar at Waseda University in Japan, looking at the local and transnational civil movement and its links to peace in East Asia. Before 1999, he worked for 10 years in the Korean Christian Academy, where he was in charge of Korean political changes and global peace networks.

The webinar is open to all, but registration is required. Register here.