A Roller-Coaster Ride in Colombia

AFTER 52 YEARS of war and four years of negotiations, a peace accord was signed in late September between the Colombian government and FARC rebels. Six days later, a national referendum failed to bring the accord into force.

Within a few days of the referendum, a massive popular movement took to the streets of Colombia’s major cities to ensure that negotiations continued. Then, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, but not his FARC counterpart, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

These events have been a roller-coaster ride for Colombian churches, which have been working toward this accord for decades. Colombian Christians have played an important, if often behind-the-scenes, role in advancing peace in this country.

The Catholic Church helped facilitate the highly secret early dialogue between government and rebel leaders, paving the way for the current peace process. Mennonites have worked for more than 25 years for the right to conscientious objection in a country with mandatory military service for all males. In a landmark decision, this year the Colombian military officially granted conscientious objector status to a potential recruit, Juan José Marín Gómez.

In 2015, FARC guerrillas called on “civil society and churches” to monitor their unilateral ceasefire. The Interchurch Dialogue for Peace in Colombia (DiPaz), which includes Protestants, Anabaptists, and Catholics, jumped at the opportunity. “We worked with other civil society organizations and contacted networks of churches all over Colombia, seeking information any time there were reports of a possible ceasefire violation,” said Angélica Rincón, who coordinated the monitoring for DiPaz. “In one of our first surveys, we heard back from numerous pastors in conflict areas saying that this was the most peace they had ever experienced.” The ceasefire held, and conflict-related violence dropped to the lowest levels in more than 50 years.

DiPaz and the Colombian Conference of Catholic Bishops were asked to facilitate ceremonies when the government or FARC asked forgiveness for atrocities committed during the war. For example, in December 2015 the Colombian government returned bodies of 29 “disappeared” persons to their families. A Pentecostal pastor, two Mennonite lay leaders, and a Catholic priest presided over the ceremony.

Then came the October referendum. President Santos asked Colombians to vote the 297-page peace accord up or down, a strategy aimed to give Santos political support to implement the accord. When the final tally came in, 50.2 percent voted against and 49.8 percent voted in support. Colombians, including the Christian community, were split down the middle. Many Protestant and Anabaptist churches spoke in favor of the accord, while Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches voiced opposition.

The opposition felt the accord was too lenient with FARC rebels. The war had left at least 220,000 dead and nearly 5 million displaced. Some felt that FARC was gaining too much political power in Congress; others that the demobilization payouts were too generous.

One curious aspect seemed to define the religious opposition: the perception that the peace accord contained a hidden “gender ideology,” promoting an LGBTQ agenda that would destroy the traditional family.

“My compatriots march in defense of family values,” declared Álvaro Uribe, the conservative former president who rallied religious voters against the peace deal of Santos, his political rival. If this had not been used as a wedge issue, the peace accord likely would have passed in the plebiscite.

Both the FARC leadership and President Santos have pledged to maintain the bilateral ceasefire and continue to work for securing the peace. Colombian churches will continue to be steadfast and resolute in their faith commitment to peace with justice for all.