The Christian community must renounce all forms of violence against women and acknowledge 'the sad truth" that churches are not always a place where women can find protection from violence, a prominent United States theologian told a meeting in Geneva of the World Council of Churches Central Committee.

Delores Williams, who is Professor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and who has a high profile in church discussions of the role of women, said that violence perpetrated against women world wide was "an atrocious malady". The Christian community, she said "must fulfill its mission by renouncing violence against women- physical bruises, emotional scars and spiritual pains". When the church "does not embrace justice, peace, love and care, it becomes an empty house, not the domicile of God in Jesus Christ", Williams, a Presbyterian, told the meeting. "Churches should be in agreement that there cannot be holiness and unity until the church agrees to combat violence in all its forms and especially against women".

Williams addressed the issue of violence against women - one of three "case studies" presented in September- as the central committee prepared to conclude a study on ecclesiology and ethics and send its report to member churches. The connection between ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) and ethics (the moral convictions that drive the actions of the church) has been disputed within the ecumencial movement for most of the 20th century.

Bishop John Neill of the Church of Ireland, reporting on a series of visits to WCC member churches as part of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women, said that "the complicity of the church in violence against women surfaced in every visitation report". He said the phenomenon of violence against women cut across all socio-economic, cultural and geographical lines. "The sad truth is that the church is not a place where women can find protection, support and advocacy".

Anna Marie Aagaard, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark and a president of the WCC said when introducing the session: "The basic aim of the current study is to articulate once again that being and doing cannot be separated". The other two case studies were presented by Gordon Gray, a Presbyterian pastor-who addressed the issue of sectarian violence in his native Northern Ireland and John de Gruchy, theology professor in Cape Town- on the relation of ecclesiology and ethics in the South African churches' struggle against apartheid.