The tradition of non-violent resistance must be resurrected and embraced by ordinary citizens around the world as a means of ending violence, urged a visiting Anglican Bishop yesterday.

Speaking at the lunchtime meeting of the Hamilton Rotary Club, the Right Reverend Sehon Goodridge, Bishop of the Windward Islands, delivered what amounted to a lecture on the meaning and causes of violence, theories of resistance against oppression throughout the ages and the Christian perspective.

"Today we have to face the threat of total destruction, on a scale incompatible with any criteria either of political calculation or military necessity," he said.

"Nuclear war would be total, not because of the political objectives of warring nations but because of the military tools employed.

"Both on moral and prudential grounds it has become evident that war should not be limited but should be abolished."

And he urged everyone to do their part in taking on an increasingly violent world.

"The burden lies with us to explore the tradition of non-violent resistance, as practised by Ghandi and Dr. King," he told The Royal Gazette.

"But we need some training, and a real commitment.

"What it comes down to is it behoves each one of us to be channels for peace."

He said: "Violence is a feature of our world today... and the worst aspect of this is the evasive warfare of terrorism which rocked the world on September 11 and still continues as a feature of our world.

"I'm not so sure that terrorism can be defeated by conventional warfare - that's the dilemma we face today."

He argued that institutions like the United Nations must be strengthened.

"When the United Nations can't go and look at some place that was bombed, where are we going? " he asked

Apathy, he added, was not an option.

"We're all in this together.

"Wherever these things exist we cannot just say it's got nothing to do with us," he said.

"I came through Barbados and New York and there were all these checks and I felt am I a potential terrorist ?

"You feel this is not the way the world is supposed to be.

"Some human beings are paying for others."

The Bishop is on the Island as a guest of the Anglican church which is celebrating a mission week.

The week will culminate with a service at Victoria Park on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.