wfn.org | Clergyman to continue School of the Americas protest

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 18, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.     10-32-71B{574}

NOTE:   A photo is available for use with this story.

By Sandra Brands*

Fresh from three months in prison, the Rev. Charles Butler  says he will
participate in a School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) protest at Fort
Benning, Ga., next November, but will not trespass on government property
again.

The 73-year-old retired United Methodist pastor does not want to back to
jail.

"It would be for six months if I am convicted again," he said. "I do plan to
go back, but I want to discover a new way to protest."

Butler said he also plans to attend SOAW activities March 29-April 3 in
Washington.

He was one of nine defendants found guilty March 10 of violating a ban
barring protestors from entering the School of the Americas property.  The
nine had been among 12,000 SOAW protestors who gathered at the gates of Fort
Benning in November 1999 to call for the school's closing. 

The 53-year-old school - which trains 900 to 2,000 soldiers annually - has
been under fire for its connection with human rights abuses allegedly
perpetuated by its graduates.

"You wonder how many people have to go to prison before the voting public
asks why are these people going to prison," Butler said. "Many people still
haven't heard of the School of the Americas - and the only way people seem
to hear about it is when someone like myself goes to prison."

Butler was sentenced in June to three months in prison and a $2,500 fine. He
entered the low-medium security federal prison in Waseca, Minn., Sept. 24,
and was released the day after Thanksgiving.

"I'm glad I had the experience now, at my age, because I think several years
before this, I would have had some difficulties with my self image," said
Butler after his release. "Every time we had a visitor we'd have to go
through the same thing. We'd have to take our clothes off and they'd check
to see if the visitor had passed us drugs..."

Butler expressed gratitude to those who supported him during the trial,
sentencing and imprisonment, including the congregation at Christ United
Methodist Church in Rochester, Minn., which paid Butler's $2,500 fine, held
prayer vigils and helped his wife, retired pastor Marilyn Butler. He also
expressed thanks for the visits of Minnesota Bishop John L. Hopkins and the
Rev. Rick Ormsby, superintendent of the conference's Southeast District.

Butler said he received an average of 10 letters of support a day during his
incarceration, including messages written by members of his daughter's
congregation. The Rev. Beverly Butler is a United Methodist chaplain at a
nursing home in Norwich, N.Y., and pastor of a United Methodist church in
New Berlin, N.Y.

Fellow prisoners in Waseca also offered support, he said. "When I first got
there, word had already gotten around that there was a preacher coming in.
Most of the prisoners understood why I was there and thought it was
admirable. A number came up to me and said, 'We appreciate what you're
doing'." 

During his stay, Butler said he educated prisoners about the School of the
Americas, led Bible studies in Spanish for Hispanic prisoners, and mentored
a prisoner who "felt God had sent me to prison for him, to help him in his
struggle ... he feels that God is calling him. He was always protective of
me so that I didn't unknowingly get into trouble."

A native of Alabama, Butler served at Fort Benning when he was in the U.S.
Army 1945-46.  Later, he spent 25 years as a missionary in Panama before
returning to the United States in 1978.  During that period, the School of
the Americas was based in Panama but Butler said he didn't know much about
it.  The school moved to Fort Benning in 1985.  

Upon returning from Panama, Butler served two churches in the Alabama-West
Florida Conference. When his wife, Marilyn, felt the call to ministry, the
Butlers transferred their  membership to the Iowa Conference and served
churches in the Ottumwa area. When they retired, they transferred their
membership to the Minnesota Annual Conference.

In May of 1998, the United Methodist Council of Bishops passed a resolution
urging President Clinton and Congress to close the School of the Americas.
Delegates to the United Methodist General Conference, meeting in Cleveland
in May, also approved a four-page resolution calling on the Clinton and the
Congress to close the school.  The top legislative body of 1,000 delegates
is the only group that can speak officially for the church. 

The delegates asked that the $20 million in funding provided to the school
each year be redirected to "sustainable living and conflict resolution in
Latin America, not to further militarize societies."

United Methodists were asked to "work actively" to close the school and to
"educate and inform others about closing the school."    

# # #

*Brands is editor of Northern Spirit, newsmagazine of the Minnesota Annual
Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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