wfn.org | Ohio United Methodists urge restraint to Congress

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 27, 2001    News media contact: Joretta Purdue 7(202)
546-87227Washington    10-21-71BP{430}

NOTE: A photograph is available.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - A United Methodist delegation from Ohio flew to the
nation's capital two weeks after the disastrous terrorist attacks on America
to carry a message of restraint to members of the state's congressional
delegation.

In a Sept. 26 meeting with Sen. George V. Voinovich, the trio from the East
Ohio Conference delivered a message on behalf of Bishop Bruce R. Ough and
his cabinet. 

"I think we did connect with him," said the Rev. John W. Edgar,
superintendent of the Columbus South District. He said he believed Voinovich
heard their message about the need "to maintain that creative tension" in
finding a faithful response to the events of Sept. 11. 

Stanley T. Ling, a conference council director, and Sue Wolfe Schoener, a
local church consultant with the conference, also expressed appreciation for
the senator's moderate stand during the Balkan conflict. They were
accompanied by Linda Bales, a new Board of Church and Society staff member,
also from Ohio. Voinovich's legislative aide, Joni Crosley, a member of St.
Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, talked with the group while
they waited for the senator.

Edgar told Voinovich that he was hearing United Methodists express, first, a
desire to help rebuild the lives of those people who were directly harmed,
and second, a desire for justice through a measured and controlled response.

"These folks are criminals," Edgar said of the terrorists. "We American
people know how to deal with criminals," he said, mentioning courts and
trials. "That's not the same as saying we are going to make war on Afghan
peasants."

Ling mentioned that United Methodist churches had been offering care to
people through special worship services and through contributions to the
church's aid agency, the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Bales said she was glad the United States was paying its dues to the United
Nations and that perhaps a positive result of these events would be a
lasting effort to address critical issues throughout the world
collaboratively.

"I believe terrorism is a prelude to Armageddon," Voinovich, a Roman
Catholic, told the United Methodists. "There are a variety of things we need
to do."

He named actions to promote peace, such as actively pushing for equitable
compromise in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and getting the Middle
Eastern nations to use some of their vast wealth to address the poverty in
their own nations and that part of the world.

"We have to be very patient," Voinovich said. "There is going to have to be
some military action taken, but there are other things that are just as
important."

Afterward, Edgar expressed gratitude that the meeting with the senator ended
with a prayer. Ling agreed and went on to note that what is said from the
pulpits at times such as these is important.

"The words we choose are almost as important as the actions we choose,"
Schoener said.

"We need as a nation to be self-reflective," Edgar said. He views President
Bush's reference to being at war as "more a metaphor," he said.

After the face-to-face conversation with Voinovich, the group went on to
visit with staff in the offices of Mike DeWine, the state's other senator,
and U.S. Rep. Tony Hall. Edgar said DeWine's aide reported that the
senator's constituent mail is evenly divided between people urging peaceful
solutions and those urging military actions.

The hastily arranged trip to Washington resulted from plans made by the
bishop and cabinet at a Sept. 19 meeting, where they discussed opportunities
for leadership and service in response to the recent events. 

They decided on a message to area church members through the conference
newspaper. In it, they deplored the devastation of Sept. 11 and condemned
war as being incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ. They
shared the same message with their congressional representatives through the
delegation and letters. 

An Oct. 5 worship service at the conference center will feature Jamal Sadoun
of Columbus, representing the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The
service will include an opportunity for participants to write postcards to
decision-makers in Washington.

A third component of the cabinet's plans involves developing a six-week
study on being people of peace and overcoming evil with good, Ling said.
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United Methodist News Service
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