wfn.org | UCC leaders release statement of caution and lament over war in

[powellb@ucc.org]

Afghanistan
Oct. 12, 2001
Communication Office
United Church of Christ
Ron Buford, press contact
(216) 736-2180
<bufordr@ucc.org>
web:  <http://www.ucc.org>

Today, the United Church of Christ
s national officers released this
statement of caution and lament to the nation, praying Lord, have mercy:

     The initiation of military action by the United States against
Afghanistan opens a painful and dangerous new chapter in the tragic story
that began a month ago in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.  As we
wept over the images of fallen towers in nearby New York, we now weep over
scenes of death and destruction in distant Kabul.  As we held our own
children close during the frightening hours of terrorist attack, we now
tremble for vulnerable children and innocent refugees who are in danger of
bombs and starvation.   As Christians we confess that violence has been met
by further violence, that we have turned from the way of the Cross to the
way of the sword, that Gods intentions are once again denied, that the
vision of just peace remains elusive in a world fascinated by military
might.  There can be no joy for us this week, only lament.  Lord, have
mercy.

     Every human being has a right to be free from the threat of terror.
The fear we experience is very real, yet as Christians we also know it must
not control us.  Faithful people will not all agree on how best to provide
that security in the midst of a dangerous world.  Many members of the
United Church of Christ support military action, believing it is the only
way to achieve security, for ourselves and for others.  While we recognize
that the rule of law must be enforced, we have grave reservations about a
large scale military response to terrorism by our government and its
allies.  In recent years military campaigns in countless places have
destroyed lives and threatened a whole generation of children while leaving
in place oppressive regimes.  Short term solutions have sown the seeds of
future catastrophe as we ally ourselves with the enemies of our enemy, only
to discover that we have fed and armed those who would terrorize the
innocent.  Meanwhile, we have distanced ourselves from the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, have ignored civil wars in Africa, have done
little to address the poverty and hunger that is the primary terror for
most in the world, and have supplied countless regimes with abundant
weaponry.  Nothing justifies terrorist violence.  The brutal attacks of
September 11 cannot be blamed on God or on the failures of our own nations
policy.  They remain the responsibility of those who planned and carried
them out and they must be brought to justice.  Yet we must confess that we
have contributed to the poverty, the militarism, and the regional
instability that provide hospitable environments and  comfortable havens
for those who resort to violence.  Christ have mercy.

     Our nations leaders have set a course that meets violence with
violence.  Our lament over this decision does not deny our grief for those
who have died, our love for this land, or the earnestness of our prayer,
God bless America.  But this prayer is also joined by our prayers for all
who are put at risk by this course, both those who will be killed in these
attacks, and those who carry them out.  May our nations decision to go to
war be matched now by a desire to use the even more massive non-violent
power available to us to address those chronic conflicts that destabilize
the world, to fight the hunger and poverty that kill thousands every day,
to find homes for the refugees on every continent, to defend the human
rights of all who are oppressed because of their race, their political
convictions, their gender, or their religion, and to create hope for
families just as precious in Gods sight as our own.  May those of us whose
baptism marks us with the sign of the Cross bear witness to the way of
forgiveness, that we might become signs and instruments of Gods design.
May we learn again that true security is a gift we receive, a comfort we
know in belonging to Christ.  And may these tragic days move us to an ever
more profound experience of the ancient plea, Lord have mercy.

Dale Bishop, Executive Minister - Wider Church Ministries
Edith A. Guffey, Associate General Minister - Office of General Ministries
Bernice Powell Jackson, Executive Minister - Justice and Witness Ministries
Josi A. Malayang, - Executive Minister - Local Church Ministries
John H. Thomas, General Minister and President - Office of General
Ministries"

The 1.4-million-member United Church of Christ has more than 6,000
congregations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, and has
congregations in every state. Its officers and General Synod speak to, but
not for, its members. Each congregation has the freedom to take its own
positions.