wfn.org | Eight United Methodist bishops, other leaders, speak against war with

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Iraq

Oct. 14, 2002	 News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington	10-21-71B{470}

NOTE:  Photos will be available.

WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Eight United Methodist bishops participated in a
"Citizen's Hearing on War with Iraq" on the third of three days of
witnessing for peace - often in concert with those of other religious and
community leaders - in the nation's capital city. 

By the time Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) convened the hearing on Oct. 11, both
chambers of Congress had debated and voted to increase the president's
military powers. That did not stop the bishops or other many speakers at
this event that the United Methodist Board of Church and Society helped
organize.

"Such a war is morally lamentable, theologically reprehensible and
politically lamentable," declared Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of Chicago.

He said the devastation envisioned in Iraq if the United States attacks "is
in no way proportional to the perceived original aggression of Saddam
Hussein as was and is the case in Afghanistan.... Innocent civilians -
particularly women and children - will not be protected."

"Not Hussein, but the people of Iraq will be victims again," Sprague said.
In God's view, the life of every Iraqi child is as important as that of
every American citizen, he insisted. He called for massive protests,
including civil disobedience, should the U.S. government start a war against
Iraq that is morally wrong. Such an act will destabilize the Middle East and
is not likely to succeed, he added.

The Rev. Bob Edgar, staff executive of the National Council of Churches and
a United Methodist clergyman spoke briefly and praised Jim Winkler, staff
executive for Church and Society, for calling the NCC office last summer and
urging Edgar to help organize the churches' response to the threat of a
preemptive war.

Bishop S. Clifton Ives of Charleston, W.Va., and six other bishops, gave
brief statements. Ives, president of the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society, stressed the church's tradition of peace and noted the letter
previously issued by the president of the denomination's Council of Bishops
rejecting for a violent response to evil and calling for prayer for the
leaders of nations.

 "Violence begets violence," warned Bishop John L. Hopkins of Minneapolis.
Another bishop, C. Dale White, Newport, R.I., said that some of the U.S.
government's activities are undermining constitutional freedoms at home. The
retired bishop also said the United States is not working with other
countries to promote peace. 

"I speak on behalf of the children," said Bishop Beverly Shamana of West
Sacramento, Calif., and vice president of Church and Society. She was not
talking about Iraqi children, but children in the United States. "What does
it say to them when they see their president and Congress vote for violence
as a way to deal with things they don't like?"

 "It feels as if the heart of God has been wounded," said Bishop Linda Lee
of Okemos, Mich. She urged people to choose the high ground.
 
Philadelphia Bishop Peter Weaver warned, "War will not end terror. It will
simply seed terror."  It will come back on the United States like a
boomerang, he said, and make U.S. personnel into recruiters for al Qaeda.

 "Can God really bless America?" asked retired Bishop Lloyd Knox of St.
Petersburg, Fla. Answering his own question, he said that the real question
is, what does God expect of America?

Expressing hope that the war can still be averted was Arun Gandhi, director
of the Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, Memphis, Tenn., and grandson of
Mahatma Gandhi.  He said if the United States and Britain engage in a
preemptive strike, countries in all the hot spots of the world would claim
preemptive power. "We need to use our kind of power ... to bring peace," he
said of such powers as moral and economic. 

Kelly Campbell of the September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows said that
organization was founded "to say our grief is not a call for war."  She
expressed disappointment that "our president was calling for yet another war
that would cause others to go through what we have gone through." Using the
events of Sept. 11 to justify a war with Iraq will inflame anti-American
sentiment, she predicted.

Sister Margaret Galiardi said she has traveled to all areas of the world and
most people are ordinary people, just trying to raise their families. She
had with her a 3'x4' photo taken on a 2000 trip to Iraq. It was of a woman
named Hamsa, which means good person, holding a child named Ramah, which
means one who is thirsty. The little boy was dying of liver cancer without
medication.

"The war in Iraq has never ended," Galiardi asserted. It has been going on
for 11 years. Anyone who had resources has left the country. "We are on the
precipice of disaster. We are about to become what we hate."

Peter Lems of the American Friends Service Committee reported that this
organization had been founded in the wake of World War I and has
humanitarian workers in Iraq.

"We know the face of war," he said. "We know the destructive poverty that
war brings." UNICEF has said that between 1990 and 2000 Iraq experienced the
worst change of mortality of children under 5 of any of the 188 countries it
surveyed. If the flow of food relief is disrupted even for a short period,
famine would follow, he added.

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine, said using violence to
settle problems is expressly against every spiritual tradition. "It is not a
path to security."

"This debate has only begun," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Call
to Renewal and editor of Sojourners magazine. He called for "our own
faith-based initiative against war with Iraq" and observed that the poor
have been pushed off the agenda in Congress. 

Wallis told of a press conference earlier that day, in which U.S. and
British religious leaders had a message for President George Bush and Prime
Minister Tony Blair: "If you begin a preemptive war with Iraq, you will not
have the support of the churches."

After the citizen's hearing, the bishops went to the United Methodist
Building on Capitol Hill. They had hoped to make a pastoral call at the
White House, because Bush is a United Methodist, Ives said later outside
that building. Since they were not able to arrange a meeting they spent a
good portion of the afternoon praying for the president and each bishop
wrote him a letter. Shamana and Knox, together with Winkler, accompanied
Ives to the area.

Other events during the week included two press conferences, visits to
members of Congress, and a candlelight vigil at the United Methodist
Building. Originally planned for the building lawn, the Oct. 10 service was
held in Simpson Chapel in the building because there was heavy rain at the
time. About 90 people filled the pews, sat on the floor or stood at the
back. After an interfaith service, the group went out into a misty night,
stood silently beside the Supreme Court and circled the block.

Edgar led the candlelight service and participated in both press
conferences. At the Oct. 10 press conference, Bishop Felton E. May of the
Washington Area read a letter issued earlier by Bishop Sharon A. Brown
Christopher, president of the Council of Bishops. May also quoted from "In
Defense of Creation," a pastoral letter written by the council during the
Cold War. Others at that press conference included representatives of
Habitat for Humanity, Union of Concerned Scientists, Global Security
Institute. A Harvard University student, a professor of political science
and a Gulf War veteran also were among the speakers.

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United Methodist News Service
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