wfn.org | Episcopalians: Finding Our Way: A Christian Perspective

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

March 13, 2003

2003-057

Episcopalians: Finding Our Way: A Christian Perspective

A statement from the Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold

All through these many months of debates and discussions about 
our government's policy and actions toward Iraq I have expressed 
my opposition to war. Joined by leaders and members of other 
faith communities, I have supported the alternatives to war that 
would both address the legitimate concerns of our nation and 
recognize that war at this point is not the solution. At what 
appears to be the eleventh hour, I remain convinced that 
military action is the course of last resort and could have 
unintended negative consequences beyond our imagining. I do not 
believe it an exaggeration to say that decisions made now will 
affect our global future for good or ill.

Over these last weeks an undercurrent has entered the debates 
and discussions that I might describe as the "God factor." I 
have read and heard a great deal about how religion, and faith 
in God, bear on this situation. In one sense, this is welcome in 
that people of faith are obliged to bring their perspectives to 
matters of public policy. 

At the same time, to invoke God's name and assume God's blessing 
on our acts is not something that can be done in a spirit of 
self-justification, but rather in a spirit of humility and 
constant openness to being led into deeper understandings of 
God's desire. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are 
your ways my ways, says the Lord" (Isaiah 55).

Our images of God's ways and God's will are rooted in the Bible. 
Scripture, however, contains different understandings of God and 
God's will. As Christians we look to the view which is most 
faithful to the life and death of Jesus Christ. God sent his Son 
to reconcile the world and its people to himself and to show us 
how to live into the fullness of our humanity. In Christ we see 
power surrendered in favor of vulnerability, service to others, 
and a compassion and love for his enemies that leads him to the 
cross. 

I am deeply disturbed that some Christians are animated by 
notions of a God of vengeance and retribution, and adopt 
simplistic views of good and evil. The task of people of faith, 
indeed those of the three Abrahamic faiths--Judaism, 
Christianity and Islam--is to point us all toward a God 
abounding in compassion and love for each one of us.

What are the implications for us, the followers of Jesus, as we 
ponder the present situation? How do we see ourselves as a 
nation? How is our national character--historically marked by 
generosity, mutual respect, and a love of freedom--being shaped 
by our present experiences? 

Following the terrible events of September 11, 2001 and the 
outpouring of expressions of solidarity from people around the 
world--many of whom experience the effects of terrorism daily--I 
had hoped that we as a nation would come to a new consciousness 
that would enable us to see ourselves less in terms of "offended 
power" and more as belonging to a vulnerable and interdependent 
global community in which we are called to bear one another's 
burdens and share one another's sufferings. Since that day I 
have said that as our nation is a superpower, we are also called 
to be a super servant genuinely concerned for the welfare of the 
world beyond our own perceived self interest. 

Those who argue for war have said that war can be an act of 
service to the global community, and religious language is 
employed to justify such an action. How can this be when war 
would have a profoundly damaging effect upon countless innocent 
people? How can this be when war would further fuel the anger 
and frustration so many people around the globe, far beyond the 
borders of Iraq, feel towards our country? 

Instead of waging war, our faith calls us to wage 
reconciliation. This involves the demanding and difficult 
challenge of loving our enemies and embracing policies of 
generosity of spirit that build up the global community. 

I am also concerned that the call for war and the attendant 
rhetoric have profoundly polarized our nation. Anxiety and 
self-preoccupation have become a way of life and we are fast 
losing our ability to see ourselves as part of a global 
community. Critics are dismissed as unpatriotic and nations that 
fail to do our bidding are ridiculed and demeaned. Our national 
spirit is being slowly poisoned. This may be Osama bin Laden's 
greatest triumph. 

>From my office window in New York I can see the United Nations 
building. These days every time I glance at it I say a prayer 
for its members, particularly the members of the Security 
Council, that they may be imbued with God's care and love for 
our world. 

Prayer is a dimension of peace-making in which we can all 
engage. Prayer unites us to God and works in us the mind of 
Christ. Prayer is an invitation from God to open ourselves to 
God's larger desires for us and for humanity and all creation. 
Prayer can liberate us from our biases and fixed points of view 
and lead us into a new space where God's perspective is able to 
transform and enlarges our own. God's care surrounds both our 
men and women in the military, now in Southwest Asia, and the 
people of Iraq as they face ominous possibilities. I therefore 
invite all members of our church to observe the worldwide 
candlelight vigil on Sunday, March 16 at 7 p.m. in their local 
communities and to consider similar observances at all liturgies 
during these difficult days. 

I know that President Bush is a person of prayer. And I pray for 
him every day. Today, I have made a request to him that he meet 
with me and other Christian leaders at this crucial time. As 
fellow members of Christ's body, we very much want to share our 
perspectives with him and to join with him in prayer that we may 
be faithful to the ways in which God is inviting this great 
nation of ours to be a blessing to the nations of the world.

------

The Most Reverend Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop and 
Primate

March 13, 2003