wfn.org | Bishop criticizes press, White House on Iraq

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Oct. 23, 2003	News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
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NOTE: A photograph is available with this story.

By Tom Burger*

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (UMNS) - The press has largely ignored and underreported
the fact that leaders of a majority of U.S. churches oppose the continuing
unilateral occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's pre-emptive war
policy, a United Methodist bishop has charged.

The press has given the administration "a free ride" on its Iraq policies,
said Bishop William Boyd Grove. A former ecumenical officer for the United
Methodist Council of Bishops, Grove went to Rome earlier this year to
encourage Pope John Paul II to use his influence to avert a war on Iraq.

"The press served as a cheerleader for the war," Grove said. "Such a role was
not envisioned by the founders of our country when they built freedom of the
press into the Constitution."

He said he was hopeful that more citizens would begin to question U.S.
intervention in Iraq. "Pre-emptive strikes should be condemned by the
American people," the bishop said. "What would (the world) be like if every
country did this?

"Why do we have a right other governments do not?" he asked.

In making a case for last spring's U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Bush cited
reports of dictator Saddam Hussein building an arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction.

Grove, retired and living in Charleston, noted that a first strike does not
conform to the "just war" theory that has evolved in the Christian church
over the centuries. According to this position, war can be justified only to
redress a wrong already committed, he said.

President Bush was late admitting that no direct link existed between Saddam
Hussein and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Grove said.

"Still the administration cites Iraq as its centerpiece of the war on
terrorism," he said.
The bishop said Bush handled the aftermath of Sept. 11 magnificently, but
since then has squandered the international goodwill engendered by the
tragedies that day. 

He criticized the administration for its "scornful and arrogant attitude
toward our European allies."

Speaking at an Oct. 21 forum at the University of Charleston, where he is a
member of the board of trustees, Grove said the "holy war" rhetoric of Lt.
Gen. William Boykin, the Pentagon officer charged with finding high-profile
targets such as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, fuels the hatred Muslims
have for western nations.

Bringing back the ugly specter of the Crusades and demonizing Islam makes it
easy for extremists to recruit terrorists, the bishop said.

"The power of Saddam Hussein was demonic," Grove said. "But it is very
dangerous spiritually and arrogant politically to assume that we as a people
bear no responsibility for what is wrong in the world. The illusion of our
own national purity leads to the very hubris which has been so characteristic
of our national leadership in this terrible time."

The bishop agreed with writer Edward Abbey, who said, "Every patriot should
be prepared to defend his country against its government." 

Said Grove: "This time in the life of our country calls for just such
patriotism."

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*Burger is director of communications for the West Virginia Annual
Conference.

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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