wfn.org | Episcopal presiding bishop on NATO's bombing campaign

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

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99-053
Presiding Bishop's remarks on NATO's bombing campaign

During a season marked by self examination, repentance and
reconciliation to God and one another, we find ourselves witnessing the
terrible spectacle of violence and civil strife being visited upon the
people in the state of Kosovo and wider Yugoslavia. I invite those in
positions of public trust to seek guidance from the One from whom all
wisdom flows.

The acts of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo are deeply repugnant and stir up
memories of ethnic hatreds that have marred the course of history. The
civil strife that has ensued has uprooted and displaced families; the
conflict has especially endangered the safety of children, the elderly,
and the most vulnerable in society. According to estimates by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, since the beginning of the
conflict in Kosovo a year ago, some 450,000 people have been displaced
by fighting -- more than 260,000 of them in Kosovo alone.

The response by NATO to use overwhelming military power to halt these
heinous acts will be widely debated. We need to hear the concern of the
Secretary-General of the United Nations that the Security Council should
have an active role in any decisions related to the use of force and in
the peaceful settlement of this dispute. The UN charter recognizes the
Security Council as having the primary responsibility in international
peace and security. I also applaud the Secretary General's repeated
pleas to the Yugoslav Government to pursue peaceful means of resolving
some of the long-standing tensions within the country.

I am personally torn by this decision of NATO because its purpose is
noble while the means are so violent. Christ calls us into relationship
and the present course leads us to further alienation from one another.
Yet for us to stand by and allow the genocide to continue is also
intolerable. Regardless of what our conscience may tell us about the
decision to undertake this massive bombing campaign, the failure to
resolve this problem through discourse points to a profound failure of
the human spirit and will. It also reveals the insidious way in which
religious perspectives, grounded in God's all embracing compassion and
love for humankind, can be subverted and made to serve the idol of
ethnic or national self-justification. I urgently appeal to President
Milosevic to re-consider his options and pursue the path of peace
through negotiation. And I invite the whole church to join me in prayer
for the safety of the people of Yugoslavia, especially in Kosovo, and
for the safety of the men and women of all the Armed Forces who have
been placed in harm's way.

Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
March 26, 1999
Friday in Lent V