wfn.org | Council of Bishops' president joins calls for restraint on Iraq

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Oct. 7, 2002	   News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington	10-21-71BP{454}

NOTE: Photographs of some of the people quoted in this story, including the
bishops, are available at http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html. 

By Joretta Purdue*

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops
has added a pastoral letter to the voices calling for restraint in dealing
with Iraq, and she is asking United Methodists - including the U.S.
president and vice president - to join in praying for peace.

"A pre-emptive war by the United States against a nation like Iraq goes
against the very grain of our understanding of the Gospel, our church's
teachings and our conscience," wrote Bishop Sharon A. Brown Christopher, of
Springfield, Ill., in a letter issued Oct. 4.

"Pre-emptive strike does not reflect restraint and does not allow for the
adequate pursuit of peaceful means for resolving conflict," she wrote. "To
be silent in the face of such a prospect is not an option for followers of
Christ."

Christopher acknowledged that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's treatment of
people in his own country and in neighboring nations has been horrifying,
but she asserts, "Jesus rejects the violent response to evil."

Instead, she calls all United Methodists to pray for the leaders of the
nations as they make crucial decisions, and to pray especially for President
George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who are United Methodists.
She asks that church members share their concerns about war and peace with
these leaders.

For at least six weeks, United Methodists have been voicing objections to
Bush's call for a pre-emptive strike that would launch a war with Iraq,
although no one is claiming universal agreement among the denomination's 9.7
million members worldwide. Only the General Conference, the denomination's
highest legislative body, can speak for the denomination; it last met in
2000 and won't convene again until 2004.

Jim Winkler, staff head of the churchwide Board of Church and Society, was
one of the first leaders in the denomination to voice opposition. In a
statement, he emphasized that United Methodists have a special role to play
because both the president and vice president are members of the church.

'Farsighted' policy needed

The denomination's Virginia Conference Board of Church and Society is one of
the more recent organizations to publish its concerns. In a statement issued
Oct. 3, the conference board urged U.S. leaders to "direct their focus to
forming an appropriate, farsighted, anti-terrorism policy that uses
international justice systems to curb terrorism.

"As we issue this call for peaceful resolution, we recognize the chaos and
destruction that Saddam Hussein has perpetrated. Nothing we are saying here
implies support or even tolerance for his ideology or policies," the board
said. It affirmed the belief that God's will is that nations live together
in peace.

On Oct. 3, the European Methodist Youth Council also approved a resolution
during its meeting in Parnu, Estonia, which said in part, "We do not want to
take a position of silent approval of violent action and its political
implications. This problem cannot be solved by war."

"We believe that the loss of human life that will be inevitably caused by
this war is unjustifiable," the council said.

The Rev. Shaun Casey, an assistant professor of Christian ethics at Wesley
Theological Seminary, one of many such institutions related to the United
Methodist Church, gathered the support of 100 Christian ethicists for a
one-sentence declaration issued on Sept. 25: "As Christian ethicists, we
share a common moral presumption against a pre-emptive war on Iraq by the
United States." 

The names of 100 signers followed, including several who teach at United
Methodist-related seminaries: Sondra Wheeler, also at Wesley; Stanley
Hauerwas and the Rev. Richard B. Hays, who teach at Duke University Divinity
School; Elizabeth M. Bounds of Candler School of Theology, Emory University;
and the Rev. D. Stephen Long at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
Other signers were Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Mennonite, Episcopal,
Nazarene, Lutheran.

Long also signed a longer "call for peace" issued by 41 faculty,
administrators and staff at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, a
United Methodist seminary with faculty from a number of denominations and
faith traditions.

"We believe war and bloodshed are contrary to the gospel and spirit of
Christ. We believe it is the duty of Christian citizens to give moral
strength and purpose to their governments through sober, righteous and godly
living," the authors of this statement wrote, quoting Article 16 of the
United Methodist Church's Confession of Faith.

"During this time, when the spirit of war seeks our unquestioned allegiance,
we would ask that all Christians and all people who seek the common good
offer to the world 'sober, righteous and godly living' rather than more
violence, death and war," the call continues.

The call for peace also said its signers believe the conditions required by
those who do believe in the concept of a just war "have not been met. ... We
categorically deny that war against Iraq would be legitimate."

First priority: diplomacy

"I believe we need to use all diplomacy that we can as the first priority,"
said Bishop Melvin Talbert, ecumenical officer of the United Methodist
Council of Bishops, in an interview with United Methodist News Service. "War
should always be the last resort,"

He recalled being in a delegation of church leaders that went into Baghdad
in December 1990 in an effort to avert the Persian Gulf War, which began the
following month. What he learned on that trip, he said, is that many people
in the Middle East were praying and hoping to avoid war.

"I believe that a nation like ours, rather than doing the saber rattling,
should be out front negotiating" and working for peace, Talbert said of the
current situation. "The disappointment that I have had with our
administration is that we have not done that. We have acted as if war is the
only way. That concerns me greatly." 

He expressed hope that the Senate particularly will act to preserve the
constitutional balance of powers and not give the president carte blanche to
move the country into war.

Talbert said Bush's early statements made it hard for religious leaders to
object to the administration's proposals without appearing supportive of
terrorists. "And no one of us would support what happened," he said. "I
think that time is past now, and religious leaders are speaking out.

"The emphasis needs to be in support of the United Nations," Talbert said.
"It's hard for me to see the United States going this whole thing alone. ...
In the long run, I think we'd regret that."

Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker of the Florida Area, writing to United Methodists
and media in his state, expressed support for a Florida Council of Churches
statement urging President Bush not to commit U.S. military forces to a war
with Iraq to depose the regime of Saddam Hussein.

"If there is a need to conduct an invasion, it should be under the authority
of the community of nations known as the United Nations, since a war on Iraq
will affect the whole world," he said.

Whitaker said he did not wish to offend the president and is not a pacifist,
but he warned that "even a brief 'successful' war would still have
significant consequences that cannot be anticipated."

Bishop Felton Edwin May of the Washington Area sent letters to the U.S.
senators who are United Methodists, urging them "to help shape a national
policy that is committed to exploring every opportunity for peacemaking."

International voices

The president of the British Methodist Church sent a Sept. 12 letter to
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, advising that military force should only
be used against Iraq as a last resort and not without U.N. authorization.

"If political, diplomatic and moral pressure do not succeed in reintroducing
U.N. weapon inspectors into Iraq and dismantling all weapons of mass
destruction, military action against Iraq must be authorized by a new
resolution of the United Nations," the Rev. Ian T. White wrote.

The World Methodist Council's executive committee, meeting in Oslo, Norway,
last month, called on its own leaders and members of all its churches to
urge Iraqi compliance with U.N. security resolutions and to advocate that
any nation threatening pre-emptive action comply with the U.N. charter. The
council represents more than 37 million people from 78 member churches in
132 countries.

The World Council of Churches' central committee also expressed "concern and
alarm" about the U.S. aim to overthrow Iraq's government. In a statement
approved Sept. 2 at a meeting in Geneva, the committee called on the United
States "to desist from any military threats against Iraq"; urged U.S. allies
"to resist pressures to join in pre-emptive military strikes against a
sovereign state under the pretext of the 'war on terrorism'"; and called on
Iraq to comply with U.N. demands to destroy its weapons of mass destruction
and guarantee full rights for all its citizens.

The central committee also addressed peace issues in other parts of the
world during its meeting Aug. 26-Sept. 3. The WCC numbers 342 churches from
more than 100 countries in its fellowship.

Before the central committee's resolution, several United Methodists at the
WCC meeting issued a statement Aug. 29 titled, "A Call To Stop the Rush to
War." It called on the U.S. administration to work with Congress, the United
Nations and its allies for counsel in dealing with Iraq. It also expressed
concern about the impact military action would have on Christian-Muslim
relations.

Several United Methodists were among the 37 Christian leaders who signed
this document. They included the Rev. Robert Edgar, top staff executive of
the National Council of Churches of Christ in U.S.A.; the Rev. Kathryn
Bannister of Kansas, president of the WCC in North America; Lois McCullough
Dauway, a staff executive with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries in New York; the Rev. Richard A. Grounds of Tulsa, Okla.; and the
Rev. Bruce W. Robbins, top staff executive of the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns in New York. 

The National Council of Churches and the United Methodist Board of Church
and Society have a "Citizen's Hearing" on the Iraq issue planned for Oct. 11
on Capitol Hill.

Leaders of both organizations signed a letter to the president dated Sept.
12 and written by Churches for Middle East Peace, a national coalition
founded in 1984. The letter, signed by 48 U.S. Christian leaders, states
opposition on moral grounds to further military action against Iraq at this
time. 

"It is detrimental to U.S. interests to take unilateral military action when
there continues to be strong multilateral support for a new weapons
inspection regime and when most governments in Europe and the Middle East
resist supporting military action," the letter said.

"The pre-emptive use of military force by the United States to deal with
proliferation problems, as serious as they may be, establishes a dangerous
precedent, particularly for other nations that feel threatened by the
weapons capabilities of their neighbors," it warned.

United Methodist signers included Edgar, Winkler, the Rev. John L.
McCullough, head of Church World Service staff, and retired Bishop Roy Sano.

A blow to the poor

More recently, Bread for the World issued a statement warning that such a
war would increase hunger and starvation. On Oct. 4, the Christian citizens'
movement against hunger - which includes United Methodists on its board -
began its statement with the words, "The United States is headed toward war
against Iraq."

"One-third of all Iraqi children suffer from malnutrition," the organization
noted. If the United States attacks Iraq, many would die or be maimed and
"hunger would increase further," the document said.

"A war against Iraq could further damage the already weak world economy.
Wars ... divert investment and spending from development and poverty
reduction to military mobilization," Bread for the World said. "Even before
the first bomb is dropped, the headlong rush to war is hurting families who
struggle with hunger and poverty" overseas and in the United States.

The U.S. federal budget slid from a $236 billion surplus to a $165 billion
deficit, and states are slashing social services, the organization said.
"Emergency food pantries are reporting increases in the numbers of people
seeking food, 40 percent of them from working families."

When contacted by United Methodist News Service, officials at Good News, an
independent organization of church members, said their organization had not
taken a position on this issue.

Kathryn J. Johnson, staff head of the Methodist Federation for Social
Action, a caucus of activists, spoke for herself on the issue, since her
group hasn't issued any statements on the current question of war with Iraq.
She called on citizens to raise their voices publicly for peace, to stand
for life - not death.

"We are complicit in the actions that unfold in the weeks ahead," she said
Oct. 1. "The blessing of living in a democracy carries with it the
responsibility to make our voices heard. It is within our power to stop this
war now. I pray that we use it."
# # #
*Purdue is Washington news director for United Methodist News Service.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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