wfn.org | NCC asks Bush to hear faith community on Iraq

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 9, 2002  News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{463}

NOTE: For additional coverage of the National Council of Churches' executive
committee meeting, see UMNS story #461. To read more on Iraq, see UMNS story
#454.

By Linda Bloom*
 
NEW YORK (UMNS) - Leaders of the National Council of Churches are asking
President Bush to heed the various Christian leaders and groups that have
expressed opposition to a unilateral, pre-emptive military strike against
Iraq.

The NCC's executive committee sent a letter to Bush during its Oct. 7-8
meeting in New York, signed by the ecumenical body's president, Elenie
Huszagh, and its chief executive, the Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist
pastor.
 
"On many occasions, you have cited your reliance on principles of faith,"
the leaders wrote to Bush. "It is just such principles that have motivated
the letters from the many Christian leaders and their constituents who
oppose such a strike. Millions of American Christians are members of the
churches whose leaders have written to you in this moment of grave
decision-making."

Examples of the religious community's concern regarding the war with Iraq
can be found at www.ncccusa.org/iraq, the NCC's Web site. United Methodist
expressions of concern include statements from Bishop Sharon Brown
Christopher, president of the denomination's Council of Bishops, and Jim
Winkler, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society. 

The NCC executive committee urged Bush to "reverse the momentum" toward a
war with Iraq. "We further urge you to act with courage and forbearance in
setting an example in seeking an alternative to war and addressing the very
real dangers confronting the world community," the letter added.

NCC members also will join others in the religious community to press for
alternatives to a U.S. attack on Iraq through a series of events Oct. 9-11
in Washington. The events include a 6:30 p.m. prayer vigil Oct. 10 on the
lawn of the United Methodist Building at Capitol Hill.

In a separate call to action Sept. 24, members of the NCC's Justice for
Women Working Group expressed concern for the women and children of Iraq,
who already have suffered for years as a result of economic sanctions.

"We are equally concerned about the future of our own children, particularly
those who would be called upon to fight in a war on Iraq," the statement
said. "Presidents and legislators may declare war, but it is children who
die in them."

The group called upon women of faith "to raise their voices on behalf of
those who have little voice and no power: the women and children of Iraq."
It also urged President Bush "to set an example for the international
community by seeking alternatives to war in Iraq and the Middle East."

In other business, executive committee members heard from Jaydee Hanson, an
executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and member
of the NCC's Eco-Justice Working Group.

Hanson noted that a handful of denominations, including the United
Methodists, have worked on the issues of genetic science and biotechnology
since the NCC issued a resolution on those topics in 1986. Those
denominations, he said, have reached similar conclusions on two basic
principles - that cloning for human reproduction should not be allowed and
that engineering permanent changes into humans should not be the policy of
any government.

Although the idea of biotechnology is not new, dating back at least to the
development of penicillin, those involved in the U.S. human genome project
have discovered that the concept of how genes operate is more complex than
originally thought, according to Hanson.

"The human genome is God's cookbook for making humans," he explained, adding
that God has had a lot more experience in making that recipe work than
humans have.

Hanson suggested the NCC reflect on the future of biotechnology "before we
have humans who are engineered. We need to begin thinking more seriously
about the implications of these technologies."

The NCC Eco-Justice Working Group has established a task force on
biotechnology and is seeking additional members from the denominations, he
said.

In his general secretary's report, Edgar noted the agency's restored
financial health, which includes having a balanced budget on July 1, the
start of the new fiscal year. In addition, he reported, the NCC has settled
two debts with Church World Service, for a total of more than $1 million,
leaving the council with no external debt. "All that has been repaid," he
said.

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*Bloom is New York news director for United Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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