wfn.org | Church agency seeks peace amid talk of war

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct. 16, 2002	    News media contact: Joretta Purdue7(202)
546-87227Washington	10-21-71B{474}

NOTE: This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #473. Photographs of Bishop S.
Clifton Ives and Jim Winkler are available at
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.

HERNDON, Va. (UMNS) - Members of the United Methodist social action agency
have passed a resolution offering a vision of peace as they seek to call the
nation away from war with Iraq.

"We must never forget that war is not the only option," said the Board of
Church and Society in the resolution, passed at its Oct. 10-13 meeting.

That week, the U.S. House of Representatives had voted 296-133 to grant
President Bush the authority to make war on Iraq. Later, the Senate voted
77-23 in favor of the authorization. Undeterred, the board passed its
resolution Oct. 12.

"Christians must confront the powers of evil and injustice with a different
set of tools - tools that make for peace," the board said.
 
"We applaud the U.S. administration for seeking (U.N.) Security Council
enforcement of its disarmament resolutions toward Iraq," the board stated.
"We do not believe that peaceful means have been exhausted. Further, we do
not believe that war would achieve a safer or better world."

The resolution quoted the denomination's Social Principles, which hold that
war is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Social
Principles, contained in the church's Book of Resolutions and Book of
Discipline, also endorse the United Nations, its related bodies and the
International Court of Justice as instruments for achieving a world of
justice and law.

"In the midst of war and rumors of war, we must speak for the vulnerable who
have no voice in the negotiations," the board said in its resolution. "We
plead for the children and families of Iraq who continue to suffer from
economic effects of sanctions and from life under the oppressive rule of
Saddam Hussein, but they would likely suffer more were the United States to
launch an attack." 

The board reaffirmed the United Methodist policy supporting a military
embargo of Iraq and the banning of all weapons of mass destruction from the
Middle East. That policy can also be found in the Book of Resolutions. 

The board's resolution concluded with a request to all United Methodists "to
pray for U.S. President George W. Bush, his advisers, the U.S. Congress,
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (and) U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and to
pray that peace will prevail and that all will put away the weapons of war."

Peace was foremost on the minds of Bishop S. Clifton Ives, president of the
board, and Jim Winkler, top staff executive, as they gave their reports at
the opening business meeting.

"Today we must make our contribution in defense of creation by giving
increased attention to peace with justice in a world where terror has many
faces," Ives said. 

He lamented a change in the church's policy on war two years ago. The 2000
General Conference, the church's highest legislative body, added a few words
to the policy, aligning the denomination "with what our society believes and
with values held by most citizens of the United States ... rather than
holding to the long-held biblical values of peace, centered in the teachings
of 'the prince of peace,'" Ives said.

"War is the worst means of resolving disputes," Winkler declared in his
address to the board. "It is incompatible with the teachings and example of
Christ. ... Our efforts to stop war are not unpatriotic, politically
partisan or anti-American. We recognize the terrible nature of Saddam's
regime. We are pro-peace, and we are not naove about the world." 

Winkler also reminded the board that not only does it include members from
outside the United States, but its work involves locations in other parts of
the world. "In the past month, board members have been engaged in the world
summit on social development in South Africa; the holistic Africa strategy
meeting in Dakar, Senegal; and a consultation on the Social Principles in
the Czech Republic."

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United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org