wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 638-96 bishops decry 'unjust and immoral'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

96 bishops decry 'unjust and immoral' situation in Iraq

Nov. 11, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By United Methodist News Service

Ninety-six United Methodist bishops have signed a statement repenting
"of our complicity in what we believe to be the unjust and immoral
invasion and occupation of Iraq."

The signers include more than half of the denomination's active and
retired bishops, both within the United States and in the Central
Conferences outside the United States. Bishop Kenneth Carder, one of the
signers, told United Methodist News Service on Nov. 11 that the
statement had been nearly six weeks in the making.

The statement confesses "our preoccupation with institutional
enhancement and limited agendas while American men and women are sent to
Iraq to kill and be killed, while thousands of Iraqi people needlessly
suffer and die, while poverty increases and preventable diseases go
untreated."

While the sacrifices of military personnel are valued, true security
does not lie in the weapons of war, the bishops pointed out.

The bishops committed to praying daily for the end of war in Iraq and
all wars in general, reclaiming the idea of living "faithfully in the
light of God's new creation" and pledging to peacemaking as an "integral
component of our own Christian discipleship."

They also called upon United Methodists to object to "solutions of war
that conflict with the gospel message of self-emptying love" and work
toward "unity in a world of diversity."

On Nov. 4, the Council of Bishops adopted a resolution calling on
President George Bush to draw up a plan and timeline for withdrawing all
U.S. forces from Iraq. Another statement on Iraq had been issued by the
council a year and a half earlier.

In the "Resolution on the War in Iraq," the bishops noted that
"peacemaking is a sacred calling of the Lord Jesus Christ," and that the
denomination's Book of Discipline declares war "incompatible with the
teachings and example of Christ."

The resolution stated that "the continuing loss of Iraqi civilian lives,
especially children, and the increasing death toll among United States
and coalition military, grieves the heart of God." The bishops said the
U.S. government's reasons for war - "the presumption of weapons of mass
destruction and alleged connection between al-Qaida and Iraq" - have not
been verified, and that the violence in Iraq has created a context for
"gross violations of human rights of prisoners of war."

In October, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society passed a
resolution calling on the United States to withdraw its troops from
Iraq. "As people of faith, we raise our voice in protest against the
tragedy of the unjust war in Iraq," the resolution stated. "We urge the
United States government to develop and implement a plan for the
withdrawal of its troops. The U.S. invasion has set in motion a sequence
of events which may plunge Iraq into civil war."

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

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

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