[Oe List ...] Meth. Bishops speak against the war

[george]

Sometimes they get it right, at least half of the Bishop did.
–george holcombe

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 at umcom.org.

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