Rejecting the Theology of Empire
“We undertake this work because we believe that every human being bears the image of our maker. That is why we are doing this. No one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. People of all faiths and all backgrounds deserve the chance at a future of their own choosing. That’s what America believes.”
– President Bush, on Iraq, 3.11.08
Five years into the Iraq war, President Bush still doesn’t get that bullets and bombs are never blessings, and that God grants the United States no special license to kill.
Fortunately, people of faith are showing that even though President Bush uses religious language to justify the Iraq war, he does not speak for them. Last Friday, Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership activists came from across the country to call for a just end to the war. Of the hundreds of participants, 42 chose to risk arrest in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience and were taken into police custody at the Hart Senate Office Building.
Befoe the demonstration proceeded to Hart, I visited the participants gathering at Upper Senate Park, young and old alike, braving the cold rain and unexpected restrictions from the Capitol police. I had the good fortune to see Rev. Jim Forbes, Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Rev. Bob Edgar exhort the crowd to believe peace is possible and to stand up for it. While they might not’ve had the megaphone available to the president, they did have a message that rings true to those of us who seek to stop wars rather than start them.