Faith Voices Speak Out Against Iraq Escalation
In the days before the Iraq war, people of faith across the country spoke out against invasion and on behalf of multilateralism and diplomacy. Since America toppled Saddam’s regime, faith leaders have called for an end to U.S. policies permitting torture and inhumane treatment and worked to alleviate the suffering of Iraqi civilians through improved reconstruction and humanitarian aid. Now, in the aftermath of President Bush’s decision to escalate the war rather than adopt a fundamental change in policy, those same faith leaders are chastising the President for his failure to change course and adopt policies that can deliver the security and peace that the Iraqi and American people want.
Statements have come from a variety of faith leaders disappointed with the President’s escalation plan. Rev. Bill Sinkford, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, bemoaned a plan that “stunningly disregards the wishes of the American people, the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.” Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners/Call to Renewal wrote that the President “stubbornly believes that military solutions are always the best answer and consistently chooses war over politics.” Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches observes that the Bush team is failing to learn the lessons of that our history in Vietnam should be teaching us. Rabbi David Saperstein expressed “major disappointment” at “the failure of the President in his speech last night to lay out any kind of exit strategy.” And Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church was “deeply saddened by the President’s failure to address peacemaking in the context of the whole region.”
In addition to these prophetic words of protest, faith organizations are mobilizing grassroots networks for concrete protest of the President’s new escalation plan. NETWORK: A Catholic Social Justice Lobby, working with groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Pax Christi, is gathering e-signatures to its letter dissenting from the President’s plan. Their letter features support from some of the nation’s leading Catholic clergy and lay leaders. FaithfulAmerica.org has launched an e-petition and joined with friends at Win Without War to organize protests across the country on Thursday. United for Peace and Justice members participated in Thursday’s protests, and on January 27th will stage a substantial protest march in Washington. Christian Peace Witness in Iraq is planning a major Washington event on March 16th that will build on this momentum.
In post-election surveys conducted by Faith in Public Life with Zogby International, Americans overwhelmingly rated the war in Iraq as the most pressing moral challenge of our time. Now, two months after that survey, we have a chance to make our voices heard in response to President Bush’s escalation plan. Find out more about the work of our partners listed here, and make your faithful voices heard for justice and peace in Iraq.
