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96 bishops decry ‘unjust and immoral’ situation in Iraq
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Courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Defense

Marines enter a market in Zaidon, Iraq as part of a counter-insurgency operation.
Nov. 11, 2005

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.

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Courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Defense

U.S. Army Spc. Wendell Guillermo peers from his sandbagged position as he provides security in Tal Afar, Iraq.
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.

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Council of Bishops

Theme Page: Iraq

Board of Church and Society

UMCOR: Iraq Emergency