Before moving to East Tennessee, I was pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Billings, MT. Before the invasion of Iraq, two of my clergy colleagues and I drafted a letter and had it signed by over 40 other clergy claiming that this invasion was morally unjustified. It was printed in the Billings Gazette. I also introduced the letter to the Presbytery of Yellowstone and it was passed narrowly, by two votes.
I have pasted the letter below after the deaths of 3,000 American soldiers and who knows how many lives of Iraqi soldiers and civilians. Now that Saddam has been hanged and Bush has his pistol, it seems a pretty small prize for the mess that has been made.
I honor the lives of all servicepeople who have been wounded and killed. But that does not mean I am not critical of this deceitful decision by our administration. Here is the letter. I don't mean to say, "We told you so," but "We told you so."
It is now time to get out of this...
As clergy, we believe our faith dictates that we voice strong opposition to a pre-emptive strike by the United States against Iraq. We come from different religious traditions and have different criteria when a state is justified in using force. However, we are unanimous in our view that a military strike by the United States against Iraq at this time is not morally justified. While we deplore the past actions of Saddam Hussein, he poses no clear and immediate threat to the United States or the nations of the world. A unilateral, pre-emptive strike by the United States would be viewed by the vast majority of the world's population as an act of aggression on behalf of U.S self-interests, even if self-interest is not our motivation. If the United States sets this example, other nations might claim justification for attacking their weaker neighbors. Peaceful alternatives have not been exhausted, but must be pursued through the United Nations. Iraq has been and can continue to be contained by a cooperative effort led by the United Nations. If Saddam is a threat, he is a threat to the world, not to the United States alone. An attack against Iraq would lead to the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including children. It would further destabilize the entire Middle East. We cannot afford to increase tensions between the West and the Arab world, or escalate the spiral of violence around the globe. Peaceful alternatives to war are not flashy or terribly exciting, but war will not lead the United States nor the world to the security we seek. Peacemaking is hard work, but the way of peace is the narrow road that leads to life. (link)
Way to go!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brett,
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of old news now. I feel I haven't done much since and even to do so feels like shouting down a hurricane.
That was a good strong statement. It is unfortunate how the negative ramifications of our preemptive invasion your letter predicted have now come to pass. That narrow road to peace has been lost in the wilderness of occupation these recent years. I commend you for speaking out with integrity about this as it happened, though it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t your fault it wasn’t enough, we needed more people to speak out; instead the majority of Americans went along with plans for preemptive war uncritically, a failure on a societal level I think.
ReplyDeleteBobby,
ReplyDeleteWhat I found most distressing at the time (and still find distressing) is how so few in the church utilized our tradition of Just War Theory to evaluate whether or not this action met the theory's criteria.
Christians accuse Muslim intellectuals for not speaking against the Muslim fundamentalists (and rightly so), but it doesn't seem that Christian intellectuals do much better at challenging our own tunnel vision.
I didn't realize we shared that Montana connection. I grew up in First Presbyterian in Miles City, MT, know some folks in the Billings church and was involved in the Missoula church until their tilt to the right made it impossible for me to continue with them.
ReplyDeleteHey Dwight!
ReplyDeleteMiles City, Montana! Gotta love the annual bucking horse sale. My good friend, Sherwood McKay, is pastor there. You know Sherwood?
The Missoula church, famous for "A River Runs Through It" is pretty conservative. The UCC church there is pretty progressive.