46 religious leaders ask urgent
meeting with Bush on Iraq
President rejects Jan. 30 request
by Carol Fouke, National Council of Churches News
NEW YORK -- January 31, 2003 -- Citing the "utmost
urgency" of their request, 46 U.S. religious leaders who have been working
"to slow the rush to war" with Iraq today petitioned President George W.
Bush for a face-to-face meeting.
Bush rejected the request.
| Correction
LOUISVILLE — February 4, 2003 — The Presbyterian
News Service incorrectly reported in story #03062 that President
George W. Bush has rejected a request from 46 religious leaders for
an urgent meeting about the crisis in Iraq.
The incorrect report of Bush’s rejection of the
request was appended to a story written by Carol Fouke of the
National Council of Churches.
No formal response to the requested meeting has
been received from President Bush. The Presbyterian News Service
regrets its error.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
And your WebWeaver regrets publishing the story
without checking it first. |
War is not only a military matter, write the leaders --
from 11 denominations and four organizations, including 20 United
Methodist bishops. "It is a moral and ethical matter of the highest order,
one that we have made a priority for many months as the possibility of war
has loomed on our national horizon."
Presbyterian Church (USA) signers of the letter included
the Rev. Roberto Delgado of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; General Assembly
stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick; and the Rev. Robina Winbush, ecumenical
officer for the Office of the General Assembly.
The 46 leaders of tens of millions of Protestant and
Orthodox Christians across the United States note that they are in
communication with their clergy, lay leaders and church members across the
nation and with their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere around the
globe on this issue.
Active in the search for peaceful solutions to the Iraq
crisis since August, religious leaders "have become all the more alarmed
as U.S. military activity keeps escalating," said the Rev. Bob Edgar,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches, which facilitated
circulation of the letter for signatures. "We want to meet with the
President before he decides to go to war with Iraq."
The full text of the letter, dated Jan. 30:
Dear Mr. President:
We greet you - our President, our nation's highest
military leader, and a member of the community of faith - in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord.
At a time when our nation, and you as its leader, face
unprecedented challenges affecting the security of the United States and
of the entire world, we wish to bring to you the insights and perspective
of one of the largest segments of the Christian community of our country.
Because you are weighing the prospect of war on Iraq and
all the terrible consequences that war involves, you will have faced
firsthand the truth that war is not only-or even primarily-a military
matter. It is a moral and ethical matter of the highest order, one that we
have made a priority for many months as the possibility of war has loomed
on our national horizon.
As leaders of tens of millions of Protestant and
Orthodox Christians across the United States, we are in touch with our
clergy, with lay leaders and with church members everywhere on this issue.
We are also in communication with our counterparts in Europe and elsewhere
around the globe. Several of us have traveled to Iraq in recent years, and
even in recent days, to speak with Iraqi people of faith. We draw on the
tenets of our Christian faith in all these encounters, seeking a way
toward peace that is both prophetic and practical.
It is with the utmost urgency that we seek a meeting
with you to convey face-to-face the message of the religious community
that we represent on the moral choices that confront this nation and your
Administration. You are no doubt well aware of our activities to slow the
rush to war and our continuing uneasiness about the moral justification
for war on Iraq. What we ask now, as fellow believers and as the spiritual
leaders of Americans in congregations in every community of our great
nation, is a pastoral opportunity to bring this message to you in person.
Be assured of our prayers always for you and the members
of your Administration, that God may keep and guide you.
