In view of the fact that we cannot remain faithful to Jesus and kill in war, all who dare to proclaim Jesus Lord call upon all U.S. churches to unite and repent on March 19th, the seventh anniversary of the war in Iraq.

 

In this time of Lent we are to lament and repent for our sins—everything contrary to God’s will. How then can we continue to support the ongoing war in the Middle East that is being waged by our country, financed by our taxes, and fought by our brothers and sisters? 

After seven years, we all lament the suffering and violence in Iraq that started in Afghanistan.  We mourn the more than 4,000 Americans who have lost their lives, the 50,000-70,000 wounded in body and mind, and the unknown number (estimated more than a million) of Iraqis and Afghans who have been killed. There are now more than 740,000 war widows.   How many wounded in body and mind?  

Renewed efforts in Afghanistan only continue the slaughter of civilians. “We should be shocked to the core by the cries of war” Eberhard Arnold once wrote.  Instead, too many of us Christians casually reply with, “Ho-hum what’s for supper?”  We should be outraged at how complacent we have become as we go on violating the image of God in the face of our fellow humans.

Recent U.S. claims of modest security gains in Iraq and Afghanistan do not justify extending and escalating the occupation of these countries.  This is especially so when years of occupation in Iraq have not produced the political reconciliation necessary for real security and stability.  The occupation of Iraq and the history of Afghanistan prove that military might solves nothing. When we answer evil with evil the reign of terror wins. 

The nature of the evil lies in our cooperation with it.  And silence is the most dangerous form of cooperation!  Martin Luther King Jr. once said:  “Our Spiritual lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” On this anniversary, therefore, we can begin to speak out by uniting in repentance for our country’s actions in the Middle East. 

In a free society, some are guilty, all are responsible. God sees every soldier, even the one in California who pushes the button to drop the bombs from the drones that kill.  But all of us are responsible for the death of innocent lives. Our country’s “war on terror” is ultimately funded by our tax dollars. Billions of dollars earned by the sweat of our brow fuels a senseless war against an enemy that can’t be destroyed with guns: the spirit of hate and fear.  All this is happening while our national debt soars and millions of children, at home and abroad, needlessly die of hunger.  This is a travesty for which we all must repent.

But repentance means more than being sorry.  It demands a complete turn about, a new direction, a transformation. We need an upheaval. And this can only happen if we begin to change together and stop conforming to and complying with our government’s policy of fear, intimidation and war.  Fear distorts the judgment and weakens the nerves. We must rise above the politics of counter-terrorism and go the way of Jesus, the way of nonviolent love. “Love casts out all fear.” Does the church believe this, or doesn’t it?

There is no better time than now, on the seventh anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, for U.S. churches to act—from the pulpit and the pew—in united solidarity.  Unity is the absolute will of God.

The church’s duty is to testify in word and deed that Jesus’ example and words must not be distorted one iota. Let all people who call Jesus Lord know that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will end when enough of us, including our soldiers, refuse to obey the dictates of man. We must obey Jesus alone!  To sink spinelessly into dumb stillness, as well as to the seeming inevitability of the status quo, means being lost to the life to which Jesus has called us.

Repentance will lead us on a different path. Instead of billions of dollars spent on bombs, we could throw our energies into initiatives that sow peace and goodwill in the world. U.S. churches could, for example, work with the U.N. under the auspices of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Act.  The church needs to put its energies into the things that make peace, not war, possible.

In the end, what good are all our religious practices if God’s will is not done and our hands remain steeped in blood?  We must no longer deny the greatness of God. Our covenant is with Jesus, not with any nation-state. Christ alone is Lord! In the end the church is responsible to him.

 

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Responses

An excellent article with which we whole-heartedly agree.  I was struck by one sentence in particular, "Billions of dollars earned by the sweat of our brow fuels a senseless war against an enemy that can't be destroyed with guns: the spirit of hate and fear."  It seems to me that the Iraqis could say the same thing, for what is motivating the US occupation there if it is not "hate and fear"?

God help us all to wake up!

Derrick
France

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Amen to that, how can we continue to support a war that is contrary to the law of love, and possibly kill a brother or sister in that Nation of the middle east. Judgment is begginning in the house of Yahweh first. He is going to visit the Pastors and then the flock. Let us pray for deep repentence that leads to Godly sorrow to be poured out upon the apostates.

Karen

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Great article, how can we believe in Jesus if we don't BELIEVE Jesus and his teachings. He told us to "bless our enemies" something we ALL struggle with and need to pray for the strength and courage to be able to bless our enemies, and bless them genuinly and whole heartedly! In my opinion we are only fighting terror with more terror, with over 740,000 war widows i believe my opinion is justified! Lord please help me and everyone else that seeks you bless our enemies with not just words but with all sincerity!

Matt

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Thank you for this timely, urgent and challenging call to repentance.  The church must indeed discover the meaning and path of repentance in face of the astronomical evils of militarism in which it is complicit and indeed, from which we benefit materially, though surely not spiritually!

In the article I did hope for a little more specific content suggesting what repentance would involve, what kinds of actions would give expressing to repentance--a step beyond lamentation to action.  I saw the article identify the problem of citizens, indeed church members,  paying for the carnage of war--that our taxes are doing it, named more than once in the article.  But what then?

 In my own small way I would like to suggest a very concrete possibility--which is in no way original with me.  It gathers up some of the conscience and witness of thousands who have gone before and who now walk this path of specific refusal to pay the full income tax as a way of emphatically calling the government to account for a genuinely democratic conversation about national spending priorities.  I'm attaching two documents on an emerging campaign which, for now at least, is called  1040 For Peace.  I invite your attention to these articles,  urge you to pass them on, and welcome your comments, which I'll pass on to the group of 15 or so here who have generated this campaign.
Well, it may not be possible to attach the articles here, so we might be able to find another way to make them available online.
Sincerely,
John K. Stoner
Akron PA