As representatives and participants from the United States, British and Canadian churches meeting at the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, we have heard and share the concern of those of other nations about the apparent drift towards military confrontation in Iraq.
As the calls for military action to remove Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq have grown louder, we call for restraint. We are concerned about the situation in Iraq. We believe that the Iraqi government has a duty to stop its internal repression, to end its threats to peace, to abandon its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, and to respect the legitimate role of the United Nations in ensuring that it does so. But we also believe that the international community is weakened and respect for law undermined when national governments act individually rather than collectively to secure these goals. We have watched with growing alarm as the United States government has become increasingly unilateral in its approach to foreign affairs, and has failed to heed the advice and counsel of friends and allies.
Although both the U.S. and U.K. governments have claimed that they have evidence that Saddam Hussein is building up weapons of mass destruction, they have so far refused to make that evidence public. This undermines democratic government by depriving the U.S. Congress and the U.K. Parliament of the ability to make a considered judgment regarding the justification for war. Furthermore, the United Nations Charter does not permit states to engage in pre-emptive war. We therefore urge our governments to pursue this matter through the United Nations Security Council: In particular, we urge that Saddam Hussein’s offer to re-admit U.N. Weapons Inspectors be accepted.
Our knowledge of and links with church partners in the Middle East and our unity in Christ with Christians there make us very sensitive to the destabilizing potential of a war against Iraq for the whole region. There is no support among the Arab nations for such a war and very little support in Europe and elsewhere. Christian-Muslim relations would be further harmed by such a war, and the possibility of such an action triggering direct military confrontation in Israel cannot be ignored. Further, the forces of extremism and terrorism would be strengthened rather than diminished.
As Christians, we are concerned by the likely human costs of war with Iraq, particularly for civilians. We are unconvinced that the gain for humanity would be proportionate to the loss. Neither are we convinced that it has been publicly demonstrated that all reasonable alternative means of containing Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction have been exhausted. We call upon our governments to pursue these diplomatic means in active cooperation with the United Nations and to stop the apparent rush to war. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’
(Matthew 5:9)
Signers
- The Rev. Katherine Bannister (United Methodist Church, USA)
- The Rev. Alyson Barnett-Cowan (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Ms Marion Best (United Church of Canada)
- The Reverend Ruth A. Bottoms (Baptist Union of Great Britain)
- Ms Lois McCullough Dauway (United Methodist Church, USA)
- The Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar (National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA)
- The Rt. Rev. C. Christopher Epting (Episcopal Church, USA)
- Ms Alice-Jean Finlay (Anglican Church of Canada)
- The Rev. Douglass Fromm (Reformed Church in America)
- Ms Anne Glynn-Mackoul (Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East)
- The Rev. Dr. David Goodbourn (Churches Together in Britain & Ireland)
- The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson (Reformed Church in America)
- The Rev. Dr Richard A. Grounds (United Methodist Church, USA)
- The Rev. Dr Richard L. Hamm, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the US & Canada
- Ms Elenie K. Huszagh (National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA)
- Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East
- The Rev. Dr Clifton Kirkpatrick (Presbyterian Church, USA)
- The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky (Orthodox Church in America)
- The Rev. Stan McKay, United Church of Canada)
- The Rev. Roy Medley (American Baptist Churches, USA)
- The Rt Reverend Barry Morgan (Church in Wales)
- Mr. Naboth M. Muchopa (Methodist Church UK)
- Ms Jennifer Nagel (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- Mr Arthur Norman (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- The Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell-Jackson, United Church of Christ, USA
- The Rev. Dr. Bruce W. Robbins (United Methodist Church, USA)
- The Rt Reverend Barry Rogerson (Church of England)
- The Rt. Rev. Telmor Sartison (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada)
- The Rev. Dr. Robert E. Sawyer, Moravian Church in America (Southern Province)
- The Reverend Norman Shanks (Church of Scotland)
- The Reverend Dr David Thompson (Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council)
- The Reverend Jill Thornton (United Reformed Church of England)
- The Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith (National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.)
- The Reverend Gethin Williams (Churches Together in Wales – Cytûn)
- Ms. Louise Williams (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- The Rev. Robina Winbush (Presbyterian Church, USA)
- Bishop McKinley Young (African Methodist Episcopal Church, USA)