Wash yourselves; makes yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. - Isaiah 1:16-17 (NRSV)

The president has been on television this morning defending his Iraq policy. It is safe to say that most people – in the United States and across the globe – now see his invasion as both unjustified and a failure. Christians world-wide have spoken out clearly and often against America’s war in Iraq.

In May, religious leaders wrote the President and Congress with this message:

First, our nation entered into the war on false pretense and fear and violated international law. Religious leaders from every faith tradition opposed the preemptive war on the people of Iraq because of half-truths, our administration's haste to make war, and the reckless abandonment of democratic processes. The facts remain clear and evidential. After over two years, there has been no discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and there was no Iraqi connection to the terrorist attacks of September 11th.

Second, the continued presence of American troops in Iraq only heightens the risk to the newly formed and fragile government of Iraq. The rising insurgency in post-election Iraq is a symptom of the occupation. The over 1500 U.S. casualties and over 15,000 injured American soldiers combined with the innumerable Iraqi lives lost and destroyed continue to bring dishonor to the precious name of democracy.

Third, against this backdrop of violence and manipulation, the current federal budget, with its cuts in social programs and attempt to privatize Social Security while increasing tax breaks that reward the wealthiest citizens, represents a domestic war on the poor and middle class. This budget supports the dual violence of war, which is the use of resources to kill abroad while depleting social programs at home. We raise this concern for justice for the poor of the world as one great unifying theme in the religions of the world which call for those in power to care for the most vulnerable among us.

Those who signed the letter called for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. “It is with our faith in a higher power and our traditions of religious dissent that we strongly urge our government to honor the voice of the faithful and bring our troops home now. Out of our faith commitments, we will continue to speak out about the immorality of the war and occupation of Iraq,” they wrote. (Disclaimer: I was one of the original signers of the letter).

You can read the full text here.

Many religious people – including folks from the United Church of Christ (my denomination) – will be participating in a major march on Washington this weekend in the hope of continuing to draw attention to this administration’s moral failures in Iraq. Christian denominations continue to be nearly united in their opposition to the president’s actions. Don’t let the political activists on the religious right tell you otherwise.