Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Stumbling Toward A Just Peace

My latest on The Huffington Post:

The question we face today is how to employ "Just Peace" as a working model for peace building in a world so torn apart and complex. Without question, the complexities we face now are even more difficult to navigate from what those seeking peace during the Cold War encountered. Can "Just Peace" be a model for addressing the messy conflict in Syria and Iraq, which involves the terrorist group ISIS?

Stumbling Toward A Just Peace

Stumbling Toward a Just Peace - Rev. Chuck Currie from The Rev. Chuck Currie on Vimeo.

What Is Genocide?

What is genocide? I agree that the term has fallen victim to "verbal inflation." Both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes - attacking civilian populations - but to accuse Israel of genocide is a misuse of the term. Rwanda was a genocide by legal standards. President Obama is taking steps in Iraq to prevent a possible genocide by the ISIS against Christians and others. I argue the world community has a "responsibility to protect" in the event of genocide. Even limited military action in Rwanda, such as destroying radio and other communication facilities, could have saved lives. We've said: Never again! We ought to mean that. I hope very much the humanitarian aid and limited air campaign does accomplish the mission without drawing the U.S. back into a long term effort in Iraq. It is worth noting that Christians lived in peace in Iraq before the U.S. Invasion there. At the same time, we need to do everything possible to push the Israeli government into a new peace accord. President Obama is in my prayers, as always, as he seeks to navigate these waters. My prayers are also with all those facing or fleeing violence...whatever the legal definition.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Iraq: America's "Dumb" War Comes To An End

A Promise Kept

President Obama officially ended the war in Iraq today.  Final combat troops will return by the end of the month.  This is a war that never should have been fought.  President Bush lied to the American people and said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and were part of the 9/11 plot.  Neither claim was true.  

The National Council of Churches and nearly every other Christian body in the United States and across the globe opposed the Bush's administrations rush to war.  But Democratic presidential candidates gearing up for the 2004 and 2008 presidential races - including John Kerry, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton - backed President Bush and the result was nine years of war - nearly 5,000 Americans killed, many more wounded, and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed and wounded.

Barack Obama, however, opposed the war from the start and promised to end it if elected.  He has kept that promise.  I supported Barack Obama in 2007 in large part because of his moral clarity on this important issue that has defined the last decade.

Today President Obama wrote:

Part of ending a war responsibly is standing by those who have fought it. It's not enough to honor our heroes with words; we must do so with deeds. 
 
That's why we've worked to send 600,000 veterans and family members back to school on the Post-9/11 GI Bill. That's why one of Michelle's top priorities as First Lady has been to support military families and why she's worked with the private sector to get commitments to create 100,000 jobs for those who've served and their spouses. That's why we worked with Congress to pass a tax credit so that companies have an incentive to hire vets and have taken steps to help veterans translate military experience to the private sector job market.
 
In America, our commitment to those who fight for our freedom and our ideals doesn't end when our troops take off the uniform. 
 
You can be a part of this effort to honor our heroes. 
 
Help mark this moment. Write a quick note that troops and veterans all over the world will be able to see: 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/iraq

Please take this opportunity to thank our troops and we must all commitment to stronly supporting effortings undertaken by President Obama and Secretary Clinton to help re-build Iraq.  Our humanitarian responsibility is clear.  

Leaving Iraq: Addressing The Humanitarian Crisis via @whitehouse

Earlier today President Obama made the very important announcement that all U.S. forces wil leave Iraq by the end of 2011.  The president began a draw down of forces earlier in his presidency and the full removal of forces keeps a fundamental promise of his presidential campaign in 2008.

For the last 45 minutes I've been on a conference call with Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser to President Obama, and I asked him about the president's commitment to the humanitarian situation in Iraq once U.S. forces leave.

In 2007, the National Council of Churches issued a statement that read it part:

“….united together as the National Council of Churches USA, we call upon the U.S. Government to recognize that the continued presence of occupying forces has not provided meaningful security for Iraqi citizens and only exacerbates escalating violence, and begin an immediate phased withdrawal of American and coalition forces from Iraq with a timetable that provides for an expeditious final troop withdrawal. And we further call upon our government to link this withdrawal plan to benchmarks for rebuilding Iraqi society, since the reconstruction of infrastructure, the restoration of essential services, and a foundation for economic growth are necessary to nurture Iraqi hopes for a stable future, and to steps to meet the security concerns of all Iraqis, including the more vulnerable, smaller ethnic and religious communities.”

Mr. Rhodes spoke in detail about President Obama's commitment to address the humanitarian situation with Iraq through the U.S. State Department and other agencies.  That effort will now take place not in the flawed context of a military operation but through diplomatic relations with a sovereign nation.  You can learn more about some of what is already occurring at USAID: Assistance for Iraq.

I only wish President Bush had listened to the National Council of Churches and others in 2003 and never began this conflict that Barack Obama rightly called "dumb" at the time.

President Obama deserves credit for moving us in the right direction on this critical issue.   

Leaving Iraq: Barack Obama's Moral Decision

When I personally endorsed Barack Obama in 2007 I wrote:

Barack Obama has shown leadership on the most pressing moral issues of our day – such as the war in Iraq and the global AIDS crisis. During his time in the Illinois Legislature and in the United States Senate he has demonstrated that his values cannot be compromised by prevailing political winds.

Christians, Jews, Muslims – all people of faith in America – share in a deep and abiding love for this nation. But many of us, as William Sloane Coffin would have said, have a “lover’s quarrel” with America. We know things can be better. We know all Americans need health care. We know that no one should be homeless in the world’s richest nation. We know that global warming threatens God’s own earth and that as the stewards of creation we are called forth to protect this planet. We are also called to be peacemakers in times of conflict.

Barack Obama shares these values and when elected president will embody them as he makes decisions in the Oval Office. When that day comes we will be a better nation.

President Obama has faced great difficulties  - including the meltdown of the entire U.S. economy under President Bush and two on-going wars.

Today, President Obama, after beginning a troop draw down earlier in his term, announced that all U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011.  The decision is responsible.  I continue to appreciate President Obama's moral leadership and I know my decision in 2007 to walk away from the democratic establishment and endorse his candidacy when he was 30 points behind was the right one.  

Why I Can Support The Strikes Against #Libya As A Christian

Like many, I'm wary of U.S. military intervention in other nations. I opposed the war in Afghanistan early because, along with the church I served at the time, I felt that U.S. intervention there would be harmful to the civilian population and that the United States would leave Afghanistan in a position similar to that of the Soviet withdrawal, weakened and humbled, without achieving our legitimate goal of defeating the terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11. I also opposed the war with Iraq. Here I had more company as nearly every Christian denomination across the globe that issued a statement concerning the matter opposed invading Iraq. A preemptive war is never legitimate. What is happening in Libya today is not the same as Afghanistan or Iraq. The United Nations, not a U.S.-led coalition under cover of a UN mandate, is working to stop the slaughter of a civilian population. This is what should have occurred in Rwanda.

I'm not sure how other Christian leaders will react. Already, many people I respect have been critical of President Obama and the allied forces attacking Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his forces. There are legitimate concerns to be raised about civilian causalities. But I agree with Peter Daou, a former campaign aide to John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, who tweeted tonight: "I don't see a parallel between a war Bush launched based on lies and Obama's action to prevent atrocities in #Libya." So far I have seen no statements from the National Council of Churches or op-ed pieces from religious leaders offering support or criticism. But while I believe that war is always a failure of the human imagination and tainted by sin, I also believe there are times where it can be necessary. Much of my own thinking on the use of violence to protect civilian populations is informed by Samantha Power's book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. Power now works in the Obama Administration. For now, I will offer support and prayers for President Obama, prayers for the allied forces, and prayers for all the people of Libya that the violence there ends quickly and that the civilian population can be free from terror. I extend that prayer for all the people of the world and hope for the day when democratic nations no longer support governments that commitment human rights violations with weapons contracts and other forms of aid that prop up too many corrupt governments.

I will also continue to closely monitor the events as they unfold and continue to reassess my views as needed.

Church Council Head Blasts Bush Over Torture

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, has strong words for former President Bush:

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me." That is the teaching of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Likewise, the Golden Rule states, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

These are the underpinnings not only for Christianity, but for many of the world's great religions. And these are the tenets of the faith claimed by former President George W. Bush.

That's why Bush's prideful defense of torture in his new memoir, Decision Points, is utterly incomprehensible to me. It's also unrecognizable to the fundamental values of this country, and of Bush's own professed Christian faith...

As the United States reported to the United Nations in 1998 as part of our obligation under the U.N. Convention Against Torture:

"Torture is prohibited by law throughout the United States. It is categorically denounced as a matter of policy and as a tool of state authority. Every act constituting torture under the Convention constitutes a criminal offence under the law of the United States. No official of the government, federal, state or local, civilian or military, is authorized to commit or to instruct anyone else to commit torture. Nor may any official condone or tolerate torture in any form.  No exceptional circumstances may be invoked as a justification of torture."

We are now confronted with the fact that a president of the United States has openly acknowledged ordering torture. It is a sad and shameful moment. And, it is one we cannot let pass without consequence. Under our own laws, we must hold ourselves accountable; former President Bush has left us no choice.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), a coalition of more than 290 religious organizations representing most of the major faith groups, has called for an independent counsel to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing. In addition, the coalition has asked for a Commission of Inquiry to take testimony about U.S.-sponsored torture, review all the records, and report to the public what it learns. It would also recommend safeguards to ensure that torture by the United States never happens again.

We must demand of ourselves what we demand of others in the international community, and what all major faiths require of us: respect for the dignity and value of every human being, a manifestation of that which is most holy.

Full post.

Muslims, Christians Condemn Attack on Iraqi Church In Joint Statement

Leading Christian and Muslim representatives, meeting in Geneva this week for international consultation on interfaith co-operation, released a statement today condemning the terrorist attack that occurred over the weekend where a Christian church in Iraq was brutally attacked.  The statement released today reads as follows:  

Muslims and Christians meeting at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1 to 4 November, 2010, in the framework of an International Consultation on “Transforming Communities: Christians and Muslims Building a Common Future”, express their condemnation of all acts of violence that target places of worship and other sacred places, defile them, or threaten the safety and security of worshippers. With that guiding spirit, the consultation’s participants were shocked by the terrorist attack carried out by unidentified armed bandits on the church of Our Lady of Najat located in al-Karadah neighborhood in Baghdad on Sunday, 31 October, 2010. This criminal act led to the fall of a large number of worshippers and injured, among whom there were three priests. The participants condemn this inhumane act that contradicts all religious teachings, and Middle Eastern culture that enabled people to coexist peacefully for many centuries. The participants further condemn any criminal act that goes against the right to live in dignity and freedom of worship and of religion.

Christian and Muslim leaders and scholars meeting at the International Consultation, implore the United Nations and its Security Council and all groups that call for just peace, and especially Iraqi officials, to intervene to put an end to all terrorist attacks aimed at degrading Iraqi people, irrespective of their religious affiliation, and defiling Christian and Islamic sacred places. They further extend their heart-felt condolences to the families of the victims in Iraq assuring them that we hold them in our prayers. 

We pray that the All-Mighty God assist the Iraqi Authorities and United Nations to seriously work to implement security, justice and peace to Iraq whose people deserve to enjoy living with religious and ethnic diversity.

More information from this important gathering will be released tomorrow.  For additional information click here.

"World Council of Churches condemns attack on church in Iraq"

As I noted briefly on Twitter yesterday, a terrorist attack took place at a church in Iraq over the weekend.  Over 50 people were killed.  The Washington Post has the story:

BAGHDAD - Scores of worshipers and seven Iraqi commandos were killed Sunday night during an hours-long siege of a prominent Catholic church in Baghdad, authorities and church officials said.

The bulk of the bloodletting happened shortly after 9 p.m. when Iraqi Special Operations troops stormed Our Lady of Salvation church in the upscale Karradah neighborhood to try and free worshipers who had been taken hostage. Several of the hostages had already been killed by the assailants who had taken over the church, authorities said. The attempted rescue prompted to detonate suicide vests, multiplying the death toll.

Two Assyrian priests who were presiding over Sunday evening Mass were among those slain during the hours-long encounter. One priest was executed and the other was reportedly killed in an explosion, fellow priest Meyassr Portus said.

"People come here just to pray," Portus said Monday, weeping outside the church as residents swept broken glass off the street and repair crews fixed windows and mangled electrical wires. "They are trying to destroy humanity here. Christians just want to live in peace."

Today the World Council of Churches released a statement condemning the attack:

"The World Council of Churches strongly condemns the criminal act of terror that took place on Sunday in the Sayyidat al-Najat Church in Baghdad and expresses its deep sympathy and solidarity with those who lost their loved ones and pray for a speedy recovery for the injured. 

The fellowship of the World Council of Churches is deeply troubled by the continuous suffering of Christians in Iraq and continues to stand in solidarity with all churches as they pass through turbulent and challenging times and witness to the love and peace of God in Jesus Christ even amidst hatred and aggression.

This is not the first time that such attacks have targeted Christian communities in Iraq. All those responsible need to be brought to justice, and governmental authorities should take their responsibility to bring safety and security to all citizens and particularly to those in vulnerable situation."

Let us continue to keep all the people of Iraq in our prayers.

President Obama And The End Of Combat Operations In Iraq

Tonight the president of the United States will address the American people and announce - as he promised during the 2008 campaign - that he has ended combat operations in Iraq. Over 90,000 U.S. troops have returned home. Another 50,000 troops remain to support the new Iraqi government. These remaining troops are scheduled to return next year. 

The Iraq War was one that never should have been fought. It was sold to the American people with elaborate lies from President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and their Administration. Over 4,000 young American men and women and countless Iraqi civilians died in a conflict that could have been and should have been avoided. President Bush's false claims that Iraq was involved with 9/11 and had weapons of mass destruction brought about one of America's darkest foreign adventures. 

The National Council of Churches USA (NCC) and nearly every other Christian body in the United States - with the notable exception of the Southern Baptists - argued against ever invading Iraq. At the time, NCC endorsed a statement made by the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops that read in part:

"... war against Iraq could have unpredictable consequences not only for Iraq, but for peace and stability elsewhere in the Middle East. The use of force might provoke the very kind of attacks that it is intended to prevent, could impose terrible new burdens on an already long-suffering civilian population, and could lead to wider conflict and instability in the region. War against Iraq could also detract from the responsibility to help build a just and stable order in Afghanistan and could undermine broader efforts to stop terrorism.”

Our worst fears came true. We can be thankful that Barack Obama used his voice during that period to oppose the war and as president has now ended combat operations - and begun a process to bring all troops home. The future for Iraq, however, remains uncertain. Years of oppressive rule by Saddam Hussein have been followed by war that killed countless civilians and political unrest. The United States will have to retain a humanitarian responsibility to the people of Iraq for generations. 

Perhaps we can learn from this lesson that pre-emptive war should never be an option for this nation. As Christians, we must continue to speak out against war whenever possible but with the tragic recognition that sometimes there may be no other course in the most extreme circumstances. War in Iraq, however, was never a moral imperative. President Obama should be applauded for the steps he has taken. 

As we leave Iraq, it is also important that we re-examine our role in Afghanistan. The moral issues there are deeply complicated and a national conversation over our involvement is critical at this moment of history.

We have waited way too long for the war in Iraq to end.  It has been a long struggle.  I spoke about the war in Iraq and the Christian responsibility for addressing this conflict at Portland's First Congregational United Church of Christ in 2008:

President Obama Works To Help Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This weekend the president spoke about his efforts to expand care for veterans:

   

As NPR reported, the efforts being made by the president are critical.

I know from my own work with people experiencing homelessness that many veterans become homeless and I've called on our community not to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam with veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan - but we have done just that.

Today veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq are living on American streets without the support they deserve.  Religious leaders, including those in the United Church of Christ, have been calling for additional assistance for veterans of our most recent conflicts for years.

President Obama is to be commended for his efforts this week. 

I continue to pray for an end to these conflicts and for peace in both Afghanistan and Iraq.  That will take great wisdom and courage on the part of many. 

Accounting for Torture

NOTE: Please be advised that viewers should be cautioned that the video contains graphic and disturbing imagery.

This video, "Accounting for Torture, featuring the voices of religious leaders who support the message of the Physicians for Human Rights report, Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence in the 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program," has been produced by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. 

 

On June 7, 2010, Physicians for Human Rights unveiled a report detailing the alleged involvement of U.S. military and intelligence health professionals in experiments utilizing “enhanced interrogation techniques” on detainees captured after 9/11. Such experimentation on human subjects would be a violation of the legal and ethical protections afforded by the Nuremberg Code, the Geneva Conventions, federal regulations governing human subject research and the federal War Crimes Act. The report also presents evidence indicating that the results of the experiments were used by attorneys in the Department of Justice to craft a legal framework designed to shield interrogators from prosecution for torture and to refine the illegal torture practices used by the U.S. government.

TAKE ACTION - WRITE TO CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

An impartial, nonpartisan, and independent Commission of Inquiry is needed to seek the full truth about U.S. torture policies and practices since 9/11. Send an email today.

Government Conspires With Military Analysts For Positive Iraq Coverage

The Iraq War has been opposed since the start by the leadership of the United Church of Christ and religious bodies from the World Council of Churches to the Vatican. But how can our voices compete with this?

"We Can't Just Wish For Peace"

4000 Americans Now Dead In Iraq

Related Link:  What Should Christians Do?

Related Link: NCC laments a ‘disastrous’ war, now entering its sixth year

Video Credit:  Andrew Stelzer

Three Cheers For Protesting Portland Students!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. - Matthew 5:9 (NRSV)

From OregonLive.com:

Hundreds of Portland-area school students left their campuses and have gathered at the North Park Block to protest the war in Iraq.

"I feel like it was a good thing, and I'll take the consequences if there are any," says Kiana Hamilton, 16, a junior at Wilson High School.

Students are carrying signs calling for peace. "Stop the War." "Five too many." "Honk for Peace." They began marching to the South Park Blocks shortly before 1 p.m., chanting "Peace Now."

Ellie Schmidt, 17, a senior at St. Mary's Academy said of the war "it's based on principles I don't stand for. And it's based on alot of lies."   

The Oregonian's web site promises an update later.

Note to Miss Hamilton:  Nothing the schools can do to you will matter.  Their consequences are meaningless compared to the consequences we all face if we do nothing and fail to stop this war.  All of the students who took part deserve applause for their actions and hopefully big hugs tonight from their parents.

Related Sermon Podcast:  "We Can't Just Wish For Peace"   

Evening Prayer of Hope

On this 19th day of March, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq, we pray with Christians of the Western Churches observing Holy Week:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have offered us Hope
with its power to reveal signs of your reign
already within and among us:
Reveal the way to Peace in Iraq.

We adore you O Christ and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have triumphed in Love
with its power to cast out fear
and overcome hatred:
Open the way to Peace in Iraq.

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you,
for by your cross and resurrection you have given us Freedom
to be doers of your Word
to be workers for your Justice
to be healers of your beloved world:
Lead us in the way of Peace in Iraq.

Glory be to the One, who,
working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.

To God be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations,
for ever and ever.

Amen

Source

Related Sermon Podcast:  "We Can't Just Wish For Peace"

A Podcast From The Portland Witness For Peace Gathering

Tonight I spoke at the Witness for Peace Gathering held at Portland’s First Congregational United Church of Christ marking the fifth year of the war in Iraq. This was an ecumenical gathering filled with song and spirit. Use the below link to download the podcast of my remarks for your iPod or personal computer.

Download FCCIraq.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

Representatives from First Congregational UCC, First United Methodist Church of Portland, St. Phillip Neri, and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon also participated.  Hundreds from churches across the Portland area attended.

Protests are occuring across the nation this weekend calling for an end to the war.

 

This Friday In Portland: Witness For Peace Gathering

This Friday at 7 pm join other Portland-area Christians for a special "Witness for Peace Gathering" calling for an end to the war in Iraq.  The service will take place at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park Avenue. 

I'll be there with members from Parkrose Community United Church of Christ.  There will be music, opportunities for reflection, and the lighting of candles. This promises to be a moving and spiritual evening.  Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a co-sponsor of the gathering.

Click here for more information.

Someone asked me recently why this wasn't an interfaith gathering.  Interfaith events are important - critical, really, in our pluralistic society - and all of us involved with the gathering this Friday are committed to interfaith dialog and worship opportunities.  But on this one occasion we felt it was important to demonstrate the Christian community's nearly unanimous opposition to the war in Iraq and to provide Christians with a chance to gather ecumenically with one another in a show of inter-denominational solidarity. 

We welcome, however, those of other faiths who wish to attend to show their support for our efforts and we lift up in prayer those of all faiths who are working for peace across the globe.

Related Link:  Statement On Iraq From The National Council Of Churches 

Witness For Peace Gathering Set For March 14th In Portland

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to invite you to join me at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Portland (www.uccportland.org) for a special worship service marking five bloody years of war in Iraq. The service will be held Friday, March 14th from 7-8 pm. The church is located at 1126 SW Park Avenue.

Over 4,000 American soldiers have died since the start of the war and human rights groups have estimated that so far nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a direct result of the conflict (with perhaps as many as 600,000 dying from direct and indirect causes). U.S. military forces do not count civilian deaths.

We have the power to end this conflict.

The rational for invading Iraqi was that the United States needed to stop a dangerous leader who had weapons of mass destruction. This turned out to be a fabrication. In fact, the result of the invasion has been a further destabilization of the region and human rights scandals involving American forces.

At the service on March 14th there will be music, opportunities for reflection, and the lighting of candles. This promises to be a moving and spiritual evening.  Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is a co-sponsor of the gathering.

Religious leaders spoke out against the invasion. The Vatican and the World Council of Churches were two of the most vocal opponents. Here in the United States the National Council of Churches in Christ USA along with almost every single Christian denomination (with the notable exception of the Southern Baptists) said the U.S. should not invade.

The national offices of the United Church of Christ have joined with others in calling for an end to this war. Recently, over 64,000 members of our denomination joined with our National Officers, Conference Ministers and Seminary Presidents in signing a letter to the President and Congress that said in part:

Today we call for an end to this war, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war. Today we call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and we cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing. Today we call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war, thereby, we pray, beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world. Today we call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others.

In the name of the Peace of Peace, I ask you to come and to add your voice with a chorus of others calling for peace and justice throughout the world. Some American political leaders have said this war will last another 100 years but we must insist that the violence and the chaos end now. My hope is that all faithful people will join us but I especially hope that those who have not taken a public stand against the war come and do so now. Please also bring your children and other young people. Doing so will be a witness to them as to how you want the world to be.

Your brother in Christ,

The Rev. Chuck Currie

UCC Leaders Arrested Outside White House

See the post on the United Church News Blog.

Today Is The Interfaith Fast to End The War

Today I'm participating with many others in the Interfaith Fast to End The War - another effort to draw attention to the need to end the Iraq War. Why this fast?

FULL POST

George W. Bush's Ordinary Life

Last night the president in another fit of delusion said that we're marching toward progress in Iraq and that "ordinary life is beginning to return."  CNN Iraq correspondent Michael Ware said in response:

."..if the president means by ordinary life, families essentially living locked up in their homes, in almost perpetual darkness, without refrigeration, or perhaps constantly struggling -- struggling for ever more expensive gas to run generators, if he means waiting in their homes, wondering if government death squads will drag them off and torture and execute them, if he means living in sectarian, cleansed neighborhoods where people who were your friends have had to flee, if he's talking about living in communities that are protected by militias, then, yes, life has returned to ordinary."

Maybe that was just what the president meant.  We've simply exchanged one nightmare government in Iraq for another perhaps even more damaging one.  That might be good enough for our president but I had hoped better for America.

UCC Action Alert: Bring the Troops Home 

Senator Obama Questions General Petraeus during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing

You can read the exchange here.

General Petraeus Doesn't Make Bush's Case

Today before Congress General David Petraeus made his case as to why President Bush's plans for Iraq should remain enforce for the foreseeable future.  His audience wasn't sold.  As Think Progress reports, this White House has some trouble telling the difference between reality and wishful thinking.  Consider these myths and the reality behind them:

MYTH #1 -- SECTARIAN DEATHS IN BAGHDAD HAVE DROPPED 75 PERCENT SINCE 2006: In late August, Petraeus told The Australian that "there had been a 75 per cent reduction in religious and ethnic killings since last year." He is expected to make a similar claim today. Yet reports indicate that the Pentagon may be undercounting sectarian deaths. Intelligence analysts who computed "aggregate levels of violence against civilians" for the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) "puzzled over how the military designated attacks as combat, sectarian or criminal." "If a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian," said one senior intelligence official. "If it went through the front, it's criminal." The Pentagon's sectarian violence numbers also exclude Sunni on Sunni violence, Shiite on Shiite violence, and car bombs. In an April interview, Bush attempted to explain his subjective rationale for excluding car bombs: "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory." The number of car bombings have actually increased five percent since December. Additionally, the NIE found that conflict levels in Baghdad "have diminished to some extent" because of widespread ethnic cleansing.

MYTH #2 -- SECTARIAN DEATHS REACHED MORE THAN 1,600 IN DEC. 2006: Not only is the Pentagon underreporting recent sectarian deaths, it also raising the number of past incidents in order to make the "reduction" seem more impressive. In March, the Pentagon's quarterly report estimated that in Dec. 2006 -- right before the President announced his escalation -- "there were about 1,300 sectarian slayings across Iraq." But in its June report, "the Pentagon revised the December 2006 death toll to more than 1,600. That change makes the decline to about 600 in April -- after the surge began -- even more dramatic." Much of the Pentagon's data and methodology is classified. Last week, Goverment Accountability Office comptroller David Walker told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there are "several different sources within the administration" who "do not agree" on levels of violence. He added that he "could not get comfortable" with the way the Pentagon calculated such a steep drop in sectarian violence.

MYTH #3 -- SECTARIAN DEATHS ARE DECLINING ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Despite the government's claim that Baghdad casualties are dramatically dropping, war-related deaths throughout Iraq have doubled compared with last year, rising to "an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year." "Bombings, sectarian slayings and other violence related to the war killed at least 1,773 Iraqi civilians in August, the second month in a row that civilian deaths have risen." Additionally, the recent NIE found that over the next six to 12 months, "levels of insurgent and sectarian violence will remain high."

MYTH #4 -- BUSH'S ESCALATION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROGRESS IN ANBAR: One of the success stories Petraeus will likely highlight is the reduced violence in the Anbar province, which was once the "heartland" of the Sunni insurgency. Last week, Bush made a surprise visit to the region and used it to argue that the troop buildup should not be cut short. "In Anbar you're seeing firsthand the dramatic differences that can come when the Iraqis are more secure," said Bush. But the administration's policies had little to do with Anbar's progress. As the Washington Post noted yesterday, "The sheik who forged the alliance with the Americans, Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, traced the decision to fight al-Qaeda to Sept. 14, 2006, long before the new Bush strategy, but the president's plan dispatched another 4,000 U.S. troops to Anbar to exploit the situation. As security improved, the White House eagerly took credit." Last week, CNN correspondent Michael Ware also noted that the Sunni insurgency in Anbar offered to work with U.S. troops -- not the Iraqi government -- to fight al Qaeda in 2003, but the United States rejected the offer. Only "after four years of bloodshed" was the United States "finally ready to accept those terms."

MYTH #5 -- AL QAEDA IN IRAQ IS 'PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE': In July, Bush referred to al Qaeda 95 times in a single speech, claiming the war in Iraq has become the central front in the fight against al Qaeda (AQ-I). Echoing Bush, Petraeus recently argued that al Qaeda is "public enemy number one" in Iraq, and will likely make a similar claim to Congress this week. But in a new report, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes that attacks from al Qaeda are only a small percentage of the violence in Iraq, criticizing the Bush administration's statistics and noting that this false reporting on AQ-I has increased since Bush's "surge" began. "Increasingly in 2007, U.S. commanders have seemed to equate AQ-I with the insurgency, even though most of the daily attacks are carried out by Iraqi Sunni insurgents," concluded CRS.

Send a message telling our American leaders it is time to leave Iraq.

Bush To America: Pass The Bottle

Like a hardcore late stage alcoholic deep in denial the president cannot tell the difference between his fantasy life and reality. Exhibit A from CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — When President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq last weekend, he made clear he was pleased with what he saw.

"The security situation is changing," Bush told reporters during the visit. "There's more work to be done. But reconciliation is taking place."

But according to the Sydney Morning Herald of Australia, the president gave a more-to-the-point assessment to Australia Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile. "

We're kicking ass," Bush said to Vaile Tuesday, according the Herald, after the deputy prime minister inquired about his trip to Iraq.

They’ll greet us as liberators.

Mission Accomplished.

We’re kicking ass.

Pass the bottle.

Related News:  7 More US Troops Killed in Iraq

Urgent: Prayer Surge For Peace

ACTION ALERT FROM SOJO.NET

Next week, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, will report to Congress on the troop "surge," in which the Bush administration has escalated the war in Iraq by sending an additional 20,000 American combat troops.

As people of faith, we believe in the power of prayer to soften the hardest of hearts and open the way to peace and reconciliation. So, as General Petraeus testifies, we're planning to match his surge with one of our own–20,000 prayers for Congress to bring an end to this war.

Click here to share your prayer with Congress–let them know that you're praying for their courage and wisdom to end this war.

We are at a critical moment, as the House and Senate decide on our nation's continued involvement in Iraq amidst a frenzy of swirling accusations and partisan rhetoric.

But while the Bush administration has frequently abused the language of scripture to justify this disastrous war, a growing number of Christians from across the theological and political spectrum are coming together to oppose it.

And our nation's political leaders are listening–in fact, we've spoken to several members of Congress who are considering reading a selection of your prayers for peace into the Congressional Record.

Like many of you, I've opposed this war from the start, and together we've raised a prophetic voice against it–marching in the streets, writing letters, and much more.

We'll continue to do all of that, but I believe it will also take faith to end this war. It will take prayer to end it. It will take a revolution of love to end it, because this endless war in Iraq is based ultimately on fear, and the Bible tells us that only perfect love will cast out fear.

Will you be a part of this surge of prayer for peace? Click here to let your Senators and Representative know that you're praying for them.

In times such as these, we ought to remember the words of the Apostle Paul:

Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Blessings,

Jim Wallis and the rest of the team at Sojourners/Call to Renewal

P.S. To reach 20,000 prayers by next week, we'll need your help. Can you share this message with 10 of your friends, family, and congregation members, asking them to join us in this campaign?

Related Post:  A Podcast Sermon: War Is Contrary to the Will of God

Bush's Iraq Legacy: Women Prostituting To Feed Children

Remember how we were going to "liberate" the people of Iraq from their brutal dictator?

Now the people of Iraq live in worse and more violent conditions than ever before.  As many as 600,000+ civilians have died since the U.S. invaded the nation to search for non-existent weapons of mass destruction and to punish the Iraqi regime for ties to the 9/11 terrorists - ties that turned out to be lies put out by the Bush White House to build a case for war.

Just last night we heard that the suicide rate among U.S. troops is at the highest point in 26 years.

Today CNN reports on the growing number of Iraqi women turning to prostituion to feed their children:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The women are too afraid and ashamed to show their faces or have their real names used. They have been driven to sell their bodies to put food on the table for their children -- for as little as $8 a day.

"People shouldn't criticize women, or talk badly about them," says 37-year-old Suha as she adjusts the light colored scarf she wears these days to avoid extremists who insist women cover themselves. "They all say we have lost our way, but they never ask why we had to take this path."

A mother of three, she wears light makeup, a gold pendant of Iraq around her neck, and an unexpected air of elegance about her.

"I don't have money to take my kid to the doctor. I have to do anything that I can to preserve my child, because I am a mother," she says, explaining why she prostitutes herself.

Anger and frustration rise in her voice as she speaks.

"No matter what else I may be, no matter how off the path I may be, I am a mother!"

This is the legacy of George W. Bush and his war in Iraq.  May God forgive us all.

Note to President Bush: Your Soldiers Are Killing Themselves

Today brought new horrors out of Iraq.  As predicted by many, the U.S. invasion has been disastrous. 

And the impact on American troops has been a nightmare.  The Washington Post reports tonight on a new report documenting a dramatic increase in suicides among U.S. forces:

WASHINGTON -- Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than a quarter did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release Thursday, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest number since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War.

The president has maintained that American troops are needed to protect Iraq's "democratic" government.  But it becomes clearer each day that our invasion and continued military presence does nothing to improve the situation.

Related Link: United Church of Christ Action Alert Calling for End to Iraq Conflict 

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Holds Churchwide Assembly

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - a full communion partner with the United Church of Christ - held their Church-wide Assembly this week and among their decisions was one related to gay and lesbian clergy.  NPR reports:

A national assembly of Evangelical Lutherans urged its bishops Saturday to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate a celibacy rule, but rejected measures that would have permitted ordaining gays churchwide.

Still, advocates for full inclusion of gays were encouraged, calling the resolution a powerful statement in support of clergy with same-gender partners. 

This will be the story that makes all the headlines but there were other important decisions as well -  including the adoption of a new statement on the Iraq War:

CHICAGO (ELCA) -  The highest legislative assembly of the 4.8 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America declared its opposition to "any escalation of the war" in Iraq and called upon the U.S. government to "take immediate and comprehensive steps to end the violence and establish a peaceful, stable, and just society in that country."

The resolution, passed with no discussion and by a vote of 874 to 78, also urged Lutherans to engage in "moral deliberation about the situation in Iraq and the policies and actions of the government of the United States of America in relation to them" and urged expanded concern for military personnel and their families. Lutherans should also make their views known to members of Congress, the resolution said.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA, is meeting here Aug. 6-11 at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. About 2,000 people are participating, including 1,071 ELCA voting members.

Click here for information on other issues the ELCA considered.

Bring Them Home!

From The Washington Post:

BAGHDAD, Aug. 7 -- Iraq's political crisis deepened Monday as five more ministers withdrew from cabinet meetings, delivering a major blow to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's fractured unity government and efforts to reconcile Iraq's warring parties.

Hours earlier, a truck bomb in a Shiite village near the northern city of Tall Afar killed 31 people and wounded scores more, striking an area that was once hailed by President Bush and U.S. military commanders as an oasis of stability, following U.S. operations against insurgents there. Six children were among the dead, police said.

The U.S. military also announced the deaths of nine American soldiers, including four killed in an explosion Monday in volatile Diyala province, where U.S. forces are engaged in a major offensive against Sunni insurgents. The blast injured 12 other U.S. soldiers, the military said in a statement.

One soldier was killed by a sophisticated roadside bomb in west Baghdad on Monday, and another was killed during combat in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, the military said. Three soldiers were killed Saturday when a roadside bomb struck their convoy south of Baghdad, the military announced Tuesday.

Bring Them Home!

United Church of Christ Action Alert: Sign the Petition to End the Iraq War

A History Lesson For George W. Bush

This was the first story I heard on NPR this morning:

U.S. military officials have lost track of at least 110,000 AK-47 rifles and 80,000 pistols sent to help Iraqi security forces fight insurgents, according to a federal report.

It appears that some of these lost weapons are now being used to kill civilians and to fight U.S. military personnel. 

Not only has President Bush created one of the most unstable military situations in a generation but the incompetence of his government has helped to arm people intent on killing Americans.

Just today I picked up John Dominic Crossan's God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now.  Check out this paragraph from a discussion about the Roman Empire:

Augustus knew the difference between war and diplomacy.  He understood about a river too far.  He settled for imperial boundaries on the Rhine, not the Elbe, and for imperial limits on the Euphrates, not the Tigris.  He also learned another vital lesson, this one from Arminius: when you train and arm tribal forces to fight for you, they can use that knowledge to fight against you as well. (pg. 27)

How does that old saying go?

"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

Action Alert: Call for an End to the Bloodshed: Sign the Petition to End the Iraq War

House Vote To End Iraq War Important Step

We can be proud this week by the vote taken in the U.S. House of Representatives to require an end to the failed Iraq War.

Speaker Pelosi was right to call for a new direction in Iraq because the policy followed by the Bush Administration has done nothing but to increase the risk of terrorism, and caused too many civilian and military deaths.

It is time to end the war. 

Al-Qaeda Is Gonna Get You

Every television news program is carrying the same story this week: we are at risk for another terrorist attack. Information from the intelligence community has confirmed that Al-Qaeda remains a clear and present danger to the America people. The Washington Post reports:

Six years after the Bush administration declared war on al-Qaeda, the terrorist network is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and planning attacks, according to a new Bush administration intelligence report…

U.S. intelligence has proven faulty at best but few would seriously doubt that Al-Qaeda wants to do serious harm to our nation and will do so if given the opportunity.

Only the villains behind Al-Qaeda can be held responsible for the violence they wage but President George W. Bush’s policies have allowed Al-Qaeda to grow and remain a serious threat.

In a survey of national security experts conducted by the Center for American Progress it was report that:

More than two-thirds of the experts believe that Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism and 88 percent think that operations in Iraq are undermining U.S. national security….

The Bush administration’s misguided tactics in the fight against global terrorist networks are making the United States a more dangerous place. Eighty-two percent of the experts expect another 9/11-scale attack on the United States sometime in the next decade, and 83 percent believe that the Taliban, Hamas, and Hezbollah have all strengthened over the past year. An overwhelming 91 percent urge the United States to dramatically increase pressure on Pakistan, which many believe will become the next Al Qaeda stronghold. The United States needs to turn its attention away from Iraq if it hopes to contain these terrorist groups.

If we are attacked again it would represent a failure of colossal proportions on the part of President Bush. The war in Iraq has only further destabilized the world and allowed terrorist networks to grow.

Pete Domenici Abandons Bush On Iraq

Another Republican jumps ship:

WASHINGTON, July 5 — Support among Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq policy eroded further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the war.

“We cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress,” said Mr. Domenici, a six-term senator who has been a steadfast supporter of the president.

Thus Mr. Domenici joined a growing number of Republican voices in opposition to the war just as Senate Democratic leaders are readying plans to put the political and policy focus back on Iraq next week.

Pretty soon the only member of the Senate still supporting President Bush’s war will be Joe Lieberman.

Together We Can End The War

Posted on People Of Faith For Barack

Richard Lugar, Republican Senate Leader, Breaks With President Over Iraq

Another Republican broke ranks today with President Bush over the war in Iraq. This time it was Richard Lugar, the well-respected U.S. senator from Indiana.

Mr. President, I rise today to offer observations on the continuing involvement of the United States in Iraq. In my judgment, our course in Iraq has lost contact with our vital national security interests in the Middle East and beyond. Our continuing absorption with military activities in Iraq is limiting our diplomatic assertiveness there and elsewhere in the world. The prospects that the current “surge” strategy will succeed in the way originally envisioned by the President are very limited within the short period framed by our own domestic political debate. And the strident, polarized nature of that debate increases the risk that our involvement in Iraq will end in a poorly planned withdrawal that undercuts our vital interests in the Middle East. Unless we recalibrate our strategy in Iraq to fit our domestic political conditions and the broader needs of U.S. national security, we risk foreign policy failures that could greatly diminish our influence in the region and the world.

Lugar is the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His speech hit the Bush White House hard. The Washington Post reports:

The harsh judgment from one of the Senate's most respected foreign-policy voices was a blow to White House efforts to boost flagging support for its war policy, and opened the door to defections by other Republicans who have supported the administration despite increasing private doubts.

Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Bush (today) urging the president to develop "a comprehensive plan for our country's gradual military disengagement" from Iraq. "I am also concerned that we are running out of time," he wrote.

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, praised Lugar's statement as "an important and sincere contribution" to the Iraq debate.

Republican defections from the president as we enter the 2008 elections are no surprise. President Bush is about as popular as Richard Nixon was before his forced resignation from the presidency. Those of us who opposed the war from the start could look at today’s developments and argue that these defections are natural for politicians such as Warner, who like many other Congressional republicans faces a difficult re-election campaign, and who see the president’s evaporating support as evidence of their own electoral weakness.

But tonight I’m abandoning my own natural political cynicism and will simply be happy that each day more and more Americans understand that a terrible mistake was made that continues to cause chaos and the unnecessary deaths of both Americans and Iraqis.

It is time to end the war.

United Church Of Christ Leaders Call For End To Iraq War

Leaders in the United Church of Christ called today again for an end to the Iraq War. United Church News reports:

Just as they were beginning to celebrate the UCC's diamond jubilee, delegates and visitors to the 26th General Synod heard a call for an end to the war in Iraq and for the end to what was termed "the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war."

At the opening session of the historic meeting in Hartford, Conn., the UCC's five-person Collegium of Officers presented a pastoral letter that had been signed also by the chief executives of the denomination's regional conferences and the presidents of the seminaries. The letter included a confession that "too often the church has been little more than a silent witness" to the deaths of thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

The delegates and visitors interrupted the reading of the letter with a standing ovation and afterwards voted to add the name of the General Synod. Delegates were invited to add their names as individuals. And as the Rev. Linda Jaramillo, told a packed news conference, all across the nation members of the UCC who were watching the Synod on live streaming video would have a chance to sign the letter as well.

Here’s the letter:

Along with thousands of United Church of Christ members and supporters, I call for an end to the war in Iraq, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war.

I call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and I cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing.

I call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war and a beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world.

I call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others.

I will join protest to prayer, support ministries of compassion for victims here and in the Middle East, cast off the fear that has made all of us accept the way of violence and return again to the way of Jesus. Thus may bloodshed end and cries be transformed to the harmonies of justice and the melodies of peace. For this I yearn, for this I pray, and toward this end I rededicate myself as a child of a loving God who gives "light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Click here to add your name.

Christians across the globe have been nearly united in opposing the invasion of Iraq since the start and in calling for a quick end to the invasion after it was undertaken. Out of all the major Christian denominations world-wide only the Southern Baptists in the U.S. have openly supported the war.

"Catholic Groups Call on President to Heed Pope’s Iraq Message"

As the failed and immoral war in Iraq continues to rage religious leaders continue to call for an end to the conflict. Today American Roman Catholic leaders issued a new statement calling on President Bush to change direction in Iraq:

Washington, D.C. - Catholics United for the Common Good and NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, today called on President Bush to use his upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict XVI to begin formulating a new policy for peace in Iraq. The meeting, to be held on Saturday at the Vatican, comes some two months after the pope expressed grave concerns about the humanitarian crisis the war sparked, calling Iraq a country “torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees.”

The Iraq War began after President Bush ignored the pleas of Pope Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who urged the U.S. to seek alternatives to armed conflict and called the decision to go to war “a defeat for humanity.”

“President Bush owes an unequivocal apology to our pope, to Catholics around the world, and most importantly to the Iraqi people and others directly affected by the tragedy of this unjust war,” said Chris Korzen, Executive Director of Catholics United for the Common Good. “The president's arrogant and self-serving policies in the Middle East have proven a total affront to human life and dignity, the fallout of which will continue to be felt for generations to come.”

The president has stated that he is “ready to listen” to the pope during this weekend's meeting. Many Catholics hope this signals a change of course in the Bush administration's handling of the war, and in the quality of its engagement with the broader world.

“While we can't turn back the clock to 2003 and undo the ill-fated decision to invade Iraq, our nation can take steps to repair some of the damage, and set Iraq on a more hopeful course,” said Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK. “President Bush must stop obstructing the end to the war that Catholics and millions of citizens around the world are praying for. This means that the Administration must vigorously support the Iraqi government in convening a comprehensive peace conference including all factions in Iraq, pursuing regional and international diplomacy and supporting the development of an economic renewal by Iraqis and for Iraqis.”

Both NETWORK and Catholics United are calling on President Bush and Congress to engage this broader vision for peacebuilding when they revisit the war funding question later this month. The Congressional leadership has pledged to continue to push legislation this summer that would bring a responsible end to the war.

“Right now, the crisis in Iraq is the most important issue facing U.S. Catholic voters,” said Korzen. “Our lawmakers must provide real leadership and real solutions to bring an end to the war, or face serious consequences in the upcoming elections.”

I deeply admire the Roman Catholic leadership for their continued prophetic voice on issues of war and peace and hope President Bush listens to their words and to the pleas for peace from other religious bodies such as the World Council of Churches.

Related Post:  War Is Contrary to the will of God

Testimony from The Rev. Chuck Currie Before Portland City Council In Support Of Returning American Veterans

This afternoon the Portland City Council will consider a resolution (put forward by all five members of the Council) welcoming home veterans from the Iraq War and offering support for all those having difficulty reintegrating after deployments. I have been asked to give testimony at the hearing. Below are my prepared remarks:

Testimony from The Rev. Chuck Currie

Before Portland City Council In Support Of Returning American Veterans

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Members of the Council:

My name is Rev. Chuck Currie. I currently serve as the interim minister of Parkrose Community United Church of Christ and live in Portland’s Grant Park neighborhood.

Today I am here to offer support for the resolution before council welcoming back returning veterans from the Iraq War.

Twenty-one years I began working at a shelter in Portland called Baloney Joe’s. Each day we served hundreds of individuals suffering from acute mental illness, people who had lost their jobs because of the declining timber industry, those battling alcohol and drug addictions, and veterans who severed our nation in the Armed Forces only to be abandoned to the streets.

The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports:

In addition to the complex set of factors affecting all homelessness -- extreme shortage of affordable housing, livable income, and access to health care -- a large number of displaced and at-risk veterans live with lingering effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse, compounded by a lack of family and social support networks.

No one should be homeless in the richest nation on earth. But Americans have a special burden to ensure that those who have served the nation are not left without services and support. Tragically, after the Vietnam War our veterans were simply cut loose and many ended up in shelters like Baloney Joe’s. Our shelter, which received only limited government support, operated counseling programs, a medical center, a jobs program, and SRO housing centers in Old Town. We were so unpopular in serving this population that Mayor Frank Ivancie once famously said in the early 80s he’d rather wed his garden then visit Baloney Joe’s. As many as one-third of the people we served were Vietnam veterans.

You would have thought a lesson had been learned by the way Vietnam veterans had been treated but already veterans from Iraq are ending up in shelters and we have seen the shameful way veterans in medical facilities like Walter Reed have been treated. “While an estimated 500,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2004, the VA had the resources to tend to only 100,000 of them,” reported The Christian Science Monitor in a 2005 article chronicling the increase of veterans from Iraq seeking emergency shelter.

The General Assembly of the National Council of Churches adopted a statement last year that read it part:

We urge our government to give meaningful support to U.S. troops. This meaningful support includes: bringing active and reserve forces home from this war; providing soldiers still in harm's way with adequate armor to protect them from gunfire and explosive devices; giving earned benefits to veterans, especially injured veterans, of this war in which they have valiantly served; and honoring the sacrifice made by those who have died in this war by making adequate provision for surviving family members and creating a withdrawal plan that brings such sacrifices to an end.

War is contrary to the will of God and we are called to be peacemakers. We are also called to be a compassionate people concerned with the “least of these” in society. I urge all Portlanders to do everything in our power to avoid the mistakes of the Vietnam era and to welcome home our veterans with open arms.

Memorial Day 2007

No matter what you think about the Iraq War we all pause as citizens this Memorial Day to remember those Americans who have given their lives in service to their nation.

Click here to visit CNN’s site chronicling the lives lost to date.  It is important for us to remember that these Americans are more than just numbers in a casualty count but were real people with families and loved ones left behind.

As an Oregonian, I give special thanks to those from my state who have died.

“This Memorial Day gives us a chance to reflect on the Oregonians who are currently serving our country overseas,” said Governor (Ted) Kulongoski. “As we keep our soldiers serving abroad in our thoughts and prayers, we should also take a moment on this day to honor the countless Oregonians who have served our country with such dedication and courage and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.” 

My prayers are with all the families grieving losses this Memorial Day and with those seeking to end this conflict so that no more Americans or Iraqis perish.  These best way to honor Americans in Iraq would be to bring them home.

Obama On Iraq Funding Bill: In His Own Words

Senator Barack Obama voted yesterday against the new funding bill for the Iraq war - one that does not set firm deadlines for ending the conflict.  In his own words: 

“This vote is a choice between validating the same failed policy in Iraq that has cost us so many lives and demanding a new one.  And I am demanding a new one.”

“We must fund our troops.  But we owe them something more.  We owe them a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else's civil war.  We need a plan to compel the Iraqi people to reach a political accommodation and to take responsibility for their own future.  It's time to change course.”

“I opposed this war in 2002 precisely because I feared it would lead us to the open-ended occupation in which we find ourselves today.”

“This President has led us down a disastrous path and has arrogantly refused to acknowledge the grim reality of this war, which has cost us so dearly in lives and treasure.”

“After he vetoed a plan that would have funded the troops and begun to bring them home, this bill represents more of his stubborn refusal to address his failed policy.”

“We should not give the President a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path.”

“With my vote today, I am saying to the President that enough is enough.  We must negotiate a better plan that funds our troops, signals to the Iraqis that it is time for them to act and that begins to bring our brave servicemen and women home safely and responsibly.”

We need thinking like this in the White House.

And So The War Goes On

The U.S. House of Representatives voted this afternoon to continue funding the war in Iraq without setting any deadlines for ending the conflict. Now more Americans will die and more Iraqis will die and nothing will be the better because of it. We find ourselves in an endless cycle of war and death and our political leaders cannot find a way out.

So let me restate here a plan for ending the war that I have endorsed that is being advanced by The Rev. Tony Campolo, Rabbi Michael Lerner and many other religious leaders:

First, we propose that American and British troops be replaced by an international police force composed of those who better understand the Iraqi culture. Leaders in Saudi Arabia proposed such a solution almost three years ago. Americans and Brits are not only devoid of any grasp of the language and the religion of the Iraqi people, but are defined by many Muslims as a Christian army that has invaded a sacred Islamic land. Our army’s presence is perceived by many in the Muslim world as a rebirth of the medieval crusades.

Second, we propose that the United States appropriate $50 billion to rebuild the towns and cities that the invasion of Iraq has left in shambles. This would be a small price to pay, considering the $2 billion we are presently spending every week in order to keep this war going.

Third, we propose that our president go before the United Nations and ask the world to forgive America for what we have done to Iraq, and how we have set back efforts for world peace. He should point out that he is asking forgiveness on behalf of almost all Americans – because we overwhelmingly lent support to the invasion of Iraq some four years ago. He should further point out that our original intentions were good! We Americans were told that we were invading in order to remove the threat of what we thought were Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Repentance of this kind is necessary because we need to re-establish our moral standing in the world, and confessing wrongdoing is a start for doing that. It is not weakness to admit that we did wrong, especially when the whole world knows that we did. Now is the time for us to live out that verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If you are willing to support this proposal, go to www.tikkun.org/iraqpeace. You will find an expanded version of this proposal there, along with an opportunity to sign on with us. Do it now, because time is short and the days are filled with evil (Ephesians 5:16).

Across the globe religious leaders – including the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and most national protestant and orthodox bodies – opposed the war from the very beginning. We have to keep working to bring peace because the Republicans and Democrats in Congress seem unable to imagine anything but war.

Most U.S. Troops Say Iraqi Noncombatants Don't Deserve Dignity, Respect

Americans and others across the globe have been horrified each time new allegations of human rights abuses against detainees or civilians in Iraq by U.S. forces surface.

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly reports that American forces hold a dim view of the people they are there to, in President Bush's words, liberate and protect.

The Pentagon has released the findings of a survey of what soldiers and Marines in Iraq think is right and wrong. The report says more than a third of the troops approved of torture in certain situations. Most would not turn in a buddy who mistreated Iraqi civilians, and only around 40 percent said Iraqi noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect.

Click here for the full story.

In our war-time rhetoric we have dehumanized the Iraqi people.  It should come as no surprise then that American troops hold such views.  And in a war where it is difficult to tell which side the civilians are on - and in most cases it is not the American side - it must become easy at some levels to forget that all people are entitled to basic human rights and protections.  This failed war - one that was never moral to begin with - creates new and more frightening ethical dilemmas with each passing day.  Those that sent our American troops to Iraq have much to answer for.

Mission Accomplished In Iraq? Wishful Thinking.

Today marks the 4th anniversary of President George W. Bush’s declaration that major combat operations had ended in Iraq under a banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” A more realistic slogan for the president’s banner would have been “Wishful Thinking.”

Today The Washington Post reported:

The deaths of more than 100 American troops in April made it the deadliest month so far this year for U.S. forces in Iraq, underscoring the growing exposure of Americans as thousands of reinforcements arrive for an 11-week-old offensive to tame sectarian violence.

Over 3,300 Americans have now been killed in Iraq and as many as 600,000 civilians have lost their lives.

National Public Radio reports today that the armed forces have to accept higher numbers of high school drop outs and ex-cons to meet recruiting goals.

Terrorism is on the rise.

The United States Congress will present legislation today to the president that requires the U.S. to start a withdrawal from Iraq by October 1. The president (whose popularity has fallen to as low as 28% in recent polls) has promised to veto the legislation.

Religious leaders across the globe have been calling on the U.S. to leave Iraq.

The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, said this spring:

Leaders from Christian churches and other faith traditions sought peaceful solutions before the March 19, 2003 invasion. A delegation went to Iraq in December 2002. They met with government officials and prayed with Iraqi Christians.

At the same time 46 religious leaders, many from the member communions of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC), representing millions of faithful Americans, sought a meeting with President Bush to discuss the threat of war. Exactly two weeks before the invasion a letter from the White House stated the president's schedule would not permit such a meeting.

The leaders of nearly every major religious body in the U.S. had spoken out against the Iraq war. The NCC delegation called such a preemptive war, immoral, illegal and theologically illegitimate.

It is the life and ministry of Jesus Christ that prompted our stand then and compels us now to reiterate the continued prosecution of this war is immoral. It should be ended as quickly as possible. Our troops should be brought home and cared for in decent military hospitals to repair their broken bodies and damaged minds.

Our churches will offer our returned soldiers safe places to soothe their souls. Our churches will offer millions of dollars to relief agencies to help rebuild Iraq and comfort the innocent victims of a war they did not ask for. Our churches will continue to pray for peace. And we will pray for forgiveness and seek repentance for our nation for the unnecessary deaths and destruction caused to God’s family.

Pray for our country to have the wisdom to end the occupation of Iraq and pray for the world to have the wisdom to seek peace in the wake of so much destruction and death that has been caused by terrorists and nation-states alike. Lord have mercy.

"Religious Leaders Propose a Way Out of Iraq"

The Rev. Tony Campolo and Rabbi Michael Lerner are proposing a way to end the war in Iraq. Campolo writes on God’s Politics:

First, we propose that American and British troops be replaced by an international police force composed of those who better understand the Iraqi culture. Leaders in Saudi Arabia proposed such a solution almost three years ago. Americans and Brits are not only devoid of any grasp of the language and the religion of the Iraqi people, but are defined by many Muslims as a Christian army that has invaded a sacred Islamic land. Our army’s presence is perceived by many in the Muslim world as a rebirth of the medieval crusades.

Second, we propose that the United States appropriate $50 billion to rebuild the towns and cities that the invasion of Iraq has left in shambles. This would be a small price to pay, considering the $2 billion we are presently spending every week in order to keep this war going.

Third, we propose that our president go before the United Nations and ask the world to forgive America for what we have done to Iraq, and how we have set back efforts for world peace. He should point out that he is asking forgiveness on behalf of almost all Americans – because we overwhelmingly lent support to the invasion of Iraq some four years ago. He should further point out that our original intentions were good! We Americans were told that we were invading in order to remove the threat of what we thought were Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Repentance of this kind is necessary because we need to re-establish our moral standing in the world, and confessing wrongdoing is a start for doing that. It is not weakness to admit that we did wrong, especially when the whole world knows that we did. Now is the time for us to live out that verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

If you are willing to support this proposal, go to www.tikkun.org/iraqpeace. You will find an expanded version of this proposal there, along with an opportunity to sign on with us. Do it now, because time is short and the days are filled with evil (Ephesians 5:16).

I’ve added my name to the list of endorsers and encourage you to do the same.

MLK & Iraq

This video on Iraq (which I found on the WW website) uses the words from Rev. King's Riverside sermon on Vietnam with images from the current conflict. It is powerful.

Related Link: A Podcast Sermon: War Is Contrary to the Will of God

Congressman Earl Blumenauer: Vote "Important Set Back" To White House

Democrats in the House rounded up the necessary votes today for their $124 billion bill to fund the war in Iraq. The good news: the bill comes with a date certain for leaving Iraq (August 2008) and extra funding to support returning veterans. That’s progress. Republicans, of course, stuck with the president and his calls to stay the course in a war that has failed by every measure. But I still wish the bill had been voted down (though for much different reasons than the Republicans). $124 billion for another year of war is largely wasted money. Regardless, the Speaker and the Democrats in the House deserve credit for moving the debate in the right direction. U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer faxed me a handwritten note today (in response to a letter I sent earlier this week) in which he said voting for the bill was the only way to “end the madness” unleashed by Karl Rove and George W. Bush. The Oregon congressman wrote that the vote today will prove to be “an important set back” to the White House. The president promises to veto the bill (if the Senate were to side with the House and send the bill for a signature). We are fortunate to have people in charge of Congress that share our goal of ending the war and bringing stability to the Middle East.

Note To Earl Blumenauer: John Lewis Is Right

MoveOn.org are other progressives are supporting the Iraq Accountability Act.  From MoveOn's e-mail alert this morning:

85 percent of MoveOn members want to work to pass Speaker Pelosi's plan for Iraq. Today, we have to get to work. This vote is going to be incredibly close and it'll be one of the most important ones of the year. Every member of Congress should hear from their constituents today.

The critical piece of this plan is that it sets a timeline for withdrawing our troops from Iraq—it sets a date certain to end the war. President Bush doesn't want to set a deadline to exit Iraq1—his policy would strand our troops in the middle of what has become a religious civil war.

But MoveOn.org and the Speaker are wrong.

U.S. Congressman John Lewis is right:

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) a staunch pacifist, civil rights icon and part of the House leadership team, says his philosophy of non-violence will not allow him to vote for the Democrats’ Iraq spending bill.

“In matters of foreign policy, violence and war is obsolete. The money is there to support a continuation of the war,” Lewis said in a brief interview with The Hill. “I just cannot do it.”

Lewis’s position, announced late Monday from the House floor, leaves House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) without his senior chief deputy whip as Democrats head into the closest vote of the 110th Congress.

In his floor speech, Lewis said that “as an individual committed to a world of peace with itself, I will not and I cannot in good conscience vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war.”

War is contrary to the will of God. The House leadership might be taking a politically wise (or politically possible) stand but they are not advancing the cause of peace far enough – no matter how good their intentions. So if you write your congressman tell them to vote with John Lewis.  Tell them to work for peace (which you can do on the FaithfulAmerica.org website).

That’s what I did when I wote U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer today .

A Podcast Sermon: War Is Contrary to the Will of God

Thousands of Oregonians took to the streets of downtown Portland this afternoon in a peaceful march protesting the Iraq War. Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon was one of the co-sponsors. The march started in the South Park Blocks as the bell at Portland's historic First Congregational United Church of Christ rang out.

Earlier this morning at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ our readings included Isaiah 2:5-11, Matt 5:9 and Romans 12:9-21 as we noted the fourth anniversary of the war during worship.

Use the below link to download the podcast of my sermon - War Is Contrary to the Will of God - for your iPod or personal computer.

Download ParkroseIraq.m4a

(click with the RIGHT mouse button on the hyperlink and choose “Save Target As” and save to your desktop or other folder – once downloaded click on the file to listen).

(There are more pictures of the march below the fold)

My Sermon This Sunday: “War Is Contrary To The Will Of God”

This Sunday (March 18th), my sermon topic will be “War Is Contrary To The Will Of God” at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ (105th and NE Wygant). The service begins at 10 am.

This week marks the 4th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Hundreds of thousands have died since then and the region has been left in chaos. The invasion was opposed by the Vatican and the World Council of Churches and here at home the National Council of Churches USA helped led opposition to the war. Jesus calls on us to be peacemakers but our government has chosen a different, more destructive path.

Last fall the National Council of Churches issued a statement that read in part:

“….united together as the National Council of Churches USA, we call upon the U.S. Government to recognize that the continued presence of occupying forces has not provided meaningful security for Iraqi citizens and only exacerbates escalating violence, and begin an immediate phased withdrawal of American and coalition forces from Iraq with a timetable that provides for an expeditious final troop withdrawal. And we further call upon our government to link this withdrawal plan to benchmarks for rebuilding Iraqi society, since the reconstruction of infrastructure, the restoration of essential services, and a foundation for economic growth are necessary to nurture Iraqi hopes for a stable future, and to steps to meet the security concerns of all Iraqis, including the more vulnerable, smaller ethnic and religious communities.”

I will join protesters later in the day in downtown Portland calling on the U.S. to withdrawal troops from Iraq.