Earlier reports:

What are your thoughts and concerns about military service in the present situation?  Please send a note, and we'll share it here!

Prof. George Hunsinger has published an excellent article on pre-emptive war in Presbyterian Outlook. He traces the conflicts and vacillations within the Bush administration (this was before the State of the Union speech), concerns raised by many others about a war which seems clearly not to be an act of last resort, and the incalculable costs to the US and Iraq and the rest of the world.

He sums up:

"I have argued that the 'pre-emptive' war proposed against Iraq would not be a last resort, that it would lack a sufficient cause, making it little more than a war of aggression, that it would not be a success in any meaningful sense of the term, and finally that it would wreak havoc on a civilian population already tortured by war and sanctions. In particular, I have stressed that the doctrine of pre-emption, if activated, portends a descent into international barbarism."

The Executive Committee of the Witherspoon Society has approved a brief statement as an expression of our concern and convictions. 

It concludes:

It is with saddened and troubled hearts that we issue this plea to you from the thousands in the Christian community: please reconsider this venture in light of Biblical teaching and Christ's message of peace.

Anti-war protests have already had an effect in slowing George Bush's rush to war. And they are growing stronger, and may have a real chance of stopping the planned invasion of Iraq.

So writes Stephen Zunes, editor of Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF), a project of The Progressive Response. You'll find their current online newsletter at http://www.fpif.org/progresp/volume7/v7n02.html

Zunes observes that "The anti-war movement is strong and is growing. Already, the demonstrations against a U.S. invasion of Iraq - which hasn't yet happened - have been larger than those against the Vietnam War during the first three years of heavy fighting by American soldiers."

He adds that "today's anti-war movement is far more diverse in terms of women and people of color in positions of leadership. Increasing numbers of poor and working class people are becoming involved in anti-war activities ..."

John le Carre writes in The Times (UK) that "The United States of America has gone mad"

MAD Magazine, that fount of wisdom, offers a movie poster that you really must look at to enjoy.

But just in case it's hard to read the small print, here's the text of the poster:

COMING SOON!

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE OTHER BUSH ADMINISTRATION

PRESENTS

GULF WARS

EPISODE II

CLONE OF THE ATTACK

STARRING GEORGE W. BUSH - CONDOLEEZZA RICE - DONALD RUMSFELD

and

REPRISING THEIR ROLES FROM EPISODE I

DICK CHENEY - SADDAM HUSSEIN - COLIN POWELL

AND INTRODUCING OSAMA BIN LADEN AS THE PHANTOM MENACE

BASED ON AN IDEA BY GEORGE BUSH SR.

PRODUCTION DESIGNED TO DISTRACT YOU FROM THE FAILING ECONOMY

PRODUCED BY THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX IN ASSOCIATION WITH EXXON, TEXACO, MOBIL ET AL.

DIRECTED BY A DESIRE TO WIN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS

Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister at The Memorial Church of Harvard University, has published a thoughtful essay (adapted from a sermon given on October 6, 2002), in which he notes how deeply concerned are Christians in mid-America about the impending war. "They love their country, and they love their God; and what do you do when your country is headed where you think your faith and your God don't want you to go? ..."

He continues:

"This is a frightening time, and if one cannot speak out of Christian conscience and conviction now, come what may, then we are forever consigned to moral silence. We hear much talk of 'moral clarity,' but it sounds more to me like moral arrogance, and it must not be met with moral silence. Anthony Lewis, formerly of The New York Times, said recently that if the purpose of the terrorists of Sept. 11, 2001, was to destroy our confidence in our own American values, then, he feared, they had succeeded. In the name of fighting terror both abroad and at home, our government - particularly through the attorney general, together with a culture of patriotic intimidation - has suspended our constitutional liberties, stifled dissent, and defined a good American as one who goes along with the powers-that-be, in a 'my way or the highway' mentality. When patriotism is defined in this narrow, partisan, opportunistic, jingoistic way, then perhaps that old cynic Dr. Samuel Johnson was right when he defined patriotism as the 'last refuge of a scoundrel.'"

Scholar and author Diana Eck has passed along a press release from Terry Rockefeller, who is a producer in public television, having worked earlier for the Pluralism Project.

We've received two notes from Witherspooners urging people to call the White House to give their views on the war with Iraq.

A delegation of 13 US religious leaders, under the aegis of the National Council of Churches, returned from a mission to Iraq on January 3, after witnessing the 20-year legacy of suffering of Iraqi civilians -- especially children -- and burdened with the knowledge that war would further deepen that suffering.

Terming preemptive war immoral, illegal and theologically illegitimate, the group contends that a war against Iraq would result in widespread suffering and death for innocent people and would make the U.S. less secure, not more secure.

Click here for the full text of their statement.

Africa and the Middle East Advocacy Days
February 23-26, 2003

A number of church-related advocacy groups will hold an ecumenical gathering in Washington, DC, beginning Sunday evening, February 23, and ending Wednesday afternoon, February 26.

There will be speakers, issue briefings, and advocacy training workshops .. and then opportunities to speak with Senators and Representatives in the U.S. Congress, or their key foreign policy staff, regarding Africa or the Middle East. 

Earlier reports: