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WCC on US and UN in Iraq |
WCC wants U.S. out of Iraq
Council's central committee says U.N. forces must take control
By Jerry L. Van Marter, for Ecumenical News International
[9-3-03]
GENEVA - September 2, 2003 - The governing body of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) has called for coalition forces in Iraq to be replaced by
United Nations personnel.
In its statement on Iraq, issued Sept. 1, the WCC's central committee also
implied that U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony
Blair might appropriately be charged with war crimes for their "illegal
resort to war" on Iraq.
"To do this, the U.N. Security Council would have to take action against two
of its permanent members, which is not likely," Peter Weiderud, director of
the council's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, conceded.
"But there is a need to look at the totality of the situation."
The WCC statement, approved unanimously with two abstentions, was praised by
several delegates as "forward-looking."
Among them was the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the
Presbyterian Church (USA), who said he was "deeply grateful" for the
statement, which he said "gives some understanding of what we're to do next,
because we have been so concerned with trying to stop the war."
The central committee reiterated its condemnation of the abuses of the
Saddam Hussein regime, but nonetheless called the U.S. and British-led war
"immoral, ill-advised and in breach of the principles of the U.N. charter."
It called for the U.N. Security Council "to insist on the establishment of a
legitimate, sovereign, elected and inclusive government as early as
possible, and (to order) the immediate and orderly withdrawal of the
occupying forces."
The committee praised the lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq after
13 years, and called for cancellation of the country's onerous debt, which
it said resulted from "loans that merely financed the previous Iraqi
regime."
It affirmed the inter-religious cooperation being demonstrated in Iraq, and
said the country's religious institutions must play a central role in its
reconstruction. It also urged all Christians to pray for the Iraqi people
and churches.
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
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Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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