Are We Sentinels for God?

With the words of the prophet Ezekiel from this morning's Lessons ringing in my ears, I must tell you as your pastor and as a citizen of this great land, that the war talk currently dominating the media is - in my judgment - clearly immoral. Furthermore it is a clear break from our traditions as Americans.

I do not believe as a priest I should promote party politics from the pulpit, or even here in The Sunday Bulletin, but this is not a "political" program or issue, but a moral one, and as we learn from Ezekiel, we must be sentinels and speak out!

The evil actions of September 11, 2001 have generated a fear and siege mentality in our land, one which we share with many peoples throughout the world that live daily with threats of violence. The global village now is experiencing the global problems of the village.

On what Biblical or moral grounds can we justify seeking to assassinate the leader of another country? What in our democratic heritage gives us the right to remove the leader of another people without their consent? We have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people as one of our highest values. Is this not what we want for the people of Iraq to discover?

We have lived with the fear of nuclear weapons for decades. Remember the bomb shelters of the 1950's? Remember "the evil empire" and the efforts to have equal weapon capacity with the Soviet Union and others? I am not naive enough to believe that the CIA has never targeted or planned an assassination. That is abominable in itself. But now to speak publicly as if this is a desired goal is criminal. No one denies the we have a moral right to defend ourselves from attack. But what evidence do we have that the threat in Iraq is greater than the threats we lived with so long during what is termed the Cold War?

As a democratic nation, our Constitution invests in Congress the dreadful power to declare war. This presupposes that Congress has consulted the American people and presented to them the clear and obvious threat to our lives and to our children's safety. Where is this evidence? Fear generating talk is not enough! If we are to risk our lives and safety by going to war with Iraq - and whomever else will support them, we need clear and compelling evidence that we are in mortal danger greater than that with which we have lived in our previous history.

Pearl Harbor was a much different situation than the 9/11 terrorist attack. In addition to our own suffering then, we had clear and convincing evidence that the Axis powers were seeking worldwide dominance and evil. Our allies were already suffering with the struggle. In the so-called Gulf War (again not declared by Congress), we have the evidence of the invasion of another country in the Middle East, a clear act of aggression. Even then the evidence that this was a clear and evident danger to our lives and safety was at best circumstantial.

Can we declare ourselves righteous in believing we have a duty to invade Iraq when clearly other people of faith and of political vision in other countries, including our allies, do not believe there is a compelling reason for doing so? I for one intend to speak to our representatives in Congress, and I urge you to do so as well. In the words of Ezekiel this morning, if we speak out we shall at least have saved our lives, and allowed God to take vengeance against the wicked. Can we not be about the Lord's work of seeking justice and peace?

Joseph+