A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice

More than ninety United Methodist Bishops (including Denver's Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr.) have issued this statement regarding the ongoing occupation of Iraq. Here is an excerpt...

As elected and consecrated bishops of the church, we repent of our complicity in what we believe to be the unjust and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. In the face of the United States Administration's rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent. We confess our preoccupation with institutional enhancement and limited agendas while American men and women are sent to Iraq to kill and be killed, while thousands of Iraqi people needlessly suffer and die, while poverty increases and preventable diseases go untreated. Although we value the sacrifices of the men and women who serve in the military, we confess our betrayal of the scriptural and prophetic authority to warn the nations that true security lies not in weapons of war, but in enabling the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized to flourish as beloved daughters and sons of God. We confess our failure to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to be a people who welcome and love all those for whom Christ died.

I encourage everyone to read A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice in its entirety. For further information regarding the Bishops' statement, please read this news bulletin from the United Methodist News Service.