Methodism and the War In Iraq

Methodism and the War In Iraq

A funny thing happened on the road to Baghdad. It seems that while Methodist bishops were meeting in North Carolina to adopt a resolution calling for an end to what they proclaimed to be an "unjust war" in Iraq, a group of Iraqi Kurds were taking out advertisements in the Wall Street Journal thanking America for rescuing them from the tyrrany of Saddam Hussein. Sounds funny, doesn't it? It gets funnier.

The 96 Methodist bishops whs signed this so-called "statement of conscience" also called for the President to set a timetable for the withdrawal of troops. But in Iraq, wounded soldiers were protesting their scheduled evacuation because they wanted to stay in Iraq until the job was done!

Now get this. The bishops also wanted to get the United Nations to appoint an envoy to encourage peace talks. This is the same U. N. that failed and refused to do anything constructive to avoid the war in the first place despite pleas from the United States. I wonder with whom they expect the envoy to negotiate. The al-Qaida who have no compunction about beheading any American they can get their hands on?

Let me stop right here and point out out a few things to these bishops. Every military authority I have heard of states emphatically that one must not set a timetable for troop withdrawal. It tells the enemy just how long it must hang on and how much preparation it must make to take over the country when the withdrawal takes place. Should we give any credence to these bishops, or should we listen to the words of someone who lives in that region where years ago Saddam Hussein gassed approximately 5,000 of his subjects, mostly women and children (yes, using WMD)? That person is Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Iraqi Kurdistan's representative to the United Kingdom, who states: "If people are saying that America should withdraw their troops now, that would be a catastrophe, not only for the people of Iraq but also for the Middle East and the wider international community and the United States".

As for "negotiating the peace", I recall when that took place once before. Neville Chamberlin went to negotiate "peace for our time" with Adolph Hitler. As a consequence, World War II took place at a cost of 60 million lives or more. If the Allies had undertaken a pre-emptive strike the moment Hitler moved into Poland, most of those lives would have been saved.

The justification for the bishops' statement, they say, is that Jesus was a man of peace. Of course He was. He stated "blessed are the peacemakers" didn't He? But keep that remark in context. Jesus was also a realist and declared there would be "wars and rumors of wars until I return". Wars are, unfortunately, a reality of the time in which we live. Calling a just war "unjust" is choosing the wrong side of this conflict.

I might add that the scriptures are full of instances where God used military action to defeat the forces of evil that threatened his people. Who can say that this may not be the case in our time? The scriptures also say there is a time for war and a time for peace. Now just happens to be a time for war and we had better win it.

Make no mistake, our enemies listen to our news and judge their actions accordingly. If they believe that we are divided or lack the will to win, our troops will be placed in jeopardy. Don't tell me you support our troops, bishops, when you are undermining the effort to win. Do you suppose our enemies might just get encouragement from your words broadcast to the whole world?

And who am I to criticize these Methodist luminaries? Well, I have been a Methodist for nearly 70 years and have held practically every job a church offers: Sunday School teacher, choir singer, youth leader, trustee, chairman of the Administrative Board and a delegate to the Annual Conference. I know Methodism and my fellow Methodists as well as do these church politicians. The bishops' declarations do not express the sentiments of the

average Methodist in the pew. The bishops exhort us to "listen to our leaders", but some of these are the leaders whose policies are producing a steady erosion of membership due to their liberal theology and their politicizing of our denomination. No, bishops, you should be listening to your members.

Major General Vernon Chong, USAF ret., says "Our country is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it, that we have faced in your lifetime and mine (which includes WWII)." We had better not lose this one or we will become irrelevant to world affairs.

John Stuart Mill had it right when he said:"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse."