'Peace Knows No Deadlines' Says ELCA Presiding Bishop

GENEVA, Switzerland (ELCA) -- Though President George W. Bush has declared a deadline for going to war with Iraq, "peace knows no deadlines," the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), told a group of international journalists at a news briefing here March 17. Hanson, making some of his strongest statements thus far about war with Iraq, pledged that his efforts and those of other religious leaders to work for peace will not stop.
Hanson arrived here late last week to attend an executive committee meeting of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in his role as an LWF vice president. He was joined during the weekend by 17 people comprising ELCA bishops, pastors, members and staff who are beginning an "ecumenical journey" with Hanson, scheduled months before war with Iraq became a possibility. Hanson said he will meet with world church leaders in several European countries during the trip, thanking the church leaders for their efforts to seek peace.
The LWF, based here, is a global communion of 136 Lutheran churches in 76 countries. LWF membership includes 61.7 million of the world's 65.4 million Lutherans. The ELCA is an LWF member.
Hanson and the Rev. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, met with the journalists to discuss a sharply worded March 15 statement from the LWF executive committee which criticized the actions of the governments of the United States, Great Britain and Spain in leading up to the likelihood of war with Iraq.
"I have deep concerns that the action of going to war against Iraq, without the support of the international community ... will sever and isolate the United States further from the world," Hanson said. "It risks severing the religious communities that span the globe. It risks isolating the people of the United States from the rest of the world."
Hanson repeated criticism of President Bush for refusing to meet with U.S. religious leaders who do not agree with the U.S. Administration about war with Iraq. The leaders' requests for a meeting with Bush have been refused twice, Hanson said. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a supporter of the Bush Administration's policy on Iraq, did agree to meet with U.S. religious leaders, he noted.
"As religious leaders, we always view war -- first and last -- as a moral question not a military strategy," Hanson said in explaining why the religious leaders want to meet with the president. "We believe that the President of the United States, who describes himself as a person of faith, must be in conversation with religious leaders to discuss the morality of declaring war, the conduct of war and the aftermath of war - - all of which are our deep concerns. We will continue to ask for these conversations and to speak out."
War with Iraq threatens to destroy "bridges" that have been built between Christian and Muslim communities in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, Hanson said. He and others will continue to work for a "just peace," which is "about the multilateral disarming of all nations with weapons of mass destruction, not singularly focusing on one nation and its weapons," Hanson said.
"I believe firmly that the voice of the religious community throughout the world will not be silenced, even if war is declared," Hanson added.

LWF COMMITTEE CALLS FOR 'RETURN TO PATH OF PEACE'
The LWF executive committee statement, "A Call to Peace," was directed at "those on the road to war." It called upon those promoting war with Iraq to "return to the path of peace."
The executive committee said it is joining with "millions of people throughout the world, of many different faiths, who have expressed their opposition to war against Iraq."
"Political leaders have a responsibility to listen to those who oppose policies of war and not to take refuge behind the privilege of their office," the statement said. "We particularly deplore the Bush Administration's refusal to meet with religious leaders in the United States who challenge its policy on Iraq."
"The United States in particular has used extreme political and economic pressure, induced upon the weaker countries and members of the [U.N.] Security Council -- such as Cameroon, Angola, Mexico, Guinea -- to secure support for the war that is being contemplated right now," Noko told the reporters. "This, in our view, is an attempt to manipulate the system. It's very unfortunate that is the case."
"Refusal to meet with religious authorities and leaders in the United States is very unfortunate," Noko said of Bush's refusal to meet with Hanson and other religious leaders. Pressure from the United States and other nations on undecided governments or those opposed to war, along with what Noko termed an "ultimatum," is dividing the North Atlantic community, he said.
"I believe that President Bush's declaration that 'you're either with us or against us' is now beginning to backfire," Noko said.
Noko said the diplomatic possibilities for avoiding war "are still unexhausted." Weapons inspections should be encouraged, he said.
The executive committee statement affirmed the role of the United Nations as the legitimate authority for determining when to use force in international relations; it said states that helped create the United Nations threaten its integrity and authority by resorting to war; and it denounced unilateralism, "pre-emptive war" and a "coalition of the willing" outside the U.N. framework. The statement also criticized the cost of a military build up near Iraq as "a grossly unjust and iniquitous mis-allocation of resources in a world so full of need."
The executive committee said in its statement that its foremost concern is for the innocent victims of military action in Iraq. -- -- --
The complete text of "A Call to Peace," the statement of the LWF executive committee on the threat of war with Iraq, is available at http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1185.EN.html on the LWF Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html