95 UM Bishops Join Partisan Democrats To Bash Bush On "rush to war" In Iraq |
MEDIA RELEASE -- For Immediate ReleaseLocal interviews available by arrangement on request.Contact Persons:
Bishop Kenneth L. Carder 919-660-3423 kcarder@div.duke.edu
Bishop Joe A. Wilson 512-868-2553 jwbish@verizon.net.
The Consensus Statement may be used freely in its entirety or in relevant part at will. 95 United Methodist Bishops Release Statement of Conscience on Iraq War
In an unusual move for the United Methodist Church, ninety-five United Methodist bishops from every region of the United States as well as Europe, Africa, and Asia have released a joint Statement of Conscience entitled, “A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice.”
The Council of Bishops are the elected officials who constitute the leadership of the United Methodist. They come from all over the United States and from countries all over the world.
In the Statement of Conscience the bishops admit, “In the face of the United States Administration’s rush toward military action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent.”
The bishops commit themselves to pray for the end of war in general and the Iraq war specifically, to reclaim the prophetic authority to speak out against injustice and war, and to engage in advocacy and peacemaking as integral to Christian discipleship.
They call upon United Methodists to join them in the pursuit of peace with justice and “to object when governing powers offer solutions of war that conflict with the gospel message of self-emptying love.”
The statement originated with a few bishops who were troubled by the prevailing silence of many church leaders and their own failure to boldly and publicly challenge the Iraq war as being contrary to basic Christian values.
As the statement circulated among bishops, others voluntarily joined the expression of conscience and call to repentance and peacemaking.
The signers reflect a wide consensus and are comprised of a broad national, regional, age, gender, and theological diversity.
Many signers of the Statement of Conscience supported the Council of Bishops’ adopting a Resolution calling for the development of a plan for withdrawal of all U. S. military troops from Iraq and the rebuilding nations in the Middle East through a multinational development plan.
The complete statement is provided below.
The list of Bishops and their locations is also provided below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Persons:
Bishop Kenneth L. Carder 919-660-3423 kcarder@div.duke.edu
Bishop Joe A. Wilson 512-868-2553 jwbish@verizon.net.
Statement of Conscience
A Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice
As followers of Jesus Christ, who named peacemakers as blessed children of God, we call upon The United Methodist Church to join us in repentance and renewed commitment to Christ’s reign of compassion, justice, reconciliation, and peace.
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.
Aware that we are to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, we personally and as bishops commit ourselves to:
▪Pray daily for the end of war in general and the Iraq war specifically; for those who suffer as the result of war, including the soldiers and their families; the Iraqi people in their struggle to find a workable form of government; and for the leaders of the United States that they will turn to truth, humility, and policies of peace through justice.
▪Reclaim the prophetic authority that calls nations, individuals, and communities to live faithfully in the light of God’s new creation where all people know their identity as beloved children of God; where justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream; and where barriers are removed and all creation is healed, reconciled, and renewed.
▪Commit ourselves to peacemaking as an integral component of our own Christian discipleship, which means advocating and actively working for the things that make for peace: personal, institutional, and governmental priorities that protect the poor and most vulnerable; modeling an end to prejudice toward people of other faiths and cultures; confronting differences and conflicts with grace, humility, dialogue, and respect without being so cautious in confronting evil that we lose our moral authority.
We call upon all United Methodists to join in the pursuit of peace through justice as revealed in Holy Scripture and incarnate in Jesus Christ.
▪Let us move beyond caution rooted in self protection and recover moral authority anchored in commitment to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
▪Let us object with boldness when governing powers offer solutions of war that conflict with the gospel message of self-emptying love.
▪Let us with compassion share the pain of God’s children who suffer from the devastation of war and those who live in poverty resulting from misplaced priorities and misguided public policies.
▪Let us work toward unity in a world of diversity, that all peoples will come to know that we belong to one another, and that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself … and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us”(2 Corinthians 5:19).
Signed: Bishop Robert C. Morgan, Birmingham, Alabama Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Phoenix, Arizona Bishop Elias G. Galvan, Scottsdale, Arizona Bishop Kenneth W. Hicks, Little Rock, Arkansas Bishop Felton E. May, Little Rock, Arkansas Bishop William W. Dew, Jr, Danville, California Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, Los Angeles, California Bishop Roy I. Sano, Oakland, California Bishop Beverly Shamana, San Francisco, California Bishop Leontine Kelly, San Mateo, California Bishop Charles Wesley Jordan, Upland, California Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr., Denver, Colorado Bishop Deborah Lieder Kiesey, Dakotas Bishop John R. Schol, District of Columbia Bishop J. Lloyd Knox, St. Petersburg, Florida Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker, Florida Bishop L. Bevel Jones III, Decatur, Georgia Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, Chicago, Illinois Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Chicago, Illinois Bishop William B. Lewis, Edwardsville, Illinois Bishop Leroy C. Hodapp, Evansville, Indiana Bishop R. Sheldon Duecker, Fort Wayne, Indiana Bishop Gregory V. Palmer. Iowa Bishop Bruce P. Blake, Winfield KansasBishop Richard B. Wilke, Winfield, Kansas Bishop James R. King, Jr., Louisville. Kentucky Bishop S. Clifton Ives, Portland, Maine Bishop James K. Mathews, Bethesda, Maryland Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, Smithsburg, Maryland Bishop Forrest C. Stith, Upper Marlboro, Maryland Bishop Susan W. Hassinger, Chestnut Hill, MassachusettsBishop Peter D. Weaver, Boston, Massachusetts Bishop Jesse R. DeWitt, Dexter, Michigan Bishop Sally Dyck, Minnesota Bishop Clay F. Lee, Jr., Bryam, Mississippi Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, MississippiBishop Eugene M. Frank, Kansas City, Missouri Bishop Albert Frederick (Fritz) Mutti, Kansas City, Missouri Bishop Ann B. Sherer, Nebraska Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, New Jersey Bishop Susan Murch Morrison, Albany, New York Bishop Violet Fisher, New York West Bishop Jeremiah Park, New York Bishop F. Herbert Skeete, Riverdale, New York Bishop J. Lawrence McCleskey, Charlotte, North Carolina Bishop Monk Bryan, Lake Junaluska, North Carolina Bishop Kenneth L. Carder, Durham, North Carolina Bishop C. P. Minnick, Jr., Raleigh, North Carolina Bishop Mack B. Stokes, Waynesville, North Carolina Bishop Judith Craig, Powell, Ohio Bishop C. Joseph Sprague, London, Ohio Bishop Bruce R. Ough, Ohio West Bishop Robert E. Hayes, Jr., Oklahoma Bishop Robert T. Hoshibata, Portland. Oregon Bishop Calvin D. McConnell, Portland, Oregon Bishop Jane Allen Middleton, Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaBishop Neil L. Irons, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Bishop Marcus Matthews, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Bishop Alfred Johnson, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaBishop George W. Bashore, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bishop D. Frederick Wertz, Carlisle, Pennsylvania Bishop C. Dale White, Newport, Rhode Island Bishop Marshall L. Meadors, Jr., Anderson, South Carolina Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, Brentwood, Tennessee Bishop Rueben P. Job, Goodlettsville, Tennessee Bishop Roy C. Clark, Nashville, Tennessee Bishop Joseph E. Pennel, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee Bishop Dan E. Solomon, Abilene, Texas Bishop William B. Oden, Dallas, TexasBishop J. Woodrow Hearn, Galveston, Texas Bishop Joe A. Wilson, Georgetown, TexasBishop Janice Riggle Huie, Houston, Texas Bishop Benjamin R. Oliphint, Houston, Texas Bishop Max D. Whitfield, Northwest Texas - New Mexico Bishop R. Kern Eutsler, Mechanicsville, Virginia Bishop Charlene P. Kammerer, Richmond, Virginia Bishop Jack M. Tuell, Des Moines, Washington Bishop Edward W. Paup, Seattle. Washington Bishop William Boyd Grove, Charleston, West Virginia Bishop Ernest S. Lyght, West Virginia Bishop Linda Lee, Wisconsin Bishop Donald A. Ott, Pewaukee, Wisconsin Bishop Hans Växby, Eurasia Bishop Arthur Kulah, Monrovia, Liberia Bishop Øystein Olsen, Nordic and Baltic Bishop Walter Klaiber, Tuebingen, Germany Bishop Ruediger R. Minor, Dresden, Germany Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, Germany Bishop Daniel C. Arichea, JR., Banquito City, Philippians Bishop Benjamin A. Justo, Baguio , Philippines Bishop Solito K. Toquero, Manila , Philippines Bishop Benjamin Boni, Côte D’Ivoire Area, West Africa Bishop John G. Innis, Liberia , West Africa Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, Harare, Zimbabwe |
|