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Subject: Methodists taking strong stand against Iraq war
From today's Bartcop Forum http://www.bartcopnation.com/dcforum/DCForumID1/19036.html
You kind of have to see this ad to believe it
There is a full-page ad in today's New York Times (full-page
ads in the NY Times always stop you dead in your tracks, because they are not,
frankly, all that common and this one uses humongous graphics and photographic
image).
The center of the page has an image, bleeding to white at edges, of Bush with head lowered and eyes closed. A screaming, huge-point, heavy font headline reads: "JESUS CHANGED YOUR HEART. NOW LET HIM CHANGE YOUR MIND." The main body of the text begins "President Bush, We beseech you to turn back from the brink of war on Iraq. Your war would violate the teachings of Jesus Christ. It would violate the tenets, prayers and entreaties of your own United Methodist Church bishops. It would ignore the pleas of hundreds of Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders. You've proclaimed the crucial role of your faith in your life, and you've said that people of faith are often "our nation's voice of conscience." Listen to our voices now. This is not a just war. We acknowledge that Saddam Hussein is a cruel tyrant, but a war on the country he rules is not a just war. It will be an unprovoked, preemptive attack on a nation which is not threatening the United States. It will violate the United Nations Charter and set a dangerous precedent for other nations. It will bring death and destruction to Baghdad, a huge city filled with innocent civilians. It will take the lives of too many of our own sons and daughters. And its huge cost will be gouged out of the already unment needs of the poor, the underfed and the under-educated in our own country. (This next in boldface) "It is inconceivable that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior and Prince of Peace, would support this proposed attack." Those are the words of the General Secretary of the United Methodist Church's General Board of Church and Society. Your church leaders have sought private hearings with you to express their passionate objections; they've been denied. All of us who signed this statement share their convictions. A strong faith-based revolt against war on Iraq is coming together in the first weeks of December. If Jesus Christ truly "changed your heart" as you have said, let Him change your mind. (Many signatures on bottom left from religious leaders; Form to fill out on right from Religious Leaders for Sensible Priorities....campaign link to TrueMajority.com, which is a Ben & Jerry's action site.) |
