Religious leaders opposed to war continue beating around the Bush

March 3, 2003

Religious leaders opposed to war
continue beating around the Bush
___By Kevin Eckstrom
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Religious leaders opposed to war with Iraq have met with the heads of Great Britain, France, Germany, and soon, Italy and Russia. On Feb. 26, they met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, asking him to address the United Nations to oppose a war with Iraq.
___But for all their diplomatic globetrotting, the church leaders have been unable to land a meeting with President Bush. In a snowy Capitol Hill rally with European religious leaders, the churches said Bush no longer can ignore their moral voice.
___"The only government that refuses to speak with church leaders is our own," said a

The White House denies Bush is unwilling to listen to anti-war voices.

frustrated Jim Winkler, head of the social policy agency for the United Methodist Church, of which President Bush is a member.
___The loose-knit coalition of church leaders, coordinated by the National Council of Churches, has mounted a full-force diplomatic assault against the war. NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar is a co-founder of the Win Without War coalition, which has sponsored television and print ads featuring Methodist bishops rebuking Bush's war plans.
___Nearly all U.S. and European churches have voiced opposition to the war, saying it cannot be morally justified and will sow the seeds for future terrorism. Only the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and selected members of the Southern Baptist Convention have voiced support for the war.
___The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Wilton Gregory, said the bishops remain skeptical about a war with Iraq. Gregory signaled a reluctant resignation that war is indeed coming, calling on Bush to exercise "moral and legal constraints" in combat.
___"To permit pre-emptive or preventive uses of military force to overthrow threatening or hostile regimes would create deeply troubling moral and legal precedents," Gregory said in a statement.
___Edgar said Bush has been "isolated" by advisers who are afraid that the "third force" of church opposition will weaken the president's resolve to remove Saddam Hussein.
___"I think he's startled at how strong the religious community has stepped forward and said no to this rush to war," said Edgar, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania.
___The White House denies Bush is unwilling to listen to anti-war voices. "The president meets with religious leaders on a regular basis," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan told the Washington Times. "There's nothing he would like more than to see a peaceful resolution in Iraq."
___European religious leaders are not convinced. Jean Arnold de Clermont, president of the French Protestant Federation, said his countrymen are "hurt and shocked" when their reluctance for war is seen as "hostile" to the United States.
___"Your best ally is not one who leads you in error but one who helps you find the road to peace," Clermont told the rally on Capitol Hill.
___

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