c. 2003 Religion News Service
Jews, Muslims Speak Out Against War in Iraq
WASHINGTON (RNS) A group of American Jews said the war against Iraq “seems to us to fly in the face of Jewish and American values and interests” and urged President Bush to end the war quickly.
Some 456 Jews signed the appeal in a full-page ad that appeared last Friday (March 21) in The New York Times. The ad was spearheaded by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, a long-time liberal activist and director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia.
The Jews, who included 125 rabbis from all the major Jewish movements, said the war will “subject Americans, Israelis and civilians of many other nations to the danger of hellish terrorist reprisals.”
Jewish groups have been deeply divided on the war. Only the Orthodox movement has publicly supported President Bush in the war; most other groups have not spoken publicly.
In a separate statement, a coalition of Muslim groups said the war will bring “chaos and instability” to the Middle East and harm civilians.
“We reiterate our position, and that of the great majority of religious leaders and the international community, that this invasion is not justified and is not in the interest of the United States and world peace, security and the rule of law,” said the statement, joined by the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Society of North America and three other groups.
President Bush received a vote of confidence from James Dobson, the conservative president of Focus on the Family. Dobson compared Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler, and said the world cannot afford to allow his regime to continue.
“America comes as a liberator, not as a conqueror,” Dobson said Friday on his daily radio talk show. “Saddam Hussein must be stopped. Appeasement of tyrants is never successful.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Religious Presence Strong at Big New York Anti-War Rally
NEW YORK (RNS) Religious groups and congregations made their presence felt during weekend anti-war demonstrations that drew more than 100,000 to the streets of New York City.
The first weekend following the start of U.S. war against Iraq also witnessed passionate pleas for peace from the city’s major pulpits, including the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where retired Episcopal Bishop Paul Moore, a revered figure among peace activists, strongly rebuked President Bush and his policy toward Iraq at a Sunday evening (March 23) service.
“It appears we have two types of religion here,” said Moore, 83, who is battling terminal cancer.
“One is a solitary Texas politician who says, `I talk to Jesus and I am right,”’ Moore said, quoted by The New York Times. “The other involves millions of people of all faiths who disagree.”
Demonstrators taking issue with the president and the war marched down Broadway and gathered at Washington Square Park on Saturday (March 22). A striking number of those holding placards did so expressing avowedly religious themes, ranging from pastoral (“More Grace, Less War”), ethical (“Jesus? Cesar? Choose One”) to sarcastic (“What Would Jesus Bomb?”).
Among those marching were some 30 members of the Judson Memorial Church, a Manhattan congregation well known for its political activism. In a Sunday sermon, the church’s senior minister, Peter Laarman, said the war marked an immense “moral failure.”
Laarman said Americans of all political stripes were experiencing “moral torpor” and were mistakenly clinging to the idea that “God will do all of the work” and would “save us from our mistakes.” That could only be remedied, he said, by a vision of the “good life” based on solidarity and, when need be, activism.
In a subsequent interview, Laarman, 55, acknowledged some in his congregation probably feel “numb, their hearts broken” at a war they were unable to stop. But Laarman said he believes there is a kind of hope at the moment because the war is bringing “into high relief” long-standing social issues such as environmental sustainability and peace-building _ issues long championed by religious-based activists.
“Religious leaders and congregants take the long view,” he said. “We know that the righteous don’t prevail. Our horizon is larger; we don’t give up because of today’s setback.”
_ Chris Herlinger
Chirac Calls for French-Vatican Collaboration
PARIS (RNS) With the grim backdrop of a new U.S.-led war on Iraq, French President Jacques Chirac has suggested the Vatican and Paris collaborate closely to “let the primacy of law, justice and dialogue among the peoples prevail.”
“Faced with the challenge that confronts us, the community of nations should unite its efforts, within the framework of the United Nations, in order to safeguard and respect the law,” Chirac petitioned Pope John Paul II, in a letter published Monday (March 24) by France’s La Croix (The Cross) newspaper.
Both France and the Vatican have been at the forefront of the anti-war drive _ a position which, for France at least, has sparked ire from Washington and threats of economic and political reprisals.
Chirac earlier vowed to veto any war resolution at the United Nations Security Council.
Washington ultimately bypassed a Security Council vote, when it appeared unable to cobble together enough support.
Last week, the French president also rejected a post-war Iraq administered by the United States or Britain, rather than the United Nations.
In his letter to the Vatican, reportedly sent Friday, Chirac said the two sides should lobby for the rule of law to prevail in a myriad of other international issues. Among them: Resolving the long-standing Middle East conflict, fighting terrorism and even promoting international development.
“Beyond that, we must make sure the Iraqi conflict doesn’t fuel antagonism among civilizations and religions,” Chirac said in his letter. “That seems to me one of the leading responsibilities before history.”
Chirac’s anti-war stance has earned the French president unprecedented popularity at home, even as it deepens a diplomatic divide with the United States, and Bush’s war allies in Europe.
A poll published Sunday by Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, for example, gave Chirac 85 percent public approval rating. By comparison, only 14 percent of French surveyed said they had a good opinion of President Bush.
Leaders from Britain, Spain and Italy, which have backed the war on Iraq,
garnered a dismal 22 percent, 24 percent and 20 percent French approval ratings, respectively.
Separately, a top French Muslim leader warned the war on Iraq would fuel Islamic extremism in France and elsewhere.
“I am extremely worried,” Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Paris mosque, told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview published Monday. “ … Far from crushing the Islamists, the American forces are awakening their rancor, their taste for vengeance.”
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Poll: Only 16 Percent of Long Island Catholics Like Their Bishop
(RNS) Roman Catholic Bishop William Murphy of Long Island knows that he’s an outsider, and now he has a poll to prove it: only 16 percent of Long Island Catholics have a favorable opinion about him, according to a Newsday poll.
The poll also showed that 43 percent of his flock have an unfavorable view of the bishop, while 40 percent had no opinion. Murphy’s diocese of 1.5 million people is the nation’s sixth largest.
Murphy has come under fire for his six years of service as a deputy bishop to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who resigned last year for his handling of sexual abuse cases. Murphy was appointed to the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 2001.
He has also had to defend himself from critics who say he lives a lavish lifestyle in a new bishop’s residence that was custom-designed by Murphy. Several nuns had to leave the property to make room for Murphy’s new residence.
“I know I have my many defects,” he said in a February statement after a grand jury accused the diocese of protecting abusive priests. “Greed and sumptuous lifestyle are not among them.”
Murphy also conceded at the time that “I am sure that for some of you I seem an import from Boston, which makes me suspect automatically.”
The Newsday poll also found that 57 percent of Long Island Catholics think the church is not doing enough to address the sex abuse policy, while one-third think new policies will be effective, and 3 percent think the church has gone too far. Fifty-two percent said their view of church leadership has been diminished by the scandal, while 39 percent are unchanged and 4 percent have a higher opinion.
The poll of 501 Long Island Catholics, and a larger poll of 501 New York City residents, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Thousand-Year-Old Relic Given to Cleveland Church
CLEVELAND (RNS) A new primate of an old church came to Cleveland recently, carrying a piece of 1,000-year-old bone for worshippers here to venerate.
Metropolitan Herman, leader of the 750,000-member Orthodox Church in America, brought the relic of St. Theodosius to the cathedral named for him, the oldest Orthodox parish in Ohio.
Church leaders were waiting with a unique reliquary to contain the bone fragment, sealed in beeswax and other resins.
During the ceremony, Chancellor Robert Kondratick of Syracuse, N.Y., passed the thumb-sized rectangle containing the relic to Herman, who kissed it, placed it in the reliquary and stepped back to touch his forehead to the marble floor. The relic will rest in the nave before the icon screen.
St. Theodosius, credited for introducing monasticism into Russia, lived from 983 to 1073. His body is entombed in a cathedral in Chernigov, northeast of Kiev, in Ukraine.
His cathedral in Cleveland, built in 1911, was restored and renovated in 2001.
“This cathedral was always dedicated to St. Theodosius, their heavenly intercessionary,” Herman said. “The faithful can now feel that closeness, venerate his relic, offer up their prayers and ask the saint to intercede for them.”
Primate Herman, born Joseph Swaiko 71 years ago in Briarford, Pa., was elevated to metropolitan last year. He is based in Washington, D.C.
_ Karen R. Long
Quote of the Day: Oscar-Winning Actor Adrien Brody
(RNS) “My experiences making this film made me very aware of sadness and dehumanization of people in times of war, the repercussions of war. Whomever you believe in, whether God or Allah, may he watch over you. Let us pray for a peaceful and swift resolution.”
_ Adrien Brody, winner of the Oscar for Best Actor at the 75th Academy Awards on Sunday (March 23) in Hollywood. Brody, who portrayed a Holocaust survivor in “The Pianist,” was quoted by The Washington Post.
DEA END RNS
