South Dakota Churches' Association opposes war in Iraq

(Reprinted with permission of Jill Callison of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader)

The Association of Christian Churches of South Dakota added its name to a letter to President George W. Bush drafted by the National Council of Churches.
 
"We're all in agreement with the letter from the NCC," said the Rev. Chris Franklin, president of the Association of the Christian Churches' board of directors and pastor of First Christian Church in Sioux Falls.
 
The letter, dated September 12, states in part, "The preemptive use of military force by the United States to deal with proliferation problems, as serious as they may be, establishes a dangerous precedent, particularly for other nations that feel threatened by the weapons capabilities of their neighbors."
 
"I don't think that there has been any evidence that has been shown that satisfies me that there is any reason to do a pre-emptive strike, for us to start a war," said the Rev. Peter Funch, executive presbyter of the Presbyterian Church in South Dakota.
 
"We're not against war when we're attacked, but this doesn't seem to be an attack kind of issue.  It's an issue where we'll say we're going to be the first one to strike."
 
Bishop Michael Coyner, who heads the Dakotas Conference of the United Methodist Church, said for the United States to strike first against Iraq would be un-American.
 
"A lot of people are concerned that to take a first strike is something that the United States has never done." he said.
 
The Rev. Gene Miller, conference minister for the United Church of Christ in South Dakota, said he expects the reaction from congregations to the ACC's action will be mixed.
 
"Some will agree, and some won't agree," he said.
 
Most denominations with churches in Sioux Falls have taken stances toward peace, and leaders have said they've had little response to the contrary from their congregations.
 
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America probably would also take a stand for peace, said Bishop Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl of the South Dakota Synod.
 
"We would want to exhaust every level of diplomacy and therefore be able to avoid war," she said.
 
The ACC board last took a united stance in September 2000, when it worked unsuccessfully with a volunteer group to repeal South Dakota?s video lottery law.  Franklin said religious leaders feel as strongly or more strongly about war with Iraq.
 
"My sense is the moral and spiritual attitude toward this is unanimous, maybe even more so than the gambling issue," he said.
 
"They understood in advance they might take some grief, but it's a moral and ethical stand and, in all our minds, a religiously sound stand."
 
The Rev. Edward Schreur of Faith Reformed Church in Brookings said his denomination, the Reformed Church in America, this summer asked that the embargo against Iraq be lifted.  Instead, the United States has proceeded to move further toward a conflict.
 
"Obviously, while the RCA has people who?ve been involved in what would be called just wars in the past, we're a long way from what we would call a just war, and we want the United States to remember how Jesus said we would be peacemakers," Schreur said.
 
Funch described the letter as not a political statement but one of Christian belief.  It comes less than a week before Tuesday's general election.
 
Schreur said the timing was coincidental, but it could prove valuable in the upcoming election.
 
"As faithful citizens, we want to speak to our politicians," he said.  "Maybe it's divinely timed."
 
The Rev. Riley Walker, executive minister of the American Baptist Churches of the Dakotas, acknowledged the stance the ACC has taken will not have as much impact as one supported by each denomination's congregations.
 
"If we adopted it at our annual meeting, where our churches all had a voice, this would be a much stronger statement," he said.
 
Bishop Robert Carlson of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and Bishop Creighton Robertson of the Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota told the ACC that they supported signing the letter, but both men were out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.
 
Franklin said the denominational leaders also are urging people to read the statements from the individual denominations.  Links to them can be found at the NCC Web site at www.nccusa.org/news/o2news83.html .

Previous|Next