Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Church USA
http://peace.MennoLink.org

Peace Pledge:

We choose to love our enemies
and to act against war with Iraq.

An active, nonviolent commitment to Christ's way of peace Sponsored by Mennonite Coalition for Peace with Iraq*


The Peace Pledge description and form are available as a formatted document (59k PDF).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made it clear that his way of relating to enemies is to love them (Matthew 5:43-48). Violence against the "enemy" is not the way of love. At the same time, love does not passively allow evil to reign. Love acts, but in ways that seek to do no harm to anyone created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), be they soldier or civilian. We recognize that the Iraqi people are created in God’s image. We also recognize that there are Christians in Iraq. Our love for our sisters and brothers in Christ compels us to avoid doing violence to the body of Christ by bringing destruction to Iraq.

To be followers of Jesus in our present political climate of antiterrorism calls for confession, sensitivity, and boldness.

But I say, Love
your enemies
    —Jesus of Nazareth
The Reign of God that we long to see in the world is often not present in our own words and hearts. This pledge is a call to take new steps on the path of Christ’s peace, preparing both ourselves and our nation to nurture and sustain life, even among our enemies. We act in the light of military action against Iraq that is being planned by the Bush administration and approved in Congress. Even though the United States has produced no evidence linking Iraq to the events of September 11, 2001, it is targeting Iraq out of fears that Iraq may provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

The past twenty years have been extremely difficult ones for the people of Iraq. They have had to endure an eight-year war with Iran, followed by the Gulf War in 1991, ongoing bombing, and comprehensive U.N. sanctions that have crippled the Iraqi economy and killed thousands upon thousands of children. As Americans, we grieve the role the U.S. government has played in the death and devastation brought upon Iraq. We recognize that local factors have also contributed to the suffering of the Iraqi people. But, as citizens of the United States, it behooves us first and foremost to address the actions for which our government bears responsibility.

To that end, many of us have called on government authorities to seek alternatives to war, to nurture and pursue the ways of peace rather than unleash the fury of war. Now, even as support for military action is growing, we call upon Christians to place their security in God and their primary allegiance in Jesus, who taught us to love our enemies. As an expression of our faith and hope in God, we invite commitments to concrete, nonviolent action that seeks the peace and welfare of the Iraqi people.

As Christians, we are striving to be witnesses to Christ’s peace by supporting better relations between Iraq and the United States. Several times we have sent delegates to Iraq to communicate person-to-person with Christian church leaders, Muslim leaders, and members of the Iraqi government. In May of 2002, as a sign of the light of God that lightens the path between us, we presented leaders of the Christian churches in Iraq with oil lamps bearing the symbol of the Mennonite Church—the dove of God’s spirit of peace. The flame of our witness against war with Iraq burned bright when recently over 17,000 Mennonites signed a letter from Jim Schrag, Executive Director of Mennonite Church USA, to President George W. Bush opposing war against Iraq.

We believe that a war with Iraq is imminent. We recognize that we are in a critical time when the U.S. government might yet be convinced that an invasion will be costly for our relationships with the people of Iraq, the Arab nations, the security of Israel, the lives and mental well-being of those in military service, and the economic stability of the United States. We invite you to join us in prayers and actions for peace by pledging to commit yourself to concrete actions of loving our enemy and acting against war with Iraq.

Project Report
Pledge signing is complete. Please see http://peace.mennolink.org/iraq.html for current Iraq resources.

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* J. Daryl Byler, MCC Washington Office Director; Mark Frey, Christian Peacemaker Teams; Leo Hartshorn, Minister of Peace and Justice, Mennonite Mission Network; Susan Mark Landis, Peace Advocate, Executive Board Director’s Office; Titus Peachey, MCC U.S.; Esther Epp-Tiessen, MCC Canada.