Rev. Jim Moos's Testimony in Support of SCR 4022 (House)
March 22, 2007
Chairman Haas and members of the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, I am the Rev. James Moos. I am an ordained minister serving the Bismarck United Church of Christ.
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote that "The ultimate weakness of violence is that . . . instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it." The American experience in Iraq validates the Rev. King's propehtic words. Nearly four years of war has not defeated evil; it has defiled good.
The war in Iraq isn't merely a political issue. It's also a faith issue. North Dakota has more churches per capita than any other state in the nation. What does our faith mean at this point in our history? Shall we use it to justify further acts of violence? Or shall we declare escalation of war to be the will of God? We should not. For while we come from various faith traditions, none of us worship the God of war; most of us honor the Prince of Peace.
Many of us feel a tension between our faith convictions and our patriotic duty. We feel an obligation to support our country in time of war. But let's not assume that making war is a greater civic duty than making peace.
As a 22 year veteran of the United States Air Force, I too have patrioitic ideals. As a retired reserve chaplain, I too support the troops. But inserting thousands more troops into the midst of ever escalating sectarian violence isn't support-it's a descent into despair.
Our commander in Iraq, Lt. General David Petraeus, recently testified before the U.S. Senate. He said that the outcome of our current Iraq policy is far from certain. However, this much can be predicted: our present course of action means that more of our soldiers and marines will die, more will be maimed, more will be inflicted with pyschological trauma that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell opposes the troop surge. He has also stated that the world questions the moral basis of the war. Shall we further diminsh the status of our nation in the world by escalating the war? A faith-based witness for peace does not contradict patritotism; it fulfills it.
There are those who consider peacemaking a noble but impracticle and naïve enterpise; it's hard to see how it applies in the post 9/11 world. Alternative, political strategies for ending the war put forward by the Baker-Hamilton Commissioin were rejected out of hand by the Bush administration. Indeed, dire predicitons circulate that any course of action other than continuing war and surging more troops-any other course of action will allegeldy destablaize the Middle East and put America and the world at risk. In this scenerio, peacemaking appears as an actual threat. Some have declared that opposition to current policy only emboldens our enemies.
So who among us will label Jesus Christ naïve for pronoucing the peacemakers blessed? Or was Pope John Paul II being impractical when he condemned war and used peaceful means to help liberate Eastern Europe from Communism? Or was Ghandi's message of non-violence not only futile, but also de-stabalizing? No, these peacemakers were not well intentioned but misguided and even dangerous fools. Their courageus visions of peace grounded in justice are our best and only hope for the future.
The brutality of Saddam Hussein and of Al Quaeda are well known and incontestable. The carnage and suffering caused by roadside bombs and suicide bombers is a daily and horrific realtiy. Our response has been to meet the enemy on their own, violent terms. The result has not been victory as promised, but an escalating spiral that kills not only the body, but also the soul.
Most if not all of us would affirm that we are created in the image of God; the continuence and escalation of the war diminishes that image. Meeting violence with violence ultimately recreates us into the image of our enemies.
Nevertheless, faith does not call us to despair, but to hope. Many North Dakotans now step forward to raise our voices in hope that another path will be taken. I respectfully request the members of the House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee to amplify our voices by recommending a "do-pass" on SCR No. 4022.