Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele and Office of Peacebuilding and Policy director Nathan Hosler are urging the United States and Israel to cease their military actions against Iran and are calling on Iran to end its retaliatory strikes against surrounding countries where the US has military bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They called on all Church of the Brethren members and congregations to urgently advocate for peace following the military strikes that have the potential to spark a widening and very dangerous escalation of conflict in the Middle East.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn line with our discipleship to Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and our belief that the New Testament witness to peace is foundational to the Christian faith, and in line with our Church of the Brethren historic and ongoing commitments for peace and against war and violence*, I urge Brethren everywhere to work and pray for peace,\u201d said Steele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI also grieve for the hundreds of people who already have lost their lives in these military attacks today, and their loves ones, as well as those who have been injured. In particular, the reports that are coming in of attacks on schools in Iran are cause for grievous concern and prayer for those families who may be affected,\u201d Steele said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Calling on Jesus\u2019 statement, \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God\u201d (Matthew 5:9), <\/em>Steele and Hosler are inviting Church of the Brethren members to contact their members of Congress urging actions that will stop or at least limit expansion of war with Iran and that will calm retaliatory military actions in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Church of the Brethren members and congregations are encouraged to reach out in their own neighborhoods to call for peace and to join in local community efforts of visible support for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Office of Peacebuilding and Policy has endorsed the bipartisan Khanna-Massie War Powers Resolution in Congress, which is expected to be released early this coming week, and calls on Church of the Brethren members also to voice support to Congress for the resolution. (Find a \u201clegislator look up\u201d tool to contact members of Congress at www.brethren.org\/peacebuilding\/legislator-lookup<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resolution has gained endorsements from numerous religious and humanitarian groups including Christian denominations. It would require the US president to come before Congress to make the case for using military force against Iran, maintaining that any such action would be unconstitutional without consultation with and authorization from Congress. The text of the resolution is available at www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/house-concurrent-resolution\/38\/text<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, Steele and Hosler expressed support for ecumenical partners who are calling for peace, including Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), among others that have issued statements today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis dangerous spiral of violence places millions of civilians at immediate risk, undermines regional and international security, and threatens already fragile economic and social stability across the Middle East,\u201d said WCC general secretary Jerry Pillay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Middle East has endured decades of armed conflict, occupation, displacement, and political upheaval. Another large-scale war will not bring security or peace; it will deepen instability and compound the suffering of civilians who have already borne far too much,\u201d said CMEP. \u201cWe are especially concerned for the vulnerable communities, including children, refugees, and religious minorities, and others displaced by previous conflicts, who will once again find themselves on the front lines of violence. These communities, already living with trauma and insecurity, will continue to suffer disproportionately as infrastructure collapses, economies falter, and access to humanitarian aid becomes further restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Relevant statements of the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1970 Church of the Brethren Statement on War www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1970-war<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1982 Church of the Brethren Statement: A Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1982-nuclear-arms-race<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1982 Church of the Brethren Resolution: Reaffirmation of Opposition to War and Conscription for Military Training www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1982-opposition-to-war-and-conscription<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1988 Church of the Brethren Statement: Covert Operations and Covert War www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1988-covert-operations-and-covert-war<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1991 Church of the Brethren Statement: Peacemaking: The Calling of God\u2019s People in History www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1991-peacemaking<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1996 Church of the Brethren Statement: Nonviolence and Humanitarian Intervention www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1996-nonviolence<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2003 Annual Conference Resolution: Resolution: Call for a Living Peace Church www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/2003-call-for-a-living-peace-church<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n #MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving<\/p>\n\n\n\n ———-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n Church of the Brethren general secretary David Steele and Office of Peacebuilding and Policy director Nathan Hosler are urging the United States and Israel to cease their military actions against Iran and are calling on Iran to end its retaliatory strikes against surrounding countries where the US has military bases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[1424,1261,3153,281,1293,1340,1263,3666,3665,1898,3214],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-26699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-david-steele","tag-general-secretary","tag-general-secretarys-office","tag-iran","tag-nathan-hosler","tag-office-of-peacebuilding-and-policy","tag-peace","tag-united-states-and-israel-attacks-on-iran","tag-war-with-iran","tag-prayer","tag-impact"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26700,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26699\/revisions\/26700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26699"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=26699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}