Religious Group Condemns US Policies on Environment, Iraq War
Date: 20-Feb-06
Country: BRAZIL
"We lament with special anguish the war in Iraq, launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights," the Conference said in an emotional letter released during the World Council of Churches Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The World Council of Churches represents Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox and other Christian churches in more than 100 countries.
The statement from the US group accused the Bush administration of "raining down terror on the truly vulnerable among our global neighbors," saying the United States "has done much in these years to endanger the human family."
It said the US government turned a deaf ear to the voice of the church in the country and in the world, using God's name instead "in national agendas that are nothing short of idolatrous."
"We confess that we have failed to raise a prophetic voice loud enough and persistent enough to deter our leaders from this path of pre-emptive war. Lord, have mercy," the letter said.
It also sharply criticized the US government for rejecting multilateral agreements aimed at reversing "disastrous trends" in the environment, particularly global warming.
Pointing out that the United States enjoyed enormous wealth, the conference said Washington was clinging to its possessions rather than sharing its wealth with the vast majority of people who live in utter poverty.
"The starvation, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the treatable diseases that go untreated indict us, revealing the grim features of global economic injustice we have too often failed to acknowledge or confront," it said.
It also said the United States had failed to address racism at home, "and the racism that infects our policies around the world."
