c. 2003 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) As U.S. forces rolled toward Baghdad, religious leaders _ including some of President Bush’s staunchest supporters _ spoke out on the war, unified in their support for the armed forces but remaining divided over the morality of the military effort and apprehensive about its consequences.

Among the president’s strongest supporters were leaders from the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

“America and `the coalition of the willing’ have been waiting 12 years for Saddam Hussein to abide by the civilized world’s demand that he dispossess himself of his weapons of mass destruction,” said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

Calling the war “a moment of last resort,” Land lauded the nations in the U.S.-led coalition for “the courage of their convictions to act on them and disarm Saddam Hussein and liberate the Iraqi people.”

Echoing Land, Plano, Texas, pastor Jack Graham, president of the SBC, called the war “a necessary last resort” and said removing Saddam from power `is a just and necessary action.”

Kenneth Hemphill, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, used the occasion to lambaste other religious leaders who have criticized the administration’s Iraq policy.

“For a group of interfaith leaders to criticize Bush is remarkable considering the overwhelming oppression of the Iraqi people,” Hemphill said in a statement. “I thank God that we have a president who has the courage to do what is right in spite of the political cost.”

Supporters of the war were virtually unanimous in seeing the military action as a last resort.

“The White House pursued and fully exhausted every diplomatic avenue to force Iraqi compliance to the terms imposed after the first Gulf War _ and then gave Saddam Hussein one last chance,” said D. James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“War is a horrible business, but this, I believe, is a just cause,” he said.

Evangelist Billy Graham, in a statement, steered clear of taking a position on the hostilities but reminded Americans that “as Scripture instructs us, we need to pray for the president and other leaders in national government and the armed forces.

“Pray also for the many civilians living in the region _ innocent men, women and children caught in the middle of the conflict.”

Graham noted that Iraq is “home to hundreds of thousands of Christians, some of whom my son Franklin (head of the aid group Samaritan’s Purse) and I have met, and I pray particularly for them during this difficult time.”

Other religious leaders and groups, however, remained unpersuaded and expressed concern about the consequences of the policy.

“I am deeply concerned about the ramifications of the United States’ acting against Iraq without the support of the United Nations,” said the Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. “This unilateral action compromises the ability of the United Nations to be a force for peace and sends a disturbing message about the United States’ commitment to the family of nations.”

Like other critics of the Bush policy, Sinkford said the United States had engaged in a “rush to war” and “fractured alliances that have served us well for half a century.”

Across the theological spectrum, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious _ the umbrella organization for many of the nation’s nuns and sisters _ said it was “deeply saddened that our country has made a pre-emptive strike against the people of Iraq” and “ashamed that our country has ignored the pleas of our world neighbors.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church said the war is “an opportunity for people of faith to stand for hope in the face of despair.”

“As a faith community active in every nation on Earth, we cannot view any country as a nation of villains, but rather see them as people for whom God’s Son, Jesus Christ, died.” It expressed special concern for the three congregations of Adventists in Baghdad and the ancient city of Nineveh.

The General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church _ Bush’s denomination _ expressed “deep sorrow and regret over the pre-emptive attack on Iraq.”

“We pray for its swift conclusion so that the work of peacemaking and construction can begin.”

And, like other religious bodies _ both those supporting and opposing the military action _ the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America called on its members to join in prayer:

“Following the exhortation of the Apostle Paul, we pray unceasingly that the peace of God may abide everywhere on our planet Earth and that places of conflict may be transformed into places of life and freedom.”

DEA END ANDERSON