Church Leaders Urge Middle East Peace Effort

 January 21, 2005

TO: Churches for Middle East Peace Email Network
FROM: Corinne Whitlatch, Executive Director

RE: Inaugural Letter to the President and New York Times Ad

This email alert is also posted on our website at:
One of the Catholic signers, Sr. Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said, “The ancient, unfulfilled vision of justice for all is now within our reach. It is time for us – citizens and elected officials –
to disarm our hearts, speak a word of hope and bring the blessing of peace to the people in the holy land. “Let us, then, make it our aim to work for peace and to strengthen one another.” (Romans 14:19)

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church had this comment:  “Having recommitted himself to a two-state solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, President Bush has a unique opportunity to make that vision real – to, as we urged, ‘follow the examples of the great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, who declared that God calls all nations and all people to do justice to one another.’”
                                              
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Church Leaders' Inaugural Letter to President Bush

January 21, 2005

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

As leaders of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Churches and Christian organizations with millions of members across the country, we encourage you to lead a political process that will end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As you begin your second term, the vision of a two-state solution is coming back into focus after having faded into obscurity.  Will Palestinians finally be free? Will Israelis be secure at last? As people of faith and hope, we say yes!

This is the time for you and for the 109th Congress, and for friends of Israel and Palestine, to have the courage to be peacemakers, and to press both Israelis and Palestinians to seize the future; where each recognizes the other's right to exist and is willing to work together for security and economic well-being.

For the sake of our own country as well, Mr. President, we appeal to you. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become a threat to the people of the United States. Every day the conflict continues, hatred of the United States government is fueled. With each news report of Palestinian suffering -- whether the death of an innocent child, the demolition of a family's home, or the confiscation of farmland for the separation barrier -- popular support in Arab and Muslim countries for terrorism grows and the threat of attacks directed at the United States increases. The continuing conflict has also resulted in suffering and loss of life among Israeli citizens. We want Israelis, too, to live without fear or threat in their own country.

A hallmark of your campaign was the commitment to defeat terror and make our country more secure. We believe that the promise of peace in Jerusalem is the best defense against terrorism. We encourage you to maintain the faith, the courage and the resolve to work with other world leaders toward negotiations that guarantee two viable states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side and sharing Jerusalem as their capital.

Finally, Mr. President, we urge you to follow the examples of the great prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, who declared that God calls all nations and all people to do justice to one another. We join you in praying for peace in the Holy Land and at home.

Sincerely,
                   
Rev. Dr. Leonard B. Bjorkman, Co-Moderator, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Marilyn Borst, Director, Global Ministry, Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta
Simone Campbell, SSS, National Coordinator, NETWORK, A Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Anthony Campolo, President, Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education
Br. Kevin Cawley, Deputy Province Leader, Eastern American Province, Christian Brothers
Sister Ardis Cloutier, OSF, Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, MN
Marie Dennis, Director, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Christopher J. Doyle, President/CEO, American Leprosy Missions
Rev. Robert Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA 
Beatrice Eichten, OSF, Vice President, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, General Secretary, Reformed Church in America
Anne Griffis, Chair, Action/Global Concerns, Church Women United
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church in America
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Rev. Dr. Stan Hastey, Alliance of Baptists
Rev. Wm. Chris Hobgood, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. Kathryn J. Johnson, Executive Director, Methodist Federation for Social Action
The Rev. Phil Jones, Director, Brethren Witness/Washington Office
Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, Archbishop, Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church
Ted Keating, SM, Executive Director, Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (USA)
Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, Subiaco Abbey
Thomas Krosnicki, SVD, Provincial, Society of the Divine Word (Chicago)
Donald A. Kruse, Vice-president, Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)
Rev. Michael E. Livingston, Executive Director, International Council of Community Churches
Dr. Ronald J.R. Mathies, Executive Director, Mennonite Central Committee
Joellen McCarthy, BVM
Peggy Nolan, BVM
Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM
Leadership Team, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director & CEO, Church World Service
Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee
A. Roy Medley, General Secretary, American Baptist Churches, U.S.A.
Joseph Nangle, OFM, Franciscan Mission Service
Ron Nikkel, President, Prison Fellowship International
Rateb Y. Rabie, KHS, President, Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)     
Leonard Rodgers, President/Founder, Venture International
Andrew Ryskamp, Executive Director, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee-US
Metropolitan Philip Saliba, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
Rev. Cheryl J. Sanders, Th.D., Senior Pastor, Third Street Church of God, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Robert E. Sawyer, Moravian Church Southern Province
Amb. Robert A. Seiple, Founder/Chair, Institute for Global Engagement.
Carole Shinnick, SSND, Executive Director, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Ronald J. Sider, President, Evangelicals for Social Action
Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
James W. Skillen, President, Center for Public Justice
Glen Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary
Richard E. Stearns, President, World Vision
Msgr. Archimandrite Robert L. Stern, Secretary General, Catholic Near East Welfare Association
Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
The Rev. Canon Richard Toll, Friends of Sabeel—North America
Christine Vladimiroff, OSB, President, Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Joe Volk, Executive Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation
Rev. Dr. Donald E. Wagner, Professor, North Park University, Chicago.
Jim Wallis, Executive Director, Sojourners
Corinne Whitlatch, Executive Director, Churches for Middle East Peace
James Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society, United Methodist Church
Bishop Gabino Zavala, Bishop President, Pax Christi USA

To add your name to the open letter, please go to:http://www.cmep.org/Forms/endorsement.html. 
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Formed in 1984, Churches for Middle East Peace is a Washington-based program of the Alliance of Baptists, American Friends Service Committee, Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church of the Brethren, Church World Service, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Franciscan Mission Service, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Maryknoll Missioners, Mennonite Central Committee, National Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church (USA), Reformed Church in America, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church (GBCS & GBGM) .  For further information, see www.cmep.org  

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