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The
Real Axis of Evil
By
Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar
World
attention is riveted on a single point along the imaginary line that
links the so-called– “axis of evil” – Iraq. Religious
leaders, too, are making it a focus, and many are voicing grave moral
and ethical opposition to an invasion of Iraq. During September 23-27
action days in Washington, dozens of national Protestant, Catholic and
Jewish leaders joined almost 500 of their colleagues from across the
nation to oppose war with Iraq. Several congressional representatives
stood with us, as we pressed for a peaceful solution to the threat that
Saddam Hussein poses in the Middle East.
Make no mistake; Iraq and the world will be better off when Saddam Hussein
leaves the scene, but violent “regime change” will not bring
that better world. That is also the message that American Christians
are hearing from their sister churches in Iraq and throughout the Middle
East. Together with these embattled churches we are working to forestall
further destabilization in the region, and to protect the lives of millions
of Iraqi people who are already battered by a decade of economic sanctions
against their country.
So, while some see Iraq as part of an axis of evil, we see something
else: innocent human lives at risk. We fear for Iraqis, Israelis, Palestinians,
American military personnel and all whose lives would be placed in jeopardy
by war with Iraq. It's not that we deny the existence of an axis
of evil – especially in our post-September 11 world – but
we believe that by keeping Iraq in our sights we are letting the real
enemy slip by. It was Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., former chaplain
at Yale and long-time senior pastor at The Riverside Church in New York,
who declared recently that the real axis of evil on our planet is the
alliance of “pandemic poverty, environmental degradation, and a
world awash in weapons.”
The National Council of Churches and its 36 member bodies, with their
140,000 congregations and 50 million congregants, have consistently
taken on the tough job of fighting the real axis of evil – even
though we haven't called it that. We tend to avoid “fighting
language” even as we mobilize our resources against poverty, violence
and injustice. Maybe we haven't been dramatic enough in stating that
if we don't search out and destroy the real causes of terrorism we
will never achieve security at home or anywhere in the world.
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Peace