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December 02, 2005
Please Pray for Christian Peacemaker Teams
by Faithful Progressive
Personally, I am too much of the world to be a pacifist. But I greatly admire those who arrive at that posture as a result of deeply held religious conviction. One is truly blessed to know such sincere people of God. Christians are directly called to be peacemakers and few have heard this call more profoundly than the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) working in Iraq. As you all no doubt know, four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams working in Baghdad--Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, James Loney, and Norman Kember-- were abducted there this past Saturday, November 26. A moving response was posted on the website of the Voices for Creative Nonviolence:
In the course of this year alone, many thousands of Iraqis have experienced anguish because their loved ones have been abducted, tortured, disappeared and murdered. The Christian Peacemaker Team members dedicate themselves to living alongside ordinary Iraqis during this time of intense suffering. They have steadily reported the effects of occupation and war on the many people whom they’ve befriended since they first began working in Iraq in October 2002.
Tom Fox, one of the four CPT members being held, maintains a blog which we recommend for further insight into CPT’s work.
Reporters and human rights worker around the world are indebted to the careful work done by Christian Peacemaker Team members as they documentated abuses suffered by people detained in U.S. run prisons.
CPT has consciously chosen to not take sides in the conflict that rages in Iraq—other than to take the side of advocating for Iraqis who are treated unfairly and are suffering during this war.
Members of CPT willingly undertook the risks of living amongst Iraqis, in a common neighborhood outside of the infamous Green Zone. They sought no protection in arms or armed guards—trusting in, and benefiting from, the goodwill of the Iraqi people.
We harbor no ill will towards those responsible for the abduction of our friends and colleagues. Just as we hope no harm will befall our friends and colleagues—we trust that no harm will befall those who abducted them. We hope and pray that those responsible for the abduction of the four CPT members will recognize the common humanity they and their captives share and release them unharmed.
I have read Tom Fox's blog Waiting in the Light and it is indeed well worth reading. It was there that I learned that there were several key changes in the recently adopted Iraqi Consititution, including deleting a reference to not allowing foreign bases in Iraq.
The draft constitution for Iraq that has been published in the Western press has been widely reviewed and commented upon by many individuals. There have been ongoing revisions to the constitution. The most recent version was released internally on Sept. 13th. This version has not been disseminated to either Western or Iraqi press or to the Iraqi public. CPT Iraq was sent a copy by a contact in the government. While much of the document is similar and most changes are more in terms of replacing a word or two there are some significant differences.
Perhaps the most dramatic change is the omission of a section of the “Transitional Provisions.”
The published draft reads:
1. “It is forbidden for Iraq to be used as a base or corridor for foreign troops.”2. “It is forbidden to have foreign military bases in Iraq.”3. “The National Assembly can, when necessary, and with a majority of two-thirds of its members allow events stated in #1 and #2 to take place.”This provision is completely missing from the current unpublished version.
There is no doubt that Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, James Loney, and Norman Kember were in Iraq for the best possible reasons and that they were doing important work that brought the world a little closer to peace. Please keep them in your prayers.
Posted by Faithful Progressive at December 2, 2005 02:40 AM
Comments
As a general source of data into the current progress in Iraq, you can go to
http://www.brook.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf.
It contains an excellent set of statistics, including the kidnap rate of foreign workers since the war began.
Posted by: KSM at December 2, 2005 08:35 PM
A birthday Gift to Jesus Christ
What can I give to Jesus
Poor as I am
If I was a shepherd
I would give Jesus a lamb
If I was a wise man
I would do my part
Oh what can give him on Christmas day
To make him real happy I give him my Heart
Posted by: monte schlarman at December 2, 2005 10:23 PM
KSM,
The theme of this post is not the so-called "progress" in Iraq, but a call to pray for abducted Christian activists. Did you read before posting?
Posted by: Tenoch at December 3, 2005 03:35 AM
No, ksm, for real information about the "progress" in iraq, you can read the comments of the Vice President of Iraq: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001614034
He apparetnyl does not realize that hsi role as a colonial subject of America is to merely echo President Bush's happy talk.
Posted by: Randy at December 5, 2005 09:08 PM
I enjoy reading this blog very much, you all have an understanding of Christ and His teachings that is refreshing to read in these days in which "false prophets" shamelessly twist and contrive the Word in order to rationalize their prejudices.
May Christians are getting sick and tired of being associated with those folks. Keep up the good work!
BTW, somewhere, in either your blog entries or in your RSS feed, is a missing closing html tag for italics, which has your entire feed (and anything below it) italicized.
Posted by: Margaret Romao Toigo at December 7, 2005 06:11 PM
