Wholly Bible: A View from the Pew

Wartime dilemma: Rome or Jerusalem?

By RAY WADDLE

The war is four years old now. Here's a partial tally of what's happened since March 2003:

* A tyrant named Saddam is captured and executed.

* Almost 3,200 U.S. soldiers are dead. Another 23,000 are wounded, while untold others suffer post-traumatic shock syndrome. Some 8,000 have deserted.

* Perhaps 100,000 Iraqis are dead -- no one really knows.

* A vicious Iraqi civil war unfolds.

* Iran grows in regional power and confidence. Taliban in Afghanistan are regaining ground.

* Revelations surface about U.S. misconduct in the prisons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

* Republicans lose 2006 midterm elections, but Democrats possess no straightforward solution to end the war. Brute force -- we know no other way to respond to terrorism.

Four years ago, some United Methodist bishops complained that the voice of the church was too shy and conflicted to be a strong moral witness in the debate about the new war.

It is no different today. The nation is 75 percent Christian, yet there's no consensus about how the teachings of Christ bear on the American character here or abroad.

By now, this war is deeply unpopular, yet we are still a nation divided. I don't mean left vs. right, blue vs. red, patriot vs. pacifist, original vs. extra crispy.

I mean self-divided. There's a conflict within the American soul itself -- between the spirit of imperial Rome and biblical Jerusalem. In the hearts of millions, a conflict boils over between the pushy prerogatives of a superpower and the Prince of Peace.

The power impulse routinely wins out. Four years ago, polls showed that regular churchgoers supported the war far more than people who are indifferent to church. Instead of fearing the Christian vote, the war's organizers could depend on it.

With today's supersized pursuits in careerism and consumption, it's easy to filter out large areas of truth about world suffering. The church -- the United Methodist Church, anyway -- plainly teaches that war is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus. It's embarrassing to face.

On the war's fourth anniversary, the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society asks believers to remember the dead and wounded -- our soldiers, Iraqis, troops and civilians of other nations -- also their families. The board asks for an end to all funding for the war. Funds should go to humanitarian aid for Iraq and for health and psychological support for all wounded U.S. soldiers.

In 2001, shortly after 9/11, the Church and Society board urged believers to become instruments of service and healing. The board asked people to:

* Love and pray for our enemies and refrain from responding to violence with violence, as the Prince of Peace instructed us. Be in a season of prayer for peace, for all who suffer and mourn, for those who serve, especially those in harm's way, and for courage to respond to God's guidance.

* Become bridge-builders in your community between Christians and persons of other religious faiths through education and outreach.

* Offer acts of hospitality to Arabs, Muslims and others in your community who may suffer from acts of hatred and prejudice.

* Reflect upon the church's Social Principles and the peacemaking example of Christ.

* Study the root causes of terrorism, the history of Western involvement in the Middle East.

* Continue with generous support and donations to the United Methodist Committee on Relief.

Almost six years later, it still looks like good advice.