Quaker Witness Against Syrian War

A statement from British Quakers concerned for peace in the Middle East:

Working for peace, opposing war

"Quakers in Britain work for peace. We are led by our faith to reject “outward weapons", turning instead to those of the spirit. As a faith community our religious understanding and experience is that true peace cannot be imposed by military might. Ideas cannot be removed with bombs."

"There are both moral and pragmatic reasons to oppose military action in Syria. Bombs dropped from the air not only kill indiscriminately, they further increase the risk of terrorist retribution. Security comes from building peace not from supplying weapons. It comes from welcoming refugees fleeing war rather than erecting fences."

"Take action now."

-- https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quakers-say-no-to-military-action-in-syria

"It is human nature that the closer suffering comes to us, the more acutely we feel the pain and grief. But that experience should sensitise us to the suffering caused repeatedly by acts of war and violent crime in more distant places, including Beirut, Sinai, Bamako and Aleppo. It should strengthen our determination to build a safer world together."
--

"The military actions of Western nations recruit more people to the cause than they kill. Every bomb dropped is a recruitment poster for [Islamic State], a rallying point for the young, vulnerable and alienated. And every bomb dropped on Syrian cities drives yet more people to flee and seek refuge in safer countries."

"Our political leaders seem determined that Britain should look strong on the world stage."

"Quakers in Britain believe our country should act with wisdom and far-sighted courage.
A wisdom that rises above the temptation to respond to every problem with military might."

"A wisdom that looks back at our failures in Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan
and learns from experience. The courage – and strength - to think through
the likely consequences of actions to find a long term, lasting solution."

"Although there are no quick or easy answers, there are things we can do, all of us together, which will defeat
the terrorists [and the Syrian Government, Saudi Arabian government instigators, etc.] more assuredly than military action."

"We can quieten ourselves and listen to the truth from deep within us that speaks of love, mutual respect, humanity and peace."

"We can and will refuse to be divided. By bridge-building among faiths and within our local communities we can challenge and rise above the ideologies of hate and actively love our neighbour."

"By welcoming refugees, we can not only meet the acute needs of those individuals but also undercut the narrative of those who seek to create fear and mistrust."


"And we can ask our political leaders to:

Treat terrorist acts as crimes, not acts of war
Stop arming any of the parties fighting in Syria
Observe international law and apply it equally to all parties
Build cooperation among nations, strengthening those international institutions which contribute to peace
Export peace rather than war, so that we can create the conditions the world needs to address its most serious problems, including climate change."

"...from a statement made by Quakers in Britain in 1943 (Quaker faith & practice 24.09):

“True peace cannot be dictated, it can only be built in co-operation between all peoples. None of us, no nation, no citizen, is free from some responsibility for this."
http://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quakers-responding-to-terrorism
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"The UK and NATO allies must stop arming and financing any of the parties
fighting in Syria, before we can expect that others do the same."
https://quakers-production.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/store/13ab9820c6d6537a38d7d8954233cdba7551622faff943059bb195dcbd03

Is your Friends Meeting, or other human rights organization working to oppose this war
in which more than 350,000 have been killed and many injured, and millions refugeed?

Please write your governmental representatives to oppose this mass slaughter.

Make a visible witness.





In the LIGHT,

Daniel Wilcox

Contact Your Congress Members! Vote "No" on War Attack on Syria.

Dear Congress Members and Senators:

Please vote "no" on the request for an attack on Syria.

This isn't meant as a blanket "no," because later a defensive action might be necessary. But first the Administration needs to think out a 30 year strategy and figure out the logistics of how to work for a democratic, non-Sharia-Law Syria. For all sides in the current conflict in Syria are bad. Assad has murdered many, many people. The Rebels have murdered many, many people.

Furthermore, many of the Rebels are already imposing Sharia Law and persecuting Christians and other Muslims who disagree with them. At least Assad's secular regime protected everyone in Syria from Islamic killers.

We ought to consider whether the attack should instead be conducted by Islamic countries near Syria such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, rather than a non-Islamic country such as the U.S.

Lesser points to consider are whether with our current debt crisis, our failed involvement in Afghanistan, the crisis in Egypt, etc., Muslim distrust, we shouldn't delay.

I've lived for a short time in the Middle East. The situation is very complicated! A quick attack, especially by a non-Islamic government now seems like a very unwise choice.

Lastly, isn't it sort of ironic that we have basically ignored the death of over 100,000 people, killed in many horrendous ways, but now with the death of 1,500, we suddenly think we ought to act quickly?

I suggest rather that you vote "no" and instead seek to form a long range U.S. policy toward the Islamic world. For Nigeria is getting worse and elsewhere. And so much right now needs to be done to help Americans suffering loss of their homes, etc.

Thanks for all the great work you've done as our senator.

Sincerely,

Daniel Wilcox

Remember, Syrians Aren't Our Enemies. Evil Is. Fight the Spiritual Battle Now.

Remember, Syrians aren't our enemies! Not even the killer Assad and his henchmen or the Sunni jihadist murderers (including the one who cut out the heart of a Syrian soldier and ate it!:-(

They are like the evil Romans soldiers who tortured and crucified Jesus--the ones that Jesus prayed for from his cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

They all have been duped and led into evil by Satan. Satan is the evil one we work against by the power of the Spirit of God....

Fight evil, deliver those in subjection to it, protect the innocent, and spread Jesus' Good News, God's Love for Everyone, for every single human being.

"Keep Your Guard Up"
by Michael Shamblin and the Praise Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZvQnBypT8

To download this song in iTunes, click here - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/keep-your-guard-up/id522372850?i=522372866&uo=4 Keep Your Guard Up Music & Lyr...
Like · · Share · Promote · about a minute ago near Santa Maria ·


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

The Lamb's War

Probably in human history there is no sin, no evil worse than human warfare.

Literally millions upon millions of innocent people have been slaughtered in the name of God.

That doesn't even deal with the multi-millions of soldiers who chose to kill each other in countless battles.

Over 100 million unarmed civilians were slaughtered in the 20th Century alone.


Even we Friends started out supporting religious war. According to First Friends a biography of George Fox by H. Larry Ingle, some early Friends were in the New Model Army of Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War. Those devout Christians would go off to stealing, destroying, and killing while singing, joyously, psalms to their God.

Massacre at Drogheda, Ireland by Cromwell's troops

However by 1652, George Fox wrote: "That which is set up by the sword is held up by the sword. That which is set up by spiritual weapons is held up by spiritual weapons, and not by carnal weapons."

"The peacemaker has the kingdom and is in it, and has Dominion over the peace-breaker, to calm him in the power of God...The days of virtue, love and peace are coming, and the Lamb...shall have the victory."

Indeed, Quakers came to speak of "The Lamb's War"--the spiritual war by which all forms of human warfare would be defeated by God's love, by the cross of redemption.

One of the best true stories of this "Lamb's War" concerns a Christian attacked by two thugs in New York City. In the process of robbing him, the criminals poked out his eye!

However, rather than wanting and seeking revenge, he forgave the thugs and showed them God's forgiveness and concern--"warring" on them through love.

He visited them regularly in jail.

When one of the criminals later got out of prison, the Mennonite helped him get an education. Then he helped the former attacker to go on to college.

Eventually, that former thug became an eye specialist and helped people with eye problems.

Love overcame evil not by destruction but by creation.

Now that is a wondrous story of redeeming love. Of course, showing forth God's unending love doesn't often end happy in this life.

Many thousands of Friends, Anabaptists, heretics, etc. and many, many other people committed to loving their enemies have died horrific deaths as did Jesus himself. From the cruel torture device of Roman 'justice,' Jesus said, "Forgive them for they know not what they do."

The Quaker Tom Fox who moved to war-torn Iraq to witness for peace and justice was kidnapped and brutally murdered by the Muslims he had come to help.

Let us live in the compassion and altruism of hope, live the "Lamb's War," to defeat violence with love.

Daniel Wilcox