December 15, 2004
by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVLLE - The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is urging President Bush to seek an alternate approach for bringing stability to Iraq following recent vandalism to a Presbyterian church there.

Noting an increase in kidnappings, high civilian and military death tolls, inhumane conditions and attacks on Iraqi churches, Kirkpatrick told Bush in a letter dated Dec. 10 that the Presbyterian Church has been watching with "grave concern the chaotic situation in Iraq."

He asked the president to "alter the course of your policy" and take "swift steps" to bring about the "necessary transformation to which all the people of Iraq aspire, beginning with giving your immediate attention to the security situation for all Iraqi citizens."

Kirkpatrick sent the letter after PC(USA) officials learned last week that one of its partner churches in Iraq, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Mosul, had been trashed earlier this month.

"What robbers could not take they destroyed," Kirkpatrick wrote.

On Monday, Kirkpatrick emailed a letter of support to the congregation in Mosul.

"Indeed, we feel a deep pain when we watch the news every day and learn about the horrors endured by the Iraqi people throughout your country," Kirkpatrick wrote to Dr. Mazen M. al-Saqa, a physician and lay leader at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Mosul.

Vandals destroyed the church's Sunday school classroom, a boardroom, and a clinic that helps the needy, according to al-Saqa in an e-mail describing the incident. Heaters and a photocopier were among items stolen.

Kirkpatrick said the United States has an obligation as the occupying military power to provide security for the civilian population and should have the "moral courage to acknowledge now that the war it has launched last year has been unwise."

Kirkpatrick asked the president to turn to the United Nations to seek its "immediate intervention, to restore law, order, civility and peace and to complete the work of creating a viable, constitutional, fully representative democracy."

There are currently five Presbyterian churches in Iraq, with a new congregation being developed in Baghdad.

However, according to published reports Iraq's small Christian community of about 650,000 - some 3 percent of the population - has increasingly been targeted by insurgents since the fall of Saddam Hussein's secular regime.

Coordinated car bombings, four in Baghdad and one in Mosul, killed at least 12 Christians in August; five Baghdad churches were bombed on Oct. 16 at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At least eight people were killed in two church bombings in the capital on Nov. 8 and a car bomber attacked police guarding the hospital where the wounded had been taken. On Dec. 7 gunmen bombed two churches in Mosul, an Armenian church and a Chaldean church.

More than 40,000 Christians are believed to have left Iraq since the invasion by the United States and its allies in February 2003, reports say. Many of the Iraqi refugees fled to Syria, Jordan and Europe, among other places.

"Such attacks and the deep fear they have generated, plus the growing sense among the Christians of Iraq that the prospects of meaningful representation in a new government are exceedingly gloomy, have caused thousands of them to flee the country," Kirkparick wrote to President Bush. "Many speak, with great lament, of an Iraq that will beimmanently devoid of Christian presence altogether."

The full text of Kirkpatrick's letters to President Bush and to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Mosul (a copy of which was sent to Yousif Al-Saka, general secretary of the Evangelical Presbyterian Assembly of Churches of Iraq:

December 10, 2004

Dear Mr. President:

I write on behalf of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the all-inclusive governing body of this denomination of some 2.5 million American Christians, who hold partnership relations with close to two-hundred reformed, evangelical and ecumenical churches and church bodies in eighty-five countries around the world. Our General Assembly has spoken in successive years expressing concern for the people of Iraq, one of the countries where we have had a historic relationship with its Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church for more than a century and a half, and a significant working relationship with other Christian churches (Chaldean Catholic, and Arab, Assyrian and Armenian Orthodox) for decades.

We have been watching with grave concern the chaotic situation in Iraq as it has continued to worsen since you declared last April that the war had ended. The high death toll of our own American troops and of Iraqi civilians, the kidnapping of women, children, national and foreign civilian workers, diplomats and others, horrific beheadings, destruction of entire communities, and deplorable humanitarian conditions have been devastating to the people of Iraq.

Several churches have been attacked, some during Sunday worship. We have now received word from one of our own partner congregations, the Evangelical Church of Mosul, that this church has been horribly vandalized - what robbers could not take, they destroyed. Such attacks and the deep fear they have generated, plus the growing sense among the Christians of Iraq that the prospects of meaningful representation in a new government are exceedingly gloomy, have caused thousands of them to flee the country. Many speak, with great lament, of an Iraq that will be immanently devoid of Christian presence altogether. In a part of the world where Christians lived in relative peace and security with their majority Muslim neighbors prior to the U.S. invasion, this is a great tragedy.

We fear for Iraq, and for its people, both now and in the future. We also feel that the United States, the present occupying military power, should be held responsible for both the present and the future. For the present, under international conventions, it has the obligation to provide security for the civilian population. This is not happening, Mr. President. As for the sake of the future of that country and its entire people, the United States should have the moral courage to acknowledge now that the war it has launched last year has been unwise, and to turn to the United Nations vigorously seeking its immediate intervention, to restore law, order, civility and peace and to complete the work of creating a viable, constitutional, fully representative democracy.

We call on you, Mr. President, to alter the course of your policy and to take swift steps to bring about the necessary transformation to which all the people of Iraq aspire, beginning with giving your immediate attention to the security situation for all Iraqi citizens.

You can be assured of our constant prayers that you may be granted the required wisdom and courage to face the urgency of choosing a different path, recognizing that the memory of history will honor those who, with humility, seek the ways of peace.

December 13, 2004

Dear Dr. Mazen and the Mosul Congregation:

Warm Christian greetings from your sisters and brothers of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

It was with great distress that we received word from our colleague, the Rev. Linda Knieriemen, of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, about the break-in in your church, and about the great loss and damage it caused. Indeed, we feel a deep pain when we watch the news every day, and learn about the horrors endured by the Iraqi people throughout your country. In our own helplessness, our troubled spirits turn to the Living God and cry for help, that the violence and destruction may cease, and that peace, calm and stability might begin to flow. Our hearts turn to you and hold you close.

The horrible damage and loss suffered by your church has prompted us to write to President George W. Bush and appeal to him to seek an alternative approach to handling the situation in Iraq. We are gravely concerned for our Christian brothers and sisters who are fleeing the homeland in great numbers, but also for the safety, security and stability of the entire country. For it has not been long ago that Christians lived side by side with their Muslim neighbors in harmony and peace. Our prayer now is that the peace of God that passes all understanding keep you firm and strong in your faith, to experience anew the powerful words of the divine promise "I will never forget nor forsake you;" to continue your witness to the love of God among your neighbors, and to preserve you in the safe arms of the God of all mercy and compassion.

Please be assured that as we pray for you always, we pray too for our sisters and brothers of the other beloved Evangelical churches in Kirkuk, Baghdad and Basrah, with whom we share the mutual bonds of affection, care and support, as well as your neighbors of the other Christian denominations and other faith communities. May the grace, mercy and peace of God prevail in your hearts and in your land.

Presbyterian News Service