Repentance Means a New Direction

On Tuesday, President Bush spoke to the annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters.  In a speech that The New York Times described as "Citing Faith, Bush Defends War Actions," he declared that “The decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision early in my presidency; it is the right decision at this point in my presidency; and it will forever be the right decision.”  After five years of war, his lack of reflection and, well, characteristic hubris should no longer surprise me, but the very boldness still does.

And why is he so certain he is right?  It’s all because he believes in freedom:

I believe - and I know most of you, if not all of you, believe - that every man, woman and child on the face of the Earth has been given the great gift of liberty by an almighty God. And today I want to speak about this precious gift, the importance of protecting freedom here at home, and the call to offer freedom to others who have never known it. … when confronted with the realities of the world, I have made the decision that now is the time to confront, now is the time to deal with this enemy, and now is the time to spread freedom as the great alternative to the ideology it adheres to. … we undertake this work because we believe that every human being bears the image of our maker. That's why we're doing this.

Many U.S. Christians disagree.  We also see the image of God in all those who have become the collateral damage of this awful war, and in the countless American lives snuffed out or broken forever. Also on Tuesday, along with Christian leaders on our Sojourners board like Brian McLaren, Mary Nelson, Wes Granberg-Michaelson, Barbara Williams Skinner, and Ron Sider, we launched “A Call to Lament and Repent.” 

Rather than celebrating the decision to go to war, we lament the suffering and violence in Iraq. We mourn the nearly 4,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died, the unknown numbers of both who are wounded in body and mind, and the more than 4 million Iraqis who are displaced from their homes. And we repent of our failure to fully live the teaching of Jesus to be peacemakers.

We also believe that repentance must go deeper than just being sorry – it means a commitment to a new direction.  This fifth anniversary of the war is the time for U.S. Christians to rededicate ourselves to the biblical vision of a world in which nations do not attempt to resolve international problems by making unilateral preemptive wars on other nations.  While we are not utopians and believe that human beings and nations will have conflicts, given the toll that war has taken in our violence torn world, we must begin to learn to resolve our inevitable conflicts by learning the arts and skills of conflict resolution and a new international approach to just peace-making.

I’m grateful that since Tuesday, nearly 20,000 of you have already joined with us.  Yesterday a friend of mine wrote to me. He is a strong Christian layperson, a successful businessman, and a lifelong Republican. But he said, “I have been looking for some form of penance since I argued so strenuously with you back in 2003 that, of course, our government had definitive proof of WMD, or we would not take the enormous geopolitical risk of invading Iraq. This enterprise seemed to be exactly the penance vehicle I needed.”

If you have not yet joined us, click here to read and sign the statement lamenting and repenting of the Iraq war. 

Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.

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Comments

[1dogs2]

How do those who believe "that every man, woman and child on the face of the Earth has been given the great gift of liberty by an almighty God" account for all those to whom "God's gift" was never delivered, who lived their entire lives and died in slavery or under other extreme forms of repression? One of the many dangers of such a belief is that it provides the likes of Bush an excuse to wage "pre-emptive war" against people already suffering under repressive regimes, turning awful conditions into full-fledged catastrophe, all in the name of doing "God's work".

No doubt those who bought into Bush's lies and cynical misrepresentations as reasons to support the invasion of Iraq have a great deal to repent, not least their susceptibility to such nonsense as the allegedly divine source of liberty. Had they not been blinded by naive and irrational piety, perhaps they would have noticed that Bush was mouthing this rubbish at the very moment he was rapidly diminishing our liberty at home and causing thousands -- ultimately hundreds of thousands -- of deaths abroad. They might even have seen what clearer eyes did see before the invasion -- that the invasion was far likelier to bring the result it has rather than what he promised.

All the repentence in the world will not give the victims of Bush's policy their lives back. That tens of thousands of Christians are now committing themselves to try to repair the damage of the Bush regime is nevertheless a good thing. It would be an even better thing if part of their repentence consisted of a serious examination of the role that their religious beliefs played in supporting Bush's policy in the first place. Absent that examination, what is the likelihood that they will recognize the next snake for what it is?

[realpolitic]

Bush believes in freedom so much he wants to tap all our phones. Bush's concept of freedom is so flawed because it is always preceeded by war. He does not love freedom. There are many ways to spread freedom, including educational exchanges and trade pacts. Bush loves war. He loves to be saluted and to play at commander-in-chief. Bush uses the rhetoric of freedom and religious belief to justify unending way. He celebrates it and then wonders why the world loathes him.

Rev. Wallis, you are correct! President Bush's characteristic hubris and lack of reflection should no longer surprise you. After all, here is a man who believes the lesson of Vietnam is that we did not stay long enough. Rev. Wallis, when you look at Presidenet Bush and consider him, just pray for American citizens and the world that we survive him. Tell your evangelical friends to please never let this mistake happen again.

[BusGreg]

How can anyone repent for the sins of others? I voted for Al Gore and John Kerry. I did not vote for any of the warmongers and have been outspoken to a fault. How about those who are nothing more than enablers? Let those repent for their 'sins' who in 04 lamented like so many of my acquaintances: I hate the war but I have to vote for bush because he'll save babies and stop gays from getting married.
Let those who sent more Americans to their deaths than the 19 lunatics on 9-11-01 repent. And no, governor bush, removing Saddam Insane was the wrong thing to do. Your own Vice nut job said in 1994 that removing Saddam would result in exactly the mess we are in now. Cheney even reiterated that statement in 2000 during one of the VP debates.
Your failed strategy governor bush in removing Sdadam only guarantees continuing bloodshed between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Just for once leave the religious posturing out of politics. The last thing we need when it comes to waging war is a religious nut or "pretend religious nut" who has his cranium up his rectum and prays for a miracle that will save his sorry ass but never comes.
The only thing I will repent is that I have not been more outspoken when it comes to the sins committed by the "Village Idiot from Crawford" and his merry band of accomplices in BOTH Houses of Congress!

[desmirl]

Some of us have nothing to repent. We were against the Iraq war from the first moment it was mentioned, against it during the run-up, against it during the invasion, against it during the lengthy occupation, and against it as far into the future as it goes. For those of us who were standing on street corners with signs, calling talk-radio and voicing unpopular opinions, writing letters to the newspapers, writing our congressmen and senators--WE HAVE NOTHING FOR WHICH TO APOLOGIZE. Let those who voted for Bush repent. We'll watch while they do.

[EspritDeVoltaire]

I've admired Jim Wallis for his good work and straight thinking for some time. It's good to see a prominent churchman whose teachings are not diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus. The American church for the most part makes a mockery of the Gospels by supporting men like Bush.

[realpolitic]

Wallis is a good man. I have heard him on television many times. His initial mistake was to support Bush and to be fooled by the rhetoric of compassion. Bush's lack of reflection and compassion do not usually go hand-in-hand.

[BassMonk]

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