For today: Blessed are the peacemakers,

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.

Matthew 5: 9

http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/110104.htm

 

Dear Friends,

 

No matter who wins the election, peacemakers are desperately needed.  We must make peace with the Muslim world if we are to avoid more terrorist attacks, and perhaps a thermonuclear war.

 

Osama Bin Laden has essentially offered the American people a truce, by saying that our security depends on making sure our elected officials stop aggression against Muslims.  This means renouncing the neocon ambition to control the Mideast via bases in Iraq and elsewhere.  It also means pressuring the state of Israel to stop its attacks against Palestinian civilians. 

 

Most Muslims want peace as much as Americans do.  They want to grow their olive trees without fear that they will be uprooted.  They want to build their houses without fear of bulldozers knocking them down, or soldiers bursting in at night and dragging off the menfolk.  They want the same things we do- jobs, education for their children, decent health care, and peace.

 

It's only the avaricious, powerhungry rulers that thrive on war and destruction.  If Kerry wins, let's lobby hard for a department of peace.  If Bush wins, let's do our best to impeach him and Cheney for their war crimes and blatant cronyism.

 

The world needs peace, so we can get on with the job of saving the biosphere. 

 

In the name of the Prince of Peace,   Carol Wolman

"Your security is in your own hands."-OBL

(To the American people) Your security is not in the hands of  Kerry, Bush or Al-Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands. Any (presidential) mandate which does not play havoc with our security would automatically ensure its own security." - Osama Bin Laden

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/904780.cms

 

Dear Friends, 

 

Although the media and the presidential candidates are treating Osama's speech as a new threat, it actually offers a truce.  He is saying "If you leave us alone, we'll leave you alone." 

 

In this new tape, Bin Laden takes responsibility for 9-11, but he also explains that it was a retaliation for a specific act.  Rather than go on to say that US actions in Iraq warrant another Al Qa'eda attack, he states that Americans can have security if we stop the killing now.

 

The Muslim people are not our natural enemies.  America invaded Iraq, not the other way around.  We all worship the God of Abraham.  Mohammed believed he received the Holy Spirit that Jesus spoke of.   We all want peace.  As peacemakers, it is our job to mediate, not to take sides. 

 

The Iraqi patriots fighting for their homeland call the American soldiers "crusaders".  They see the invasion of their country as a Christian onslaught, aided by rhetoric from Falwell and Franklin Graham, not to mention from Bush himself, in unguarded moments.

 

Is it really the duty of Christians to slaughter 100,000 innocents in Iraq?  Shouldn't the American people, if we are, indeed, a Christian nation, demand that our leaders stop the killing, now?

 

In the name of the Prince of Peace,   Carol Wolman