Will Religious Leaders Finally Speak Out?
On Oct. 7, the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the start of the so-called U.S. “War on Terror,” a group of justice and peace organizations and activists urged leaders of all U.S. religious denominations to end their “shocking” 20-year “near silence” on U.S. government wars.
Gilroy and Mottern are among the signers of a letter being delivered to clergy around the U.S. Thursday. Gilroy recently wrote the piece “Blessed be the Warmakers? Why Post-9/11 American Religious Leaders Must Atone.”
The letter states: “approximately a million people have died in the Middle East in wars generated by the United States starting on 10/7.”
“We ask you, we implore you, to vocally object to existing plans for more drone warfare. We urge you to call for an end of the ‘Over the Horizon‘ drone attack plan of our United States government. We ask as well that you speak out in opposition to the political, military, and corporate fear-making depicting China as our new enemy — a fear that is already generating great financial benefit to the Pentagon war contractors.”
“Praying for the troops was a mantra of all religious groups and music to the ears of the Pentagon and its war contractors,” the peace advocates say. Simply praying for U.S. troops, the letter continues, “enables the war-makers to do their business.”
Mottern, who is co-coordinator of Ban Killer Drones also notes that U.S. drone attacks are also believed to be striking “Somalia, Niger, Syria, Yemen and Iraq as well as Afghanistan and possibly parts of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan” with minimal attention while “Iran appears to be under intensive U.S. military drone surveillance.”
A copy of the letter, full list of signers and other material is available on the website of Pax Christi USA.