Thursday, April 19, 2007
No War in Iraq: Not in Our Name. The banner bearing these words was signed by hundreds of people and torn down from where it hung outside Ecumenical Christian Ministries numerous times during the buildup to the war in Iraq before Thad Holcombe, ECM’s pastor, decided to start bringing it in at night. The banner hasn’t seen much action since then; at least not until recently.
Last month, four University students took the banner to an interfaith Christian protest against the war in Washington, D.C. They have since reached out to other religious and non-faith-based organizations on campus to form a coalition to protest the war. The group, Christian Peace Witness, includes members of the four Protestant denominations that make up ECM, 1204 Oread Ave., and is currently seeking recognition as an official campus organization.
“We wanted there to be some sort of visual representation of students on campus that were showing opposition to the war,” says Sonia Marcinkowski, Blue Springs, Mo., junior, about the banner. “The atmosphere on campus has been very apathetic.”
Jon Dennis, Hutchinson senior and a member of Christian Peace Witness, has approached representatives of local churches to invite them to attend the weekly peace vigil that takes place at noon every Monday at Danforth Chapel. Christian support for the war should end because peace is a deeply rooted tradition in Christianity and because the war in Iraq is unjust, Dennis says. It does not hold up the theories of just war developed by formative Christian philosophers such as St. Augustine, he says.
Members of Christian Peace Witness say they want people to listen to these Christian messages of peace because they fear the dominant rhetoric about the war in Iraq sends the wrong message to the world. Beth Ruhl, Lawrence sophomore, says President Bush’s references to the war as a holy crusade can mistakenly be combined with the Christian doctrine of religious conversion to create the appearance that many Americans believe Muslims should be converted to Christianity.
To send a different message, Ruhl says the group has invited all religious groups on campus to support their mission. When she hands out fliers in front of Danforth Chapel, Ruhl says that many Middle Eastern people approach her and say, “I’m from there. I really support what you’re doing. I really want peace.”
Ruhl encourages students to go into Danforth to reflect on those hurt and killed in Iraq and the families who love them. Visitors can tie black ribbons to a net in the pulpit and contemplate the war as they listen to a Gregorian chant or other music that rings across the dark, hard wood roof beams of the dimly lit chapel. The small chapel is unusually intimate and the peace vigil usually only sees two or three visitors at any time.
So far, only KU Peacebuilders and a few Lawrence churches have responded to the group’s invitation to attend the vigil. Reverend Holcombe also invited the various members of the Kansas University Religious Advisors, but says that none have responded.
The group isn’t just for students or members of specific religious groups, Holcombe says. “Faith traditions are important,” he says, “but they aren’t going to keep us from making a joint expression about our opposition to the war.”
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