“...they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4b)
As the United States and Israel continue a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear sites and cities this past weekend, instability in the Middle East now has the potential to spread. As the grief and pain ripples from Gaza, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Israel into Iran, The United Church of Canada urges the Canadian government to press international peace-building bodies to act urgently.
The statement:
As the 45th General Council of The United Church of Canada begins, “We mourn the deaths of innocent civilians in Iran and Israel who have been killed and those injured,” says The Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, Moderator. “We are appalled that, while their loved ones are left traumatized, grieving, and fleeing for their lives, their governments take to the media in shameless self-congratulation and to issue even more threats of death and destruction.”
Canadian churches have been sounding the alarm for the past 19 months, urging Canada to act before it is too late.
As we gather, we pray for the people already killed in Israel’s attacks on Iran and by Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israel. When the situation calls for diplomacy, the US’s attacks on Iran display a shocking sense of impunity and recklessness that can only worsen the already highly inflamed tensions in the region and increase global insecurity.
The United Church of Canada condemns the United States’ attack on Iran, outraged at the provocation, which furthers the violence, death and destruction in the region.
Canada must immediately and unequivocally condemn the Trump Administration’s attack on Iran. Warnings of escalation are now too little too late. States that still genuinely believe in diplomacy and the rule of law must boldly and decisively speak at this critical time, or risk that a situation already out of control will only get worse.
The United Church calls on all Canadians to join in urging Canada and like-minded states to seek an urgent meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to act under the UNGA Uniting for Peace resolution. Recognizing that any action by the Security Council will likely be vetoed by the United States, the UN General Assembly must act to ensure international peace and security.
As we pray for an end to escalating violence,
God of peace,
We beg for you to lead us and our nation's leaders in the way of your just peace.
We pray for those affected by the United States’ military strikes on Iran, and for the heightened fear such violence deliberately evokes.
With heavy hearts, we add these prayers to the places around the world devasted by war, and the ongoing genocides in Palestine, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We long for your dream of a world where justice, peace and love are the path sought and followed by all.
Teach us your ways of peace, we pray.
Amen.