We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

Klamath Falls Friends Church Minute on Iraq

We bear witness that recent events in Iraq cause us distress, concern, and sadness. We grieve that this and other continuing crises throughout the Middle East are in many ways a result of our own personal, societal, and national limitations. We cannot rewrite history or undo what is done. We can, however, learn better practices for our future from past and present mistakes. We can develop greater understanding and a more compassionate approach to our own and the world's problems and possibilities.

We ask individuals, gathered peoples of faith, and governments of the world to consider carefully with us the following:

We believe there is that of God in every one. This is the basis of our thought, action, and hope. We do not hold this belief lightly, however, knowing as we do that it runs counter to our equally intense impulses of self-promotion and self-preservation that too often cloud our judgment and slacken our resolve. With perseverance and God's help, we can better manage this inward and outward conflict.

To learn and to practice peace is first and foremost a personal decision without which there can be no true or lasting social, national, and global reformation.

We call upon the United States government and governments of the world, however constituted, to exercise as their primary purpose care for the poor, the hungry, and distressed persons everywhere. We believe emphatically that preparing for and waging war not only is contrary to this aim but leads us away from God, as well.

We exhort people of faith whatever their nation and tongue, and especially every follower of Christ, to wage peace and to implore their governments to do the same.

We ask that the means used to establish freedom and justice be as diverse and true as the cultures and nations which host them.

There are numerous questions that need to be asked first of our own selves, including:

1. What are aspects of our own American society, and even church cultures, that are dragging down other peoples of the world? What things are constructive?

2. How can we change ourselves?

3. What does "waging peace" really mean in practice?

4. Are practices such as forgiveness and changing direction possible? If so, how do we best teach them?