Rumsfeld briefs religious leaders

Christian Century, Jan 11, 2003

After an unusual briefing on the war against terrorism by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon officials, clergy participants described the two-hour gathering as a "good exchange."

Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, said he left the meeting on December 18 with "an enlarged sense of the complexities of the problems" facing military leaders in the war on terrorism, but he reasserted his opposition to possible war with Iraq.

"I still have the gravest reservations about a war, but I certainly was encouraged that some of the nuances and complexities that are so integral here are being included in the conversations" at the Pentagon, Griswold said. Pentagon officials updated the dozen participants on U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and took questions about the religious and moral implications of the military efforts.

Griswold and Clarence Newsome, dean of the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, said faith leaders suggested that increased American concern for some of the problems of the world, such as the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa, might help combat terrorism. When religious leaders asked Rumsfeld if poverty might be abetting terrorism, participant Joshua Haberman, rabbi emeritus of Washington Hebrew Congregation, said the defense secretary acknowledged the impoverished populations of the world but noted that the September 11 terrorists came from affluent families.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz gave a brief report to the group regarding Iraq and the war on terrorism. "It was fascinating to be with people who are carving out policy that affects the lives of literally millions of people," United Methodist Bishop Felton E. May of Baltimore-Washington told his denomination's news service. "The meeting caused me to urge United Methodists to rediscover who we are, to begin to articulate our position on war, and to look seriously again" at a pastoral letter on war (and the then-nuclear arms threat) by the UMC's Council of Bishops published in 1986.

Other participants included Washington Episcopal Bishop John Chane, Prison Fellowship Chairman Chuck Colson, Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute and evangelical leader Leighton Ford.--RNS