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Page 1: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Opening

Page 2: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Christian Christian Nonviolence Nonviolence

in Iraqin Iraq

Page 3: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

JESUS REVEALS JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERINGREDEMPTIVE SUFFERING

• Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection.

• “Love your enemies, pray for those that persecute you” is the command of Jesus that separates Christianity from all other faiths.

• Christ calls Christians to “take up (your) cross and follow me” in Mark’s gospel.

Page 4: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

• Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation.– The gospels make clear Jesus’ rejection of violence in

favor of suffering as means of salvation.– Revelation responds on a fundamental level to the evil

myth of redemptive violence.

• Babylonians, Romans, and other imperial and occupied societies have chosen violence as a means to “peace” (Pax Romana) or “freedom” (the Zealots).– Our salvation history from Creation through Pentecost is a

powerful counterweight to the MYTH that we can be saved through violent force.

– Violence is inherently mimetic (copycat) and self-justifying.– Its use never results in lasting freedom.– There are countless examples of the power of this Myth still

today.

Page 5: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

CHRISTIAN NONVIOLENCE:CHRISTIAN NONVIOLENCE:

• is NOT an attempt to avoid conflict, NOR a refusal to respond to a violent aggressor.

• Does not mimic violence or respond in kind.

• Holds that “turning the other cheek” is NOT passive.

• Seeks to love and convert enemy through a loving response to evil with good.

• Demands creativity.

Page 6: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Ecclesia Abhorret A SanguineEcclesia Abhorret A Sanguine

• This teaching is among the oldest in the church – predating the dogma of the Trinity.

• The Church abhors bloodshed.

– Christians were forbidden from serving in the military for the first several centuries of the church.

– This tradition is now applied primarily to clergy who are forbidden from using lethal force.

Page 7: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Catholics who have rejected war or Catholics who have rejected war or violence in principle or practice…violence in principle or practice…

• St. Paul• St. Maximiliam• St. Marcellus• St. Francis• St. Ignatius• St. Maximilian Kolbe• Bl. Franz Jagerstatter• Abp. Oscar Romero• Fr. Ignacio Martin–Baro, S.J.• Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J.• and many more…. Bl. Franz © CNS

Page 8: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Benedict XVI on Benedict XVI on Nonviolence and IraqNonviolence and Iraq

• ““Christian nonviolence…does not consist Christian nonviolence…does not consist in surrendering to evil…but in responding in surrendering to evil…but in responding to evil with good.”to evil with good.” -Feb 18, 2007

• ““There were not sufficient reasons to There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. …Today we unleash a war against Iraq. …Today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war’.to admit the very existence of a ‘just war’.

-May 2, 2003-May 2, 2003

Page 9: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Inauguration Day 2005

Page 10: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Blessed are the Peacemakers… Blessed are the Peacemakers…

“We have assumed the name of peacemakers, but we have been, by and large, unwilling to pay any significant price and because we want the peace with half a heart and half a life and will, the war, of course, continues, because the waging of war, by its nature, is total--but the waging of peace, by our own cowardice, is partial...There is no peace because there are no peacemakers. There are no makers of peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war--at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake.”

--Fr. Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

Page 11: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

IRAQ: IRAQ: a peacemaker’s a peacemaker’s perspective on perspective on

genocidegenocide

Page 12: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Iraqis <16 years old make up >1/2 of all IraqisIraqis <16 years old make up >1/2 of all Iraqis

Page 13: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Iraq is roughly the size of California

~ 25 million called Iraq home in 2000

~7-8 million Iraqis live in Baghdad

Page 14: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

War with Iran led to the deaths of >1 million total from 1980-1988

Page 15: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

sanctionsUS military US military operations in Iraq operations in Iraq began in 1991 and have continued uninterrupted until today.

U.N./U.S. U.N./U.S. SanctionsSanctions resulted in the deaths of 1-1.5 million Iraqis – half of them children.

Page 16: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

coffin

Page 17: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Based on estimates from the UN and Johns Hopkins University,

Iraq has lost more than 10% of its population to violence since 1991.

Page 18: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

checkpoint

Page 19: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

The Green Zone at sunset

Page 20: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Car bomb smoke

Page 21: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Car shell

Page 22: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

refugeesSince the Occupation

began, refugees numbers have soared. There are

now 2-3 million Iraqis who have fled their country.

Most refugees have fled to Syria and Jordan, but there are tens of thousands more across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

The US has agreed to admit 7800 Iraqi refugees. So far only a small portion of these families have actually entered the US.

Page 23: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

The Streets of The Streets of BaghdadBaghdad

Page 24: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Horse cart

Page 25: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Girl with water hose

Page 26: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Digging through the trash

Page 27: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Raw sewage in Sadr City

Page 28: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Black market “gas station”

Page 29: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Barbed wire swingset

Page 30: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

“power lines”

Page 31: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

Iraq: always a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, pluralist society

Page 32: Opening. Christian Nonviolence in Iraq JESUS REVEALS REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING Christian NV is rooted in Jesus Life, Death and Ressurection. “Love your enemies,

In Baghdad, the message I heard over In Baghdad, the message I heard over and over from Iraqis of all ethnic and and over from Iraqis of all ethnic and religious backgrounds was …religious backgrounds was …

if the American troops leave Iraq if the American troops leave Iraq immediately, there immediately, there maymay be a civil war… be a civil war… if they stay, there if they stay, there willwill be a civil warbe a civil war..

In Baghdad, the message I heard