Christian Peace Witness for Iraq: March 16, 2007

by Alison Sandlin Liles

The Vigil in Washing, DC

When I moved to the Washington, D.C. area four years ago, the ideas of protesting and demonstrating were completely foreign to me. I grew up in Alabama where it’s just not polite to protest. It’s not polite to protest anything…a grounding punishment handed down from your mother, an unfair amount of homework sentenced by a math teacher or even larger issues such as the segregated public school system that still exists in my hometown. According to cultural norms, a person just doesn’t question authority in the South. You do what you’re told. You respect your elders and all those in authority. You don’t get fired up and you don’t fight for what you believe is right.

I always thought that demonstrations were really just for the benefit of the participants. I still felt this way after participating in my first anti-war demonstration. I begrudgingly agreed to go because I wanted a Christian witness to be present. I wanted to show that not all Christians believed invading Iraq was a good thing. And although my adrenaline was running high as I processed with hundreds of people around the National Mall, I again wondered…who is this for anyway?

Three years have passed since that first demonstration and I’ve gone from watching to participating to planning. Somewhere along the way I realized that the protests might not change the mind of anyone in authority, but they are an outlet for me to live out my faith. I am a pacifist because of my Christian faith and one way I can express this faith is through peaceful demonstration. I realized that I couldn’t just believe in something like peace without actually doing something about it.
In the gospel story of the woman at the well Jesus tells this Samaritan woman that “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). By telling this woman to worship God with her spirit, Jesus calls her to live out her faith. If we say that we worship God but then don’t actually act like it, then I don’t think we’re truly worshiping God. If I claim to be a pacifist and against the war, but never really speak up for peace or work toward active non-violence…can I really call myself a pacifist?

This was the idea behind the March 16th Christian Peace Witness. The event called Christians across the country to join together in the name of Jesus Christ and live out their opposition to the occupation of Iraq. Christians flocked to the National Cathedral from all forty-eight continental states to pray for ending the occupation, supporting our troops, ending the use of torture and pursuing justice.
This point was made clear in the last witness of the night offered by The Reverend Jim Wallis, editor in chief of Sojourners Magazine. He reminded us that we did not gather at the National Cathedral out of anger or for politics, we gathered together because of our faith.

I completely agree. Wallis said, “This service and procession (was) not just another political protest, but an act of faith, an act of prayer, an act of non-violent witness ... Politics led us into this war, and politics is unlikely to save us by itself. It will take faith to end this war. It will take prayer to end it. It will take a mobilization of the faith community to end it – to change the political climate, to change the wind. It will take a revolution of love to end it, because this endless war in Iraq is based ultimately on fear, and Jesus says that only perfect love will cast out fear.”

The Vigil in Washington, DC

The Christian Peace Witness served as the beginning of this mobilization. Vast numbers of Christian organizations and denominations were present as well and young and old demonstrators alike. We all sang, worshipped and prayed together in the name of Jesus Christ.

The entire tone of the Christian Peace Witness drastically differed from that of any other demonstration I have experienced. Finally, I can now say that I have participated in peaceful war protest. The typical tirades and temper tantrums were nowhere to be found. Instead we sang quietly as we processed with our electric candles, waving to those who watched from the sidewalks and apartment windows. I believe a large part of this attitude should be credited to the Christian Peace Witness liturgy.

By the time the procession to the White House began at the end of the service I certainly felt empowered to make a difference and actively work for an end to this war. And based on the conversations I had during the three mile procession, I believe this to be true for most people present. If we say that we are Christians and are supporters of peace, then we must live out this faith. I believe it to be imperative for each of us to find ways to live out our Christian beliefs. We have to truly be the person we say we are. We must work for what we believe is right instead of just passively watching from the sidelines. I’m not suggesting that we go out and plan a 200,000 person protest…but just that we live out what we believe is right…what we believe is truth.

Allison Sandlin Liles is a priest currently working at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church & Day School in Washington, D.C. She is a new member of EPF’s National Executive Council and participated in EPF Young Adult Presence at General Convention in June 2006.