Posted by Matthew Gatheringwater on March 23, 2003 at 01:10:32:
Like many people, I have experienced feelings of helplessness since the start of the war on Iraq. It became very important to me to think about how I respond to this conflict as an American citizen and as a UU.
I am a student, and so far my response has been educational. As I became aware of the build-up for the war, I decided to take a class on the Just War tradition. I learned how to articulate my opposition to this war in the framework of a moral system that can be understood both by pacifists and those seeking a military solution. It helped me to develop some clarity about world events and gave me some ethical tools to evaluate the claims of the Bush Administration.
Now that my class is over and the war has begun, I'm interested in hearing from other people about the response they are making to war. I realize that UUs hold a variety of political ideologies, just as we respect the right of individual conscience in matters of religious belief, and so I am interested in the responses of people who support the war as well as those who condemn it. Perhaps learning about the actions of thoughtful and religious people will help me to remember that feeling helpless is not the same thing as actually being helpless.
Sincerely,
Matthew Gatheringwater