Pastoral Message Regarding US/Israel’s Attack on Iran

During the chalice lighting on Sunday March 1, Rev. Catie Scudera and DRE John Newhall shared this pastoral message: 

We light a second candle this morning in mourning and adamant opposition to the bombing of the nation of Iran yesterday morning by our own government and that of Israel. As Unitarian Universalists, we strive to support free democratic processes and empowerment of the citizenry, which includes respecting the sovereignty of other heads of state and elected officials even as we may disagree with them and even how they become heads of state. 

As our national denomination’s Statement of Conscience on Creating Peace says, we “reject as false the sharp separation of good and evil, refusing to assign individuals and nations into one category or the other. Moral dualism can [distract] us to our own and our nation’s capacity for evil and to the inherent worth and dignity of those whom our nation labels as enemies… War signals the breakdown of fairly ordered human relations. Peace is an attribute of relationship; it is a process, not a stagnant state. Peace emerges as our social and political institutions become more cooperative and more just. Lasting peace rests on just relationships,” between individuals and between nations. 

So, we light this candle for all those of all ages impacted, injured, and killed by military violence yesterday and those who are still and will become in harm’s way as a war potentially begins. May our efforts toward peace, democracy, and justice come to fruition and protect the vulnerable. 

You can read the Unitarian Universalist Association’s full statement online.