The current front page article at www.pnwd.org offers perspectives for UUs to consider as the U.S. debates retaliatory action in Syria following the deaths of Syrian civilians from the apparent use of Sarin gas.
The article begins with an excerpt from the 2010 Statement of Conscience: Creating Peace.
We believe all people share a moral responsibility to create peace. Mindful of both our rich heritage and our past failures to prevent war, and enriched by our present diversity of experience and perspective, we commit ourselves to a radically inclusive and transformative approach to peace.
A statement issued by UUA President Peter Morales is provided in full, followed by a recommendation to review the Spring 2008 UU World article, Prophetic Nonviolence: Toward a Unitarian Universalist Theology of War and Peace, by the Rev. Dr. Paul Rasor. He is director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College, and is the author of Faith Without Certainty: Liberal Theology in the Twenty-first Century (Skinner House Books, 2005) as well as several articles in the UU World.
The article concludes with a reflection and prayer for the people of Syria, by the Revs. Eric Cherry and Kathleen McTigue. UU congregations are welcome to use or reprint this piece for use in public worship, with the provision that the authors’ names are included.