LOUISVILLE — Responding to a request from the Evangelical Church of Iran, the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed a resolution March 16 asking U.S. political leaders to initiate “direct diplomatic dialogue with leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so that by all means, a military confrontation would be avoided” involving Iran.
It asks Presbyterian military chaplains to lead prayers for peace and the “well-being of all peoples in the region.” And it asks the council to remind Presbyterians of the denomination’s policies on nuclear weapons “and the dangers of military confrontation.”
In the resolution, the council also acknowledges “with gratitude” the Bush administration’s willingness to consider participating in a dialogue with Iran and Syria at the invitation of Iraq. The council “recognizes that the journey toward peace is long and complex,” the resolution states, and it encourages leaders from the U.S. “to persist and not lose heart, pledging our prayer.”
Victor Makari, the PC(USA)’s area coordinator for Europe and the Middle East, told the council the church in Iran asks the PC(USA) to provide a witness to peacemaking “rather than a confrontational attitude.”
Edward T. Brogan, director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel, also asked the council members to take back to their churches a request for prayer for the nation’s military chaplains, “who are facing trials today they have never faced before.”
