Rev. Jackson Criticizes Bush, War

National religious and political leaders joined the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the nave of Riverside Church on Sunday for an interfaith service launching Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq, a new broad interfaith coalition that plans to offer a moral critique of the Iraq War.

Commemorating the two year anniversary of the conflict in Iraq, the Palm Sunday service featured speakers including Congressman Charles Rangel (D-Harlem), City Councilman Bill Perkins (D-Harlem), and Riverside’s Rev. Dr. James Forbes who all joined Jackson in criticizing both the Bush administration and American conduct abroad.

Speaking before the crowd of several hundred, Jackson referenced a Christian parable in calling the war in Iraq “a house built on sand” founded on “misinformation, disinformation and lies.”

“A democracy at gunpoint, a military occupation, cannot stand,” he said.

Like many of the evening’s other speakers, Jackson addressed political concerns by considering moral reference points. Often recalling the legacy of slavery, the American civil rights movement, and his own experiences with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson told the crowd, “Politics asks the question, ‘does it work?’ Conscience asks, ‘what is right?’ There is a time to ask not does it work, but is it right?”

After an opening procession of 1,000 wrapped coffins representing American and Iraqi war dead, Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, coordinator for the new coalition, offered the first speech of the evening service. Osagyefo reminded audience members of what he called the “prophetic tradition,” enshrined in the scriptures of many faiths, which draws upon religious moral norms as a reference against improper secular power. Osagyefo said, “we are here tonight to remind America that she has a soul.” The coordinator ended, “Bring our troops home now.”

Jim Wallis, who is the editor-in-chief of Sojourners Magazine, Susannah Heschel, associate professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, local interfaith clergy, and leaders of secular social justice and anti-war groups also offered prayers and shorter speeches throughout the service.

Heschel told the crowd, “President Bush says that God is on his side ... that’s not biblical theology. In God’s eyes, the warrior is unfit for religious duty. Don’t let the politicians pretend God is on the side of kings.”