Many faithful speak in 1 voice
Hundreds protest Iraq war at interreligious peace march
By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 20, 2006
A Jewish cantor sang of common sense. A Muslim imam read about justice. A Christian minister spoke about the mission of peacemaking.
The audience, spilling out of the pews and packed shoulder to shoulder in the back, applauded and stood.
And then they all walked in silence for nearly a mile, the robes of the religious leaders snapping in the chilly breeze, before encircling a patch of lawn in Balboa Park and starting again to preach and pray against the war in Iraq.
Several hundred people – one leader estimated as many as 1,000 – attended yesterday's interreligious anti-war gathering to protest the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion. The gathering, organized by the recently formed Faith Leaders for Peace, began at 2 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral and ended nearly three hours later in Balboa Park.
“The war in Iraq is unjust,” the Rev. Arvid Straube of First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego told the overflow crowd at St. Paul's, echoing a theme throughout the afternoon. “The war in Iraq is sinful. The war in Iraq is evil.”
It was the second consecutive day of anti-war gatherings in San Diego to mark the war's anniversary. On Saturday, the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice sponsored a rally that drew several hundred people. Around the world, other weekend demonstrations ranged from a crowd of 15,000 who marched in London to about 300 in Washington, D.C.
“We feel very encouraged that so many of our congregants came to support us,” Straube said of yesterday's event in San Diego. In addition, more than 50 local religious leaders – Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Jewish among them – have signed the platform of Faith Leaders for Peace, which includes a call for the United States to begin a phased withdrawal.
At the cathedral, there were prayers for the troops and for the citizens of Iraq. There also were prayers for each other to be witnesses for peace. Then participants set out for the park, a 25-minute silent processional escorted by San Diego police and led by ministers in the dress of their traditions.
After reassembling across the road from the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, participants heard several representatives read comments from their religious groups denouncing the war.
Wael Al-Delaimy, a Muslim with family in Iraq, read a poem about the pain being felt there. Afterward, Al-Delaimy said the interfaith gathering sends a “very powerful message: There's consensus about the destructive nature of this war.”
As the event was breaking up, Kaira Lingo, whose Buddhist name is Sister Jewel and who lives at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, said the demonstration was what people of faith ought to be doing.
“If religious people don't do it, then what's the point of religion?” Lingo asked.
Jerry Ollinger, a parishioner at Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church in El Cajon, said his theology extols peace, with teachings ranging from turning the other cheek to loving enemies.
“It just seems like my friends who are in favor of war ignore that part of Scripture,” Ollinger said.
Still, the religious community is far from unanimous in its views on the Iraq war.
A Gallup Poll released last week showed that highly religious Americans, Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians, are most supportive of the war. Those who were least supportive include infrequent churchgoers, non-Christians and people with no religious identification.
