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| Summer 2005 |
| Contents Words of inspiration Words of Inspiration Eternal perspective does not say to us to be inattentive to things like the dollar crises, floods, poverty, law and order, and borders--for these contemporary challenges represent, in fact, some of the interpersonal moral issues and challenges to our agency and to our ability to apply the gospel by assisting others Neal A. Maxwell Source: The Smallest Part (Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 1973), p. 28 Announcing the Next MESJ Conference!
MESJ conferences are open to all dues-paying MESJ members. It is through these conferences that MESJ is governed at the global (as opposed to the chapter) level. There is much to discuss about MESJ's future! The agenda for the conference is as follows:
While our resources are limited, we are exploring options for facilitating at least partial participation for individuals who cannot be physically present in Salt Lake for the conference. Contact Suzette Smith for more info. Special Theme: Taking MESJ International by John-Charles Duffy, Media Director
It might sound grandiose to talk about taking MESJ international when the organization is so young and so small. But because the Church is already international, MESJ has inevitably found itself in contact with Latter-day Saints in different parts of the world. Even though our existing chapters are all in the United States, not all MESJ participants are American. Annette Daley, who was prominent in the Deseret News's coverage of MESJ, was born in Britain. Past issues of this newsletter have included contributions by individuals from England and Germany. An early participant in MESJ's embryonic Utah County chapter now lives in Australia. The couple who spearheaded the formation of the San Francisco chapter are now in South America. I feel a bit awkward: This summer issue of the newsletter is coming out at the end of June, so my natural impulse is to advertise MESJ's Independence Day resources (family home evening ideas, greeting cards), in time for the Fourth of July. But the fact that MESJ has Fourth of July resources is a reminder that so far, MESJ's perspective has been a U.S. perspective, and its concerns have been U.S. concerns (domestic and "foreign"). Whenever I get an email from someone outside the U.S., I squirm a little and wonder: What does MESJ offer Mormons outside the U.S. who support MESJ's mission and principles? This month's issue of Anxiously Engaged represents an attempt to broaden MESJ's horizons. It's a baby step, to be sure, but it's still a step. In this issue, you'll find:
MESJ Is Going Dutch! A new Dutch-language MESJ website
In Dutch, MVG-Mormonen voor Vrede en Gerechtigheid stands for Mormons
for Peace and Justice. MVG is an independent "sister website"
for MESJ recently launched in the Dutch language. The site can be visited
at www.mvgcontact.org. Approaching issues from the broad perspective provided by a language
group, rather than from the perspective of a specific nationality, will
help put things in a larger perspective. Because language is key to the
culture of those who speak it, different language-based sister organizations
would be as different from each other as their cultures are from each
other. And as each culture has unique social-political characteristics,
there is a need for closely cooperating, but nevertheless independent,
language based organizations. Edifices of Peace and Justice Thoughts on the Hague Temple and the Peace Palace
The homepage of the new Dutch-language website MVG-Mormonen
voor Vrede en Gerechtigheid (Mormons for Peace and Justice) features
pictures of two buildings in The Hague, Netherlands: the Hague Temple
and the Peace Palace. The temple, "the House of the Lord," is
the residence of the Prince of Peace: the Lord Jesus Christ. The Peace
Palace is the seat of the International Court of Justice and the Permanent
Court of Arbitration, the principle judicial organ of the United Nations.
The close proximity of the temple and the Peace Palace provides a beautiful
symbol of how peace and justice are inseparately connected. Walking the halls of the Peace Palace in The Hague, reading the proceedings of the trials of crimes against humanity, makes one realize how desperately this world is in need of justice. Without peace, there cannot be justice; without justice, there cannot be peace. Mass Graves: Theirs or Ours? by William Vanwagenen (Baghdad, Iraq)
MESJ recently received the following report by email from William Vanwagenen, a Latter-day Saint spending the summer in Baghdad with the organization Christian Peacemaker Teams. CPT is "committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality." The CPT team in Iraq has been working with Iraqi human rights groups, documenting abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and helping Iraqis gain access to loved ones in detention. William's report on U.S. responsibility for mass graves in Iraq is bound to be controversial. But at the very least, his report can help Americans understand how their country is perceived by many Iraqis and why.
Finding the mass graves proved to be comfort to good-hearted Americans eager to find a reason to believe that our government did not begin a war, which has killed some 100,000 Iraqis and 1,600 American soldiers, in vain. In a visit to Iraq in the summer of 2003, then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz visited some of the mass graves. He called those who participated in the massacres "monsters," vowing that US forces would help to track down the killers (New York Times, June 4, 2003). Wolfowitz's declaration is more than a little confusing. This is because Iraqis know that any investigation into who was responsible for the mass graves would not only lead to the monsters in Saddam's security forces, but to the Pentagon and White House as well. An Iraqi from HRWK told us, "The US let Saddam's regime do what it did, and therefore the mass graves are also the responsibility of the United States." A quick investigation into the events twelve years before Wolfowitz's visit to Iraq, the period from which most of the mass graves date, sheds some light on why a Shiite Iraqi would make such a seemingly outrageous claim. After the first Gulf War in 1991, when the US expelled the Iraqi Army from Kuwait, US forces stopped short of going on to Baghdad, calling instead on Iraqis to overthrow Saddam. The Iraqi Shiites responded, rising up against Saddam en masse, expecting to receive US support. Much to the Shiites' horror, US troops instead stood by and watched as Saddam mercilessly crushed the uprising. Richard A. Clark, former National Coordinator for Security and Counter-Terrorism and longtime member of the National Security Council Staff, explains that the US allowed this because other Arab nations did not "want to see the Shi'a Muslim majority take over Iraq and set up a pro-Iranian regime" (Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror [New York: Free Press, 2004], p. 66). Our host from HRWK stated that many residents of Karbala saw US planes flying above Saddam's helicopters as they used chemical weapons to put down the uprising. The Iraqi security forces also rounded up thousands in mass detentions in a further effort to quell the uprising, taking them to locations outside the cities, where they were shot and buried. But that's not all. The US bears responsibility for other mass graves as well, this time even more directly. When convoys of Iraqi troops were retreating from Kuwait along the lone desert highway back to Basra in Iraq, US aircraft bombed the defenseless soldiers mercilessly. As a result of such "turkey shoots," an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Iraqis were killed. An additional 15,000 to 25,000 Iraqi troops were killed in the four days of combined air and ground attacks. A Defense Intelligence Agency official noted that an exact death toll was difficult to determine because, "the guys in the field just weren't counting. . . . They just poured them into common graves and covered them" (New York Times, July 7, 1991). Because Wolfowitz served during the first Gulf War as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, his vow to find the "monsters" responsible for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis found in the mass graves would have made a bit more sense to Iraqis had he included himself and his colleagues at the Pentagon on the list of those to be hunted. News from Local Chapters
Madison: They had planned to hold a silk-screening party to create MESJ t-shirts. But when the t-shirts didn't arrive in time, the Madison chapter held a discussion about Christianity and feminism instead. The June 18 discussion touched on: differences between the few examples of women in the Book of Mormon and the women highlighted during Christ's ministry, patriarchy, revelations, past and present prophets, and conservativism.
Out of the Best Books by Robert Poort (Las Vegas, NV) Editor's note: The scriptures encourage us to "seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom" (D&C 88:118). In that spirit, we invite readers to submit reviews of enlightening or inspiring books about the intersection of faith and social activism.
How to Find Your Political Voice and Become a Catalyst for Change by MoveOn.org We set high standards for the things we love. Because we love our country--our freedoms, our diversity, and our traditions--we strive to help our country to be its best. We feel blessed to live in a country where we have the freedom to speak out, the right to assemble, and the tradition of political action by ordinary citizens. Ever wondered, as a Latter-Day Saint, what you can do to become a catalyst for change? Fifty essays of social-political action, divided in the five following sections of this book will give you plenty of inspiration! The Power of Connecting illustrates how individuals and communities who share ideas and commitment to action can start, sign, and circulate petitions on the Internet, email their elected officials, arrange to meet with their senators, create online media, and research and disseminate candidate information. Every Vote Counts gives examples of how to further one of the most important actions we take as citizens- by ensuring that our electoral process works, registering voters in innovative ways (including voters often ignored by politicians), and improving voter turnout. The Many Faces of the Media explores a crucial influence on our political system and public opinion; how to become informed media consumers, how to provide several kinds of input to the traditional media, how to counter spin, and even how to create our own media. Political Action is Personal tells the stories of people actively involved in politics, whether supporting bills, starting initiative measures, volunteering in election campaigns, hosting political house parties, donating money, running for office, or developing a fresh campaign strategy. Personal Action is Political introduces a broad array of creative steps that people have taken to contribute to the political dialogue, such as expressing political views through art or fashion, engaging in community service, choosing a job in politics, attending a rally or city council meeting, and forming a political salon The Church has called us to become "full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs," and nobody than President Hinckley himself has set a better example of how to go about it! As no Church president before, President Hinckley has been a "full participant" in the five broad areas of social-political action as discussed in this book, and what an inspiring example he is to all of us! As a grassroots organization MESJ hopes to become a catalyst for change
by supporting and emphasizing prophetic calls for social justice. As individual
Latter-Day Saints, let's move from opinion to conviction, from passiveness
into action, as this book suggests. Our reluctance to get going certainly
seems to be a focus of prophetic concern. President Spencer W.Kimball
didn't waste too many words to convey just that: "Do It," "Do
It Now!"
Sunday School Notebook
At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph prayed "that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power" to bear glad tidings and to do the Lord's work (D&C 109:22-23). How can the spiritual strength and guidance available from participating in temple ordinances make me a more effective advocate for social justice? In D&C 45:66-69, as part of a vision of the last days, the Lord says that Zion will be a "land of peace," "the only people that shall not be at war one with another." When nations and peoples are, in fact, at war with one another, in what practical ways can I stand for peaceful alternatives?
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