51 Christian Faith Leaders Smack Down Republicans By Supporting Obama on Iran

[DonViejo]

By: Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Tuesday, August, 25th, 2015, 6:30 pm

While Republicans voice ever more strident opposition to President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, seeming to have no other suggestion than bombing yet another country and triggering a third Middle East war in little more than a decade, more and more groups have come forward to support the president, including, recently, 70 nuclear nonproliferation experts.

The latest is a group of 51 Christian leaders, who represent dozens of Christian denominations and organizations. In a letter to Congress today, they voiced their support of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as the best means of keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of Iran.

Their letter reads as follows:

Dear Member of Congress:

As Christian leaders in the United States, we are writing to urge you to vote in support of the negotiated settlement over Iran’s nuclear program. We live by God’s call to “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14). After decades of hostility, the international community has crafted a nuclear accord to limit Iran’s nuclear program and prevent the United States from moving closer toward another devastating war in the Middle East.

The July 2015 diplomatic agreement with Iran will dramatically shrink and impose unprecedented constraints on Iran’s nuclear program. In exchange, the international community will begin to lift sanctions on Iran. It also establishes the most robust monitoring and inspection regime ever negotiated to verify Iran’s compliance with the restrictions on its nuclear program.

As Christians, we feel called to speak out for the possibility of peace. As faith leaders from the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons in war, we have a particular responsibility to speak boldly when opportunities arise that lead to nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation at home and around the world. This historic accord moves us one small step closer to a world free of nuclear weapons.

This agreement helps de-escalate tension in a region that is already suffering the effects of war and violence in ways unimaginable to most of us in the United States. It is also a testament to the effectiveness of diplomacy to take countries from the brink of war and resolve concerns peacefully.

This is a moment to remember the wisdom of Jesus who proclaimed from the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5-9). This agreement moves us further away from the possibility of war and another nuclear-armed nation. There is no question we are all better off with this deal than without it. Rejection of this deal would be a rejection of the historic progress our diplomats have made to make this world a safer place.

The stakes on this matter have never been higher. That is why more than forty national organizations, including more than a dozen faith-based groups, wrote a letter earlier this year urging lawmakers to vote in support of this deal. The groups noted that this “will be among the most consequential national security votes taken by Congress since the decision to authorize the invasion of Iraq.”

As people of faith, we urge you to support the international agreement with Iran and reject legislation to undermine the deal. We will be praying for you.

-snip-

It is interesting that while Sen. Tom Cotton (who can’t find Tehran on a map) claimed today that “Harry Reid wants to deny the American people a voice entirely by blocking an up-or-down vote on this terrible deal,” while himself ignoring the many voices raised in support of the Iran nuclear deal, like the letter here.

Obviously, it is too much to hope that this letter, or any number of letters from the various groups that have expressed support for peace, will have any effect on Republicans in Congress. What letters like this do accomplish is to unite those in opposition to war, and to make public the broad support diplomacy enjoys in this war-weary nation. It puts Republicans on notice that their decisions will be remembered, and in future elections, come back to haunt them.

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/25/religious-wont-actual-christians-support-iran-deal.html

[roguevalley]

1. bravo. some people actually live their religion.

[cleanhippie]

2. Sadly, it seems to be the ones that live their religion most fervently

are the ones we are most concerned about blowing people up, cutting off peoples heads, bombing abortion clinics, protesting funerals, changing laws to allow discrimination, etc., etc.

Pardon me if I don't share your enthusiasm.

[cleanhippie]

3. Like this?

Kentucky Clerk: It's My Job To Tell Gays They're Going To Hell
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Wednesday, 8/26/2015 1:20 pm

As we reported, local Kentucky official Casey Davis said in a radio interview earlier this week that he will defy a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples even “if it takes my life.”

The Casey County clerk also told West Virginia radio host Tom Roten on Monday that he believes that, as a Christian, he should be exempt from performing such job duties because his religion requires him to not only oppose same-sex marriage but also to tell gay people that they are going to Hell unless they repent and get washed in “the blood of Jesus Christ.”

“When you stand for what’s right and when you tell someone of the danger that they are in, and I think that when a person lives a lifestyle of sin whether it is homosexuality or drunkenness or drug addiction or adultery or thievery or any kind of sin that you continue in or live in, you are endangering yourself of spending eternity in Hell,” Davis said. “So in my view of what the Bible says, when you’re truly loving someone, you stand and you lovingly tell them, ‘This is not the way to Heaven, this is not the way of right.’”

Davis continued to claim that he is the victim of religious persecution: “I think that this is a war on Christianity, I think same-sex marriage just simply brought it to the surface, but it is a war on Christianity.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/kentucky-clerk-its-my-job-tell-gays-theyre-going-hell

Yeah, that people 'live their religion' sure is a good thing, huh?















In case it's need for the sarcasm impaired.

[UrbScotty]

4. This is a Democratic forum.

The article talks about supporting a Democratic president.

You have a problem with people using religion to promote peace?

As for your bit about Kentucky: