[12.00 GMT] Hostages' group urges US pullout (Ottowa Sun); Call to action issued to Jim Loney's supporters. By David Helwig (SooToday.com); New unit investigating Iraq kidnappings (CBC News) - the story claims that "details are emerging", but gives none. It has the appearance of yet more saloon bar gossip. Also wrongly calls the CPTers "aid workers", as does Premier Radio, which has been asked to change this. Friends pray for Indo-Canadian abducted in Iraq (Hindustan Times). [Pic: Missing CPTer Harmeet Singh Sooden on a farm outside Jenin, Palestine, where he was helping to plant olive trees. Click for more pictures]

[02.27 GMT] Sooden family know nothing of Iraq negotiator abduction claim, Ekklesia, 18/12/05; Christian Peacemakers say they will carry on their work, Ekklesia, 18/12/05; Petition reaches 50,000 - Freethecaptivesnow.org. This weekend CPT launched an ‘urgent action’ to encourage their supporters to contact US politicians and congressional representatives in advance of a speech which President Bush will make on Iraq policy today at 21.00 EST (-5 hours GMT) from the White House Oval Office.

[278.1] IN THE WAY AT GUANTANAMO

Sister Anne Montgomery, an associate of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, reads outside the "Witness Against Torture" camp at the military zone boundary near the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 13 December 2005. The 79-year-old Sacred Heart sister has been among some 25 American activists who are praying and fasting to protest against the treatment of alleged terror suspects held at Guantanamo. Since 12 December they have been camped at a Cuban military checkpoint five miles from the US base. (Catholic News Service photo from Reuters) Full story here. See backstory on: Christian peacemakers demand entry to Guantanamo Bay 14/12/05

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[20.40 GMT] Saturday statement from Christian Peacemaker Teams. By David Helwig, (SooToday.com); Sooden's family speaks of 'burden'. By Tim Hume (Stuff.co.nz, due 18/12/05); CPT IRAQ URGENT ACTION: Provide Support for Democratic Rebuttal on Opposition to the War; U.S. nun among protesters against treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. By Regina Linskey, Catholic News Service (Catholic Explorer); Material by other networks covering the situation: Ekklesia, Electronic Iraq, Harmeet Sooden Support Page, Resource Site on Tom Fox, Free the Captives, International Solidarity Movement, Beirut IndyMedia.

[14.30 GMT] People are asking about the hostage-negotiator-kidnapped story. At this stage, I can add nothing more than what's in the reports below. Except to observe that in the dangerous and rumour-filled world of abductions in Iraq, it seems best not to feed allegations unless they have at least two or three strong backers from known, reliable sources. Nothing of that kind has yet emerged on this one. But that doesn't stop news agencies spreading it. Meanwhile, back to the business of working and praying for a positive resolution of the CPT kidnappings, and others too. SB.

[13.35 GMT] Toronto Star silent about disputed Iraq hostage claim. By David Helwig, SooToday.com, 17/12/05.

[UPDATE 02.45 GMT] Lack of evidence for Iraq negotiator abduction claim, Ekklesia, 17/12/05. David Helwig, a reporter for SooToday online in Sault Ste. Marie, where captive Iraq CPTer Jim Loney is from, has also questioned the Toronto Star story, first in Think-tank refutes report about another abduction in Iraq (originally Conflicting reports about another abduction in Iraq). The Google newsfeed trail on this story is here. About 15 sources have syndicated it so far.]

[277.1] LOOKING BEYOND THE ABYSS

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided people." (Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963)

"What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?" Ronald J. Sider

Latest material from the Oxford Research Group: The Politics of War (International Security Monthly Briefing). ORG has published a vital new report on Iraqi Liberation? Towards an Integrated Strategy. This discussion document draws on the expertise of an international high-level consultative panel, including British, Iraqi, Middle Eastern and American experts from the military, foreign service, intelligence community and civil society. It brings together seven key elements of a positive alternative strategy for Iraqi stabilisation and development.

I.B. Tauris has published the ORG International Security Report 2005, Iraq and the War on Terror: Twelve Months of Insurgency, 2004/2005 by Professor Paul Rogers.

See also the provocative collected writings of Independent journalist Robert Fisk, including War is the total failure of the human spirit, by Justin Podur.

[Picture, the late Sue Rhodes, Christian Peacemaker Teams]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[00.15 GMT] Last night's and this morning's news has mostly been taken up by a story from Canada that an anoymous local Iraqi negotiator has made contact with Swords of Truth Brigades, but has now ben missing since 8 December and is believed kidnapped. Ekklesia has it on good advice that there is no substance to this on either counts, but it has morphed across the web with predictable speed and little interest in fact-checking. Only one of the four core sources we queried about corroboration has even bothered to reply. True or not, it seems to fulfil the criteria for "news" when there is none. Meanwhile: Seattle couple recall man seized in Iraq. "He's a kind, gentle person," Christie Schmid says of Jim Loney (Seattle Post-Intelligencer).

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[276.2] THE STATURE OF WAITING

"Without the painful waiting, the joyful waiting could not be so. The biblical depiction of Advent is not a one-sided, easy anticipation; it is an anxious, hopeful, slightly fearful waiting, a knowledge of the danger ahead, of the challenges currently faced… but also of the tremendous opportunity coming - of the hope that waits on the doorstep." (Awake To Dream)

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[13.00 GMT] Related to CPT, the captives and Iraq - Iraq hostage negotiator story denied (Ekklesia, 16/12/05) Love your enemies: Peace activist Tom Fox has lived in Baghdad by the words of Jesus. Now he faces murder by terrorists. Was his mission in vain? By Michelle Goldberg (Salon.com); Heroism With a Difference. By Geov Parrish (Seattle Weekly); A Mission of Peace and Peril (With four colleagues kidnapped, a Minnesota activist is poised to return to Iraq. She goes to bear witness to those struggling with violence. By Stephanie Simon, LA Times); Peace on earth: Christmas, the captives and dialogue with Mulsims and Jews (Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith Relations, National Council of Churches USA); Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem slams West Bank separation fence (Haaretz/AP); An open letter written by the secret trial detainees held in Toronto, and sent to Arab media outlets around the world; Fighting for peace (Japan Baptist); On Earth Peace programme (Church of the Brethren). Also see regular OpenDemocracy columns by Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Bradford University and a consultant to the Oxford Research Group. The second edition of his book Losing Control has just been published by Pluto Press.

[10.57 GMT] Latest on CPT captive situation and related - Fears 'unfounded' for Iraq hostage negotiator (Ekklesia, 16/12/05) and Iraq hostage negotiator is missing, source says. By Michelle Shephard (Toronto Star); Christian Peacemaker Team's Kidnapping: Who Did It? By Gene Stoltzfus (Common Dreams, via his weblog); The day Iraqis have waited for. By Zaid Salah, and Victory in Iraq? By Paul Rogers, inaugural professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford (both OpenDemocracy); The Bogus Blurring of Terrorism and Insurgency in Iraq. By Norman Solomon (Truthout) Honour prevails: McCain, Bush and torture (Idaho Mountain Express opinion); Talk about something serious (Elkhart Truth); Peace group prays for hostage’s safe return (London CPT, inc. Tim Nafziger quote, Hampstead and Highgate Express).

[276.1] LIVING WITH CONTRADICTIONS

God bless our contradictions, those parts of us which seem out of character.
Let us be boldly and gladly out of character.
Let us be creatures of paradox and variety; creatures of contrast,
of light and shade, creatures of faith.
God be our constant.
Let us step out of character into the unknown,
to struggle and love and do what we will.

© Michael Leunig, Common Prayer Collection

[Thanks for the link from St-Matthew-in-the-City, whose vicar - Glynn Cardy - has also contributed this valuable comment on the first Narnia film, Why the Lion isn’t safe]

Picture: Members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, from left, Jill Pritchard-Scott, Father Bob Holmes, Arunthathy Ratnasingham and Lyn Adamson hold candles during a vigil in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday, 10 December 2005. (AP Photo/CP, © Aaron Harris)

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[00.30 GMT] Search goes on for missing Christian peace workers 16/12/05; UK envoy remains hopeful on Iraq captives 16/12/05 (both Ekklesia); 'High turnout' in Iraqi election ; New 'torture jail' found in Iraq (BBC).

[00.01 GMT] They pray at the gates of Guantanamo, by Ron Ferguson of the Iona Community (Herald, Glasgow) ( Christian Peacemaker Teams began with a sermon in France, by Harold Jantz (Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches); Harmeet Singh Sooden: peace-maker, Christian, battler against injustice (stuff.co.nz). Mennonite World Conference appeal from 07/12. Don't Bomb Us - A weblog by Al Jazeera Staffers (including this earlier appeal for the captives). Message of support from the Peasant Association of Cimitarra River Valley - ACVC Colmbia. David Cook: The Story Of Tom Fox (The Chattanoogan).

[Iraq captives update, 20.49 GMT] Gene Stoltzfus, a pivotal figure in Christian Peacemaker Teams, has his own weblog - Peace Talk - here. Worth comparing the poorly researched criticism circulating in articles like this. Against which, see: Living non-violence not for the weak,
by Nicole Langlois (London Free Press). Peace activist 'was betrayed by spy', Colin Freeman in Baghdad (Daily Telegraph) - pursuing the theory promulgated elsewhere on the web. Waiting for News: Days after deadline expires, friends of Tom Fox still hope for a peaceful resolution, by Amber Healy (Great Falls Connection). Muslims pray for hostages (CNews). The endless looting of Iraq, by Ghali Hassan (Online Journal).

[275.2] DE-COLONISING THE PEWS

The BBC had a special news feature on ‘filling the pews’ (or emptying them!) in London yesterday. The first section focussed on the sexuality argument, with the Anglican Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, on film, and the Rev Joel Edwards (head of the Evangelical Alliance) and my esteemed colleague Jonathan Bartley from Ekklesia (pictured) in the studio. You can watch it via dial-up or broadband here until the end of the week – the first segment is straight after the weather forecast, appropriately enough. Hmmnnn... What was that Gospel saying about “the Spirit blows where it wills, and we know not where it comes from or where it goes”?

Anyway, it is a good encounter between Jon and Joel. Of course the stock premise of the interview, the interviewer and the film that precedes it is that those who oppose affirming lesbian and gay people in the church must have the Bible on their side, and that those who are inclusive must want to throw it out. Similarly, the media ‘script’ says that all evangelicals are on one side, and the ‘other side’ is made up of people called ‘liberals’.

Rooted in the radical discipleship tradition, one of the things we try to do on Ekklesia is to upset these false and settled assumptions. As on slavery, women, peace and war and much else, the issue is not about knock-down arguments buttressing unassailed rightness. It is about how Christians interpret their texts and traditions (and each other), how they are persuaded – and how they often discover that what they thought was ‘plain’ is actually more demanding than the first or surface reading suggests. That is, it concerns not only our theories about "received wisdom", but how we live and with what kind of responsiveness to the transcendent down-to-earthness of God.

Faithful reading and re-reading in context, through evolving communal understanding, critical reflection, and seeking the way of Jesus in the light of the Spirit isn’t, therefore, some “modern fad” or “easy option”. It’s actually the procedure of traditional Christianity, before that term was hijacked by what David Jenkins calls “certainty wallahs”, and by a fundamentalist refusal of the openness of the text – a stance which actually owes more to dogmatic nineteenth century rationalism than to the God of the Bible who is revealed in the vulnerability of flesh, narrative and sacrifical love.

It is this traditioned view (as I would put it, to distinguish from the rejectionist variety) which leads many of us to believe that the exclusion of gay people from full participation as baptised members of the Body of Christ is not just wrong on grounds of some abstract contemporary notion of rights, but wrong as a statement about the identity of Jesus' companions and the way this identity is apprehended in the prophetic biblical tradition -- which speaks of a changing future, not a fixed past. Not that it’s easy to put that into a sound-bite on TV. But Jonathan always does a pretty good job of it, I reckon.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[04.00 GMT] This from Salt Lake Tribune - an interview with Will Van Wagenen, “a Salt Lake City native who recently returned from four months in Iraq working with [Tom] Fox and other members of the nonprofit Christian Peacemaker Teams.” Street Corner Society also quotes two other CPTers. One is founder Gene Stoltzfus. See Retired CPT director worried about detainees in Baghdad, by Heather Ogilvie, in the Fort Frances Times.

[275.1] SAYING NO TO CAESAR'S "PEACE"

"John Dominic Crossan, I believe, reminded us that Caesar was called the Prince of Peace, and that the [meaning] in naming Jesus the Prince of Peace was to send a message to the Romans that peace is not the outcome of beating others into submission, but is the result of making peace first, not as the quiet between the wars." [more]

Lorcan Otway, writing on Hopeful Imagination - an Advent weblog

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[19.00 GMT]. Very little news. Former kidnap victims share anguish (Globe and Mail). Three British Muslims killed in Iraq identified (Muslim News). For those who have not heard it, this is the radio interview with Dr Norman Kember first broadcast on Premier (press release with excerpts here), a London-based Christian radio station on 11 November 2005. (The reference to him being an 'aid' worker is incorrect). It was repeated, in English and in a specially commissioned Arabic translation, on Al-jazeera last week. Christian Peacemaker Teams archive and resources on the kidnap situation. FoR latest. Pax Christi prayer and action leaflet (*.PDF).

[14.12 GMT]: All quiet ahead of Iraq vote (CBS); Report on UK anti-war conference; Canadian Muslim envoy returns empty-handed; Al-jazeera - inundated with appeals for the hostages; British Satellite News vigil report; Christian peacemakers demand entry to Guantanamo Bay 14/12/05

[02.03 GMT] Canadian churches pray for missing peace activists, 14/12/05. Islamic Army in Iraq link to peace activist hostages confirmed (The Jawa Report - mix of information and speculation, from a source with a particular sceptical POV.) Hostage believed peace mission was worth the risk.

[274.1] LEARNING TO PUT OURSELVES IN THE WRONG

For those who only occasionally drop into FinS (and perhaps more so for those who do so regularly), I feel slightly apologetic that the overwhelming number of posts recently have concerned the Iraq hostage situation -- where we are now into an agonising and predictable waiting game. I hope you will understand why, but things will return to 'normal' in due course. Not that our perception of normality should remain undisturbed by such events.

One or two people have also asked me about the various criticisms of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) creeping their way across the blogosphere. Well, of course, moral courage should not silence critical judgement, and there are serious issues to confront about the stance, location and tactics of "violence reduction by getting in the way". The fact that I share CPT's commitment to Christian non-violence certainly does not mean that I wish to ignore these challenges. But there are times and places. The present moment is, for me, one of solidarity and petition. Johan Maurer sums it up well in his reference to 'borrowed time', though I have found myself that the infusion of prayerful indwelling with journalistic advocacy has been liberating, even when it has meant living on the edge of despair.

Those of you who know me (or have read earlier comments of mine on this subject) will also realise that I am not uncritical of the general anti-war movement, even as I find myself keeping company with it. There is a politically lazy and morally easy self-righteousness involved in much of the rhetoric against the overthrow of Saddam's nightmarish rule which does little justice to those who suffered under his yolk, to the 65-71 per cent of Iraqis who now say that -- in spite of the conflict and chaos -- they feel better off, or to what I would call the involved depth of "the difficult peace of Christ". Christian non-violence cannot legitimately refuse facts or deny responsibility. But for those of us who see it as central to the Gospel, it remains a vital testimony to that vulnerable possibility revealed in the words, deeds, death and risen life of Jesus which is otherwise silenced and destroyed by the soteriology of taking arms. Of course this does not abolish either the ambiguity and compromise of the world, or the moral integrity of those who feel compelled to stand against injustice in other ways. But it does ask, "in what or whom do we really trust?"

More of that later, perhaps. I can certainly reference other material I have been writing in this area (search under 'peace' and 'disturbing'). In the meantime, by way of a photoshop experiment which hopefully shows that we can smile and be serious simultaneously [above], I am extremely grateful to Methodist minister Dave Warnock for providing links to these ten extraordinary podcasts by Anita David, a CPTer in Iraq.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[273.2] REDEMPTION BY LETHAL INJECTION?

[Update 11.28 GMT] Williams was executed this morning. His family and supporters say they will continue to work to clear his name. They say the decision was political, not evidence-based.

There are many lamentable things about the notion of a country deeming itself "Christian", or in the case of the United States (which I love, and from where my beloved wife and her family hail) being co-opted by self-appointed "moral majorities". The main problem is that their colonisation of faith usually renders it nonsense, and self-deceptive nonsense at that. This is well illustrated by the sad case of governor 'Terminator' Arnold Schwarzenegger and reformed Crips gang leader 'Tookie' Williams, who is about to die by lethal injection in the next few hours. The full report is here, but the following comments, juxtaposed, say it all for me.

The Los Angeles district attorney's office has said of Williams: “There can be no redemption... and there should be no mercy.”

Alex Kirby, a religious analyst for the BBC, says: “Oddly, for a country as obsessed with religious observance as the US, the Christian argument seems almost an afterthought. If it were central, the district attorney's statement would have to be withdrawn, because in traditional Christian theology everybody is eligible for redemption.”

(Kirby gets the rest of his theology of redemption, forgiveness and conversion slightly tangled after this, but I won't get into that right now. See, among others, Walter Wink, Jesus and Non-violence: A Third Way; When the Powers Fall: Reconciliation in the Healing of Nations.)

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[273.1] ONE IS STANDING AMONG YOU WHOM YOU DO NOT KNOW

Thanks to Maggi Dawn for this, and for her succinct reflection on the history, liturgy and calling of Advent: "This Gaudete Sunday, I – like many others – [had] the image of Norman Kember and other hostages in my mind: the waiting, the already-not-yet taking on a particularly poignant intensity because of the plight of these Christian peacemakers who are in danger. Let’s pray today for all who wait and hope for release from oppression and fear.

Into the darkness of this world,
Into the shadows of the night,
Into this loveless place you came,
lightened our burden, eased our pain,
and made these hearts your home.
Into the darkness once again,
Oh Come, Lord Jesus, Come. (c) 1993 Thankyou Music

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[23.25 GMT] Cardinal joins pleas for Iraq peace workers, 12/12/05

[16.26 GMT] Praying for a miracle amid Iraq hostage silence, 12/12/05

[272.2] WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE WAITING FOR?

An advent reflection....

The season of Advent is one of waiting in nervous anticipation for genuine hope to be made available. For Christians the shape of that hope is known to be Jesus, the man-for-others, who gives up a throne for a crib and a crown for a cross.

It is in his most vulnerable humanity (and ours) that the truth of God is known – a truth that invites us towards, but does not force upon us, transformation and community in the midst of fragmentation and contingency.

Real Advent hope is therefore realism not fantasy, a beginning not an end. The world is broken, bruised and tortured, it tells us. And so are we. Yet what lies in and beyond the terrifying freedom of the universe and its ‘thinking reeds’ is a love which embraces and sustains more than we could ever describe, a love which is available to us without fear or favour, often in the most unlikely form. [Full article here]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[06.05 GMT] SILENCE IN IRAQ: (BBC) Friends and family of Norman Kember have endured an agonising wait for news. Chris Cole, director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, of which the pensioner is a trustee, said: "We are looking for a miracle at this stage." Bruce Kent, a friend of Mr Kember for 15 years, said: "I haven't given up hope at all. They may be working on some way of getting off the hook without losing face.It's quite possible they may be preparing a video to say why they are releasing them."

Today: All faiths candlelit vigil in London for Norman Kember, 6-7pm

[272.1] A BEATITUDE FOR MISSING FRIENDS

Officials and families seek news on Iraq Christian peace workers 12/12/05, 01.30 GMT
News on the continuing search, comment from a Canadian security expert, differing views on the implications of the captors' silence, and an update from Jim Loney's home parish in Ontario. [01.35GMT, Gulf Daily News: An Iraqi insurgent group claimed the kidnapping of four Iranians on a religious mission to the war-torn country, according to a video shown on the Al Arabiya channel. "Initial investigation confirmed they were dispatched on an official mission by the hawza (religious authority) in Qom," said the channel's anchorman, reading a statement from a group called the Saad bin Abi Waqas Brigades.]

Here is another support from Friends United Meeting, USA.

This litany of the Beatitudes was composed by Jim before the first Gulf War (thanks to CPT and Mennonite Church USA):

Let us pray – You have learned how it is said

Love your neighbour and hate your enemy

But I say this to you who are listening...

Love your enemies

Do good to those who hate you

Bless those who curse you

Be compassionate

Judge not

Do not condemn

Grant pardon

Because the amount you measure out

Is the amount you will be given back

Let everything you do

Be done in love

Blessed are the poor

For theirs is the kingdom of God

Blessed are they who mourn now

For they will be comforted

Blessed are the meek

For they will inherit the earth

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice

For they will be satisfied

Blessed are the merciful

For they will be shown mercy

Blessed are the pure in heart

For they will see God

Blessed are the peacemakers

For they will be called the daughters and sons of God

Blessed are they who are persecuted because of righteousness

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Pic on this and the last three posts c/o CPT

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[271.2] KEMBER VIGIL IN LONDON ON MONDAY

At St Martin's-in-the-Field, Trafalagar Square, London, from 18:00-19:00, tomorrow evening. Details on Independent Catholic News, and later today on Ekklesia. People are also asked to maintain a period of quiet and prayer at midday, daily.

13.05 GMT. A representative of the Iraqi government has told the BBC that, in the absence of further news, attempts to secure the release of the four CPTers and the two other abductees continues, but that the kidnap gang are "an unknown group" with whom there has been no direct contact. The Iraqi prime minister has said that the insurgents who have continued kidnapping and killing across the country are composed of three factions - Saddamists, militants from outside the country, and "those who think that all except themselves are interlopers."

A full briefing on CPT can be found here.

Further prayer vigil information; Mennonite Church USA Peace and Justice Support Network. Mennonite Church Canada. UK vigils - Fellowship of Reconciliation. Pax Christi (*.PDF).

See also Observer Focus: the race against time in Iraq - How the Muslim world battled for the life of Norman Kember. A good background piece by Jamie Doward, who quotes my colleague Jonathan Bartley. And this piece by Michelle Naar Obed, who knows two of the captives personally.

Petition for the release of the four.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[271.1] PRAYING THAT NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

Jesus said: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." (Matthew 5. 44)

[Sunday 02.10 GMT, Ekklesia] As the deadline set by the unidentified captors of four Christian peacemakers passed with no further news last night, the anxious vigil of families, friends and supporters across the world went on – and the lobbying to have them set free continued. [Picture via CPT. Others here]

The Rev Alan Betteridge, a friend of the abducted Dr Norman Kember, also a member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship, said yesterday: "My worry is, how do the captors extricate themselves from this, without losing face?"

He continued: "Either they lose face if they free them, or they are really out on a limb if they execute them. Somebody has to find a way to let them out of this."

However, Mr Betteridge, a retired minister from Coventry, said he was still hopeful "because of the concerted voice from the Muslim world". [full story and links here]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[270.3] Iraq lastest, 18.15 GMT: Hope continues as Iraq captive deadline looms 10/12/05.

[270.2] ANOTHER ADVENT TODAY?

See this fine article (Advent hope for Iraq, captives and Limbaugh) from Sojourners' web editor Ryan Beiler.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[270.1] WHY ALL HEARTS ARE SACRED

Last year Jim Loney, who is currently a hostage in Iraq, wrote a piece in Catholic New Times on the Sacred Heart [full text here, thanks to my father-in-law, Willard Roth], something he once saw as "saccharine-soaked images of Jesus staring into the blue with puppy-dog eyes." Then he re-visioned the icon of Mary and Jesus through the lens of those torn apart by the lesions of the world, and especially a scratched version of the image at Auschwitz. On seeing that, he writes:

"I fell in love with the Sacred Heart that day. I see it now as a profound meditation on human freedom, on the disarming power of the disarmed life. When we know who we are, a no-matter-what loved child of God, then we cannot but love in that same no-matter-what way, without condition or limit or fear. When we lay down our weapons (whatever they be - the desire to punish, or an inter-continental nuclear missile) and open wide our hearts, we become truly free, a Sacred Heart ready to embrace anyone, do anything, go anywhere.

"Perhaps old Leo XIII was on to something after all when he "solemnly consecrated" all humankind to the Sacred Heart on June 11, 1899. He called it "the great act" of his pontificate. Perhaps history would be a little different if we all took the Sacred Heart to heart. "

More articles by Jim Loney are registered here.

**Latest on Iraq: Embattled Hezbollah backs Iraq 'doves of peace' 09/12/05. See also: Bishop challenges religious zealots over Jerusalem 10/12/05 **

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[269.3] HOW DO WE REALLY WANT TO 'EMERGE'?

Amidst the agony of waiting and hoping, one of the interesting issues that has arisen from the CPT hostage situation in Iraq is the contrast between how different sections of media (and the communities behind them) have responded to the story. Even though Christian Peacemaker Teams were on to prisoner abuse and Abu Ghraib before anyone else, the mainstream continues to ignore such groups, except when a crisis erupts.

Here in the UK, Christianity is most often only good for a story when it is being silly, when it is declining, when it is fretting about sex, or when its hierarchs are being obnoxious or clueless. The routinely extraordinary things done by groups like CPT are simply "not news" -- even when they clearly are. They just don't fit "the script".

The church media isn't much better. Indeed it is often confused and baffled by people who think that Christian faith is about life transformation rather than churchianity or my-personal-Saviour. A deep commitment to the way of Christ that involves a refusal of violence, the embracing (rather than the haughty rejection) of 'the other', and so on, is for an eccentric minority.

As far as the abductions in Iraq are concerned, the main response of some Christian media outlets has been, in fact, to focus on accusations -- not well researched -- of "irresponsibility" against CPT. There is much church talk of 'mission' and (less often) 'discipleship', but those words are often little more than a cipher for maintaining control and doing nice, respectable things for Jesus.

The biblical tradition has a huge amount to say about peacemaking and social justice, but the Christendom church mindset sees these, at best, as add-ons. Whereas its own insecurities about identity (confusions over sexuality), authority (how to make the Bible our personal or communal weapon) and security (how we can come up with an 'emergent' or 'historic' brand to keep us in business) are what it's actually about, when the chips are down.

As we pray that the captives might emerge, we might ask ... Emergent church? Yes, but what and who really is "the Body of Christ", where has it come from, where is it going, what is it for, and what is it doing? Those remain the central questions. And the answers to them are to be found in places of endeavour, argument and suffering -- not "in church". More like, "in Baghdad".

By humbling contrast, the unexpected outpouring of Muslim respect, concern and recognition for the vocations of Tom, Harmeet, Norman and Jim in Baghdad, and the tragic plight they share with haundreds of abductees in a vortex of oppression and violence, has been noticeable. Of course, Islam has its own major issues with religiously sanctioned revenge. But what the Iraq hostage saga has shown is that there is another way of seeing and acting that people of good faith (whether they are 'believers', humanists, secularists or whatever) recognise as authentic -- if a little crazy -- when they see it.

The excerpt below is from Mark DeVine, writing on Ekklesia and in the marvellous Mother Jones. Among other things, he suggests that the secular left has something to learn from CPT, just as CPT (with all its faults) has been willing to work with, and learn from, others.

My last images of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Baghdad was of their holding a vigil in Tahrir Square to protest against the detention and mistreatment of Iraqis by the US military in Abu Ghraib. This was in late March 2004, months before anyone in the United States had even heard of Abu Ghraib, or bothered to consider how our armed forces were treating detainees in the war on terror. But CPT knew full well what was going on in Abu Ghraib--that's why they were in Iraq, to "witness" the realities of the occupation--and they were determined to make sure that the Iraqis saw that there were Americans, and westerners more broadly, who were willing to put their bodies on the line to protest against such abuses. It's too bad that it's taken this tragedy to get the rest of us to listen. [Full article here]

Mark LeVine is Associate Professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture and Islamic studies and author of Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld Publications, 2005). Visit Mark LeVine's website here. His article also appears in the latest Mother Jones.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[269.2] ROWAN WILLIAMS INTERVIEWED

For those who want to know "where he's at" at the moment, BBC Radio Five Live presenter Simon Mayo interviewed Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, for 35 minutes a couple of days ago. You can hear the whole thing here (in Real Audio format). Includes discussion of pretty much every current hot topic. Thanks to Thinking Anglicans for the tip. See also Williams' 'What is Christianity?' talk for a Muslim audience in Pakistan.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[269.1] HOSTAGE LATEST

UN secretary general calls for release of all Iraqi captives 09/12/05 (with updated complete list of Ekklesia news and features on this developing story, including Tom Fox's last article and weblog entry before he was captured.
Former Guantanamo Bay detainees call for release of Christian peacemakers 08/12/05
Jack Straw says he will talk on Iraq hostages 08/12/05

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[268.2] A SMALL GLIMPSE OF LIGHT

[Update: Jack Straw says he will talk on Iraq hostages 08/12/05]

Yesterday I was writing, in connection with Advent hope and the CPT hostages in Iraq: "[Though it does not happen as much as we might want, hearts can be melted. Simply dehumanizing those whose actions revile us does nothing to break the cycle of hatred, even if it makes us feel better." Later in the day the news became public that Abu Qatada, allegedly Osama Bin Laden's agent in Europe, had asked his solicitor to arrange for a TV recording in his UK prison cell (where he is being held under British terror laws) to ask the Sword of Truth Brigades to have mercy on the four abductees. Extraordinary, whatever we think of his other views and actions. Note the deadline of their threatened killing (if US and UK Iraqi detainees are not released) has been extended for 48 hours to Saturday. There is a glimpse of light in a very dark situation, though no-one should doubt the continuing gravity of it. Petition for the release of the four. Incidentally, a friend in the US said recently that the issue is much more difficult to discuss in many Christian churches, where the work done by CPT is often seen as "too controversial" or "unpatriotic". How very sad. In Britain too, some of the church media have been rather recalcitrant, to put it politely.

For reference, here (below) is the full archive of material on the kidnappings from Ekklesia. Some of these links, but by no means all, have been notified on FinS.

[Full and chronological related articles on Ekklesia: Christian Peacemaker Teams full briefing (with links to features and stories on CPT's work); Why are we here? (by CPTer Tom Fox); Abu Qatada pleas for Iraq captives as deadline is extended 08/12/05; Christians criticize UK Iraq war budget increase 08/12/05; Christian peacemakers say the work must go on 08/12/05; Last minute appeals made for Christian peacemakers 07/12/05 ; Muslim detainees plead for lives of Christian peacemakers 06/12/05; Faith groups in the US unite to back Iraq captives 06/12/05; French engineer seized in Iraq 05/12/05; Norman Kember's wife pleads for his life 04/12/05; Iraqi, Muslim and Palestinian support for peace hostages grows 04/12/05; Insurgents say they will kill Christian peacemakers 02/12/05; WCC calls for freeing of Christian peace workers 02/12/05; Vigils and messages of support for abducted peace activist 02/12/05; Palestinian bishop seeks mercy for Iraq peace workers 02/12/05; Anti-war campaigner flies to Iraq to plead for Christian peacemakers 01/12/05; Muslims urge release of Christian peacemakers missing in Iraq 01/12/05; Al-Jazeera releases film of Iraq peace hostages 30/11/05; Search goes on for Christian peacemaker kidnapped in Iraq 28/11/05. Key book: Patricia Gates-Brown (ed.), Getting in the Way: Stories from Christian Peacemaker Teams, Herald Press]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[268.1] THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL

"It is not love in the abstract that counts. Men have loved a cause as they have loved a woman. They have loved the brotherhood, the workers, the poor, the oppressed - but they have not loved [humanity]; they have not loved the least of these. They have not loved "personally." It is hard to love. It is the hardest thing in the world, naturally speaking. Have you ever read Tolstoy's Resurrection? He tells of political prisoners in a long prison train, enduring chains and persecution for the love of their brothers, ignoring those same brothers on the long trek to Siberia. It is never the brothers right next to us, but the brothers in the abstract that are easy to love."

Dorothy Day

Social activist and founder of the Catholic Worker movement. It was 25 years on 29 November since she died. Thanks to Sojourners for reminding me.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[267.2] SEEKING MERCY, FACING THREAT

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy." (Matthew 5.7)

Advent is a time of waiting. Right now, many of us are waiting rather anxiously to see if the appeals -- of religious leaders, politicians, human rights advocates, ordinary people across the world, and opponents of war and occupation -- are heeded by the little-known militant group that holds in its hands the lives of four associates of Christian Peacemaker Teams. Tomorrow (the captors' deadline) we may know more. In all probability we will not. There is likely to be further painful waiting.

In statistical terms the odds seem less than evenly stacked. But while, tragically, many of the hundreds of ordinary Iraqis who are kidnapped simply disappear or die, the 50 or so Western hostages have, on average, been better off. Rather more have been released than killed. This is, of course, scant consolation for the families and friends of Margaret Hassan, Ken Bigley and others. But it is likely to be at least a straw of hope for the loved ones of Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, James Loney and Norman Kember.

Given the situation on the ground, it is easy to be cynical about the pleas for mercy to 'Sword of Truth'. And some of my correspondents have been. One wrote: "You must live in cloud cuckoo land if you think all these pious calls for mercy will influence the psychos who go around kidnapping people in Iraq. And in the process, with all this talk of occupation and detainees, you are simply feeding the propaganda machine of Islamists. These so-called 'Christian peace makers' thought their high moral principles would make them safe. Maybe they and you will have to learn the hard way."

It's hard not to be saddened by the callous tone, and it is tempting to bin such vitriol. But this response cannot be dismissed lightly. It raises important issues. Yes, in human terms, those who kill and terrorise for their cause have hardened their hearts, often to an impenetrable degree. This is a fact that cannot be ignored. Nevertheless (and this is perhaps even more difficult for us to face than the alternative), they are not zombies. They still have a choice. Moreover, though it does not happen as much as we might want, hearts can be melted. Simply dehumanizing those whose actions revile us does nothing to break the cycle of hatred, even if it makes us feel better. We may or may not be able to avert violence and horror in particular situations. And we should be under no illusions about those who choose to live by the sword. But we too have a choice. We can still go on witnessing to a better way - the alternative cycle of peace-building-justice, for which even a small gesture of mercy or bridge-building can prove an unexpected start.

Those who work with CPT don't just believe that (as if they were acting in naive defiance of reason), they are prepared to stake their lives on it. Whatever happens next, they went to Iraq knowing that they might have to share the fate of Jesus, who they name as the source and inspiration of their hope. Maybe this is utter foolishness, but it is as far from ineffective piety as you can get. Nor is it a stance based on a sense of moral superiority. Gandhi once said that he sympathised more with those who take up arms against injustice than those who acquiesce 'peaceably' with injustice. But he went on, respectfully, to suggest that there is a better way - that of disarming love. That way is not based on thinking ourselves better than others, it is based on recognising that others have an equal claim to the life we share but do not own. This is as far from endorsing the agendas of those who use terror as is possible.

To believe, as I do, and as all four abductees do, that life is given by and returns to a God whose own disarming, transforming love is encountered in the face of Christ is to belong to a company of people who share a conviction that -- contrary to much of the way our world runs -- power and might will not have the final say. So while I agree that in our actions we must resolutely face both our capacity for grotesque inhumanity and the often fatal ambiguity of life, I am not reduced to cynicism about the CPTers. Rather I am humbled by the courage of those (of whatever faith or ideology) who are prepared, if needs be, to allow their lives to be spokes in the wheel of revenge. Whatever their fallibilities, and I am sure they have many, Tom, Harmeet, James and Norman have taken a path deserves the utmost respect.

Meanwhile, we remember them. And some of us, if we are able, pray. We do not pray to a fantasy god who we expect to render the world conveniently compliant, who is some kind of cosmic fixer on our behalf. We pray, rather, to the God who Jesus knew in Gethsemane -- the one who strangely embraces us in what looks like, and sometimes simply is, abandonment. Lord, have mercy. For we need it, desperately.

See also: Mercy in a messy world.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[267.1] MUSLIM DETAINEES BACK CHRISTIANS

In a remarkable development as the deadline set down by the captors of four Christian peacemakers in Iraq looms, three Muslim detainees who have themselves been held for years without charge have urged that the hostages be shown mercy and set free.

In a film shown by Al-Jazeera television on Friday, a group calling itself 'Sword of Truth' said they would kill their Christian hostages unless all US and UK prisoners were released by this Thursday (8th December).

However three Muslims who have been detained without charge for between four and five years in Canada have urged that they be set free.

In a statement, Mahmoud Jaballah, Mohammad Mahjoub and Hassan Almrei, who have spent as much as four years in solitary confinement, say that one of the hostages, James Loney, has worked for the freedom of Muslims who have been detained without trial in this way.

They also point out that James helped the families of the Abu Ghraib prisoners and opposed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"Some of us have spent as many as four years in solitary confinement. We are being held captive under security certificates because the government of Canada alleges we are linked to terrorist organizations and that we pose a threat to the national security of Canada." they said. Full story here.

This is another appeal from 'Mere Islam'. Further Arabic sources here.

Also read the last article and webdiary entries of detainee Tom Fox before he was abucted.

From the BBC last night: Extended Iraq hostage video aired. However, Christian Peacemaker Teams says: "[We are] concerned that the showing and the re-showing of the al-Jazeera tape dehumanizes both our team-mates and those holding them. In our media release, we have asked the media not to run it. We have refused to do TV interviews where they have wanted to use the tape."

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[266.2] PEACE WORKERS' PETITION AND POSTER

The poster (for printing, copying and spreading the news about the daily noon d-i-y prayer vigil for the Iraqi detainees) has been produced in *PDF format by Pax Christi. The new petition, promoted by Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities together is here. The background to it is indicated on Ekklesia.

Also important to note: guidance for those making spublic statements in support of the Christian Peacemaker Team detainees, which are very much encouraged at the moment.

This to the kidnappers from Lorcan Otway, a member of the committee of Ministry and Counsel for the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (also known as Quakers): "I ask you to stay your hand because you can. When you stand before your God, next to the American who wore an army uniform, next to the one who drove the tractor that killed Rachael Corrie, and our God asks each of you, why have you taken the lives of innocents, what difference will there be in your answer? When, some day, and I pray after a long life of loving works, Tom Fox [one of those abducted] stands before our God and is asked why he placed his life in your hands, I think you know his answer. Because hatred is blind and love is unconditional. "Whoever has saved a life, it will be as if he has saved the life of all [hu]mankind" (Quran 5.32)

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[266.1] FROM AMUSING TO CHALLENGING

To start on a lighter note, those following the current UK political scene might be amused by BBC's Tory leader TV trail thwarted by Jesus.

Slightly more seriously, Jonathan Bartley has a conversation about the politics of Jesus with former Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe, who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism (she is against women priests, but has discovered that Catholic Social Teaching can be a bit roug for a high Tory too!). The exchange occurs as part of Ed Stourton's In the Footsteps of Jesus on BBC Radio 4. There's a short-term internet 'listen again' feature on the relevant BBC page, though the transcript wasn't up when I last checked.

The theme of the programme is described as follows: "When the Roman Emperor Constantine had a vision of Jesus just before his victorious battle for Rome it was arguably one of the most important moments in the history of the West. It was the start of the process whereby Christianity would go from a persecuted minority to the official religion of the largest Empire the world had seen. But how did that change Jesus and his message?" Quite a bit, I think you could say...

Also relevant to this theme: God and the politicians - where next?; After absolutism: the world, the church and the papacy; Questioning political leadership; The 'which Blair?' project; Keeping the wrong kind of religion out of politics.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[265.2] THE SHOCKING REALITY OF ADVENT

There is perhaps nothing we modern people need more than to be genuinely shaken up. Where life is firm we need to sense its firmness; and where it is unstable and uncertain and has no basis, no foundation, we need to know this too and endure it. We need to recognize that we have stood on this earth in false pathos, in false security, in spiritual insanity.

For this is the message of Advent: faced with him who is the Last, the world will begin to shake. Only when we do not cling to false securities will our eyes be able to see this Last One and get to the bottom of things.

Condemned as a traitor for his opposition to Hitler, Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest, wrote this piece in a Nazi prison shortly before he was hanged in 1945.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[265.1] WEST BANK SUPPORT FOR IRAQ ABDUCTEES

Thousands of Palestinians and Iraqis across the region have been joining vigils and protests to call for the release of the four Christian Peacemaker Team activists abducted in Iraq last week. In the West bank village of Litwanyah on Fridat, Palestinian women (below) mingled pictures of Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, James Loney and Norman Kember with those of their own children and loved ones.

A group representing Muslim citizens in the United States called yesterday for the release of the four. ''Those who left the comfort of their homes to advocate for the rights of others that do not share their faith, ethnicity or language should be celebrated and honored by Muslims, not humiliated by being made captives or, God forbid, killed,'' said Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ''This is a universal human ideal and a cherished principle of Islam.''

In Iraq, the Council of Organizations of Civil Society has made an appeal to "all people who care for freedom" to support the adductees, commenting: "We have found in the CPT workers a sense of religious co-existence, (that is why the Association of Iraqi Muslim Scholars have called for the release of the four members). We also found that the CPT were doing their utmost to release Iraqi detainees. They have similar actions in other parts of the world on top of which their solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Occupied Land (as His Eminence the Mufti of Holy Jerusalem stated in his last appeal for their release).

Among the more personal responses are those by Abdurrahman R. Squires, a former US marine who converted to Islam. He has launched an Appeal for the Christian hostages in Iraq, and writes on Tom Fox's own weblog, Waiting in the Light: "I just posted an appeal for your safe release, which included a moving letter from your [Quaker] friend Lorcan Otway. Myself and many other Muslims are praying that you and your fellow CPTers are released unharmed. Contrary to popular belief, turn-the-other cheek ethics and non-violent resistence are part of our Islamic tradition as well. God bless you and the work that you do."

Friends of Fox have unveiled their own website: http://freethecaptivesnow.org/

[Additional News: Families plead for mercy (National Post, Canada); World Prays as kidnappers threaten lives (Christian Post); Norman Kember's wife pleads for his life (Ekklesia).]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[264.1] VIGILS FOR IRAQ CAPTIVES, LATEST NEWS

***Update, 19.50 - Norman Kember's wife pleads for his life ***

Forgive the emphasis on this story at the moment. It's one in which I'm personally involved. Here are some excerpts from the latest Ekklesia update (in full here). See the end for vigil info and links. Important also not to overlook the German aid worker, Susanne Ostoff (pictured left) who has also been captured - and is, for both better and worse, not getting nearly so much publicity.

Although anxiety and uncertainty about the prospects of four peace campaigners taken hostage in Iraq last week remains high, hopes for their release were given a big boost last night (3 December 2005) when five prominent Sunni Muslim groups condemned the kidnapping. The development followed the arrival in Baghdad yesterday of Anas Altikriti, a senior sponsor of the British anti-war movement and a member of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). His focus is on UK Christian Peacemaker Teams volunteer Norman Kember.

On Friday the kidnappers released a video, shown on Arabic news station Al-Jazeera, in which they threatened to kill the retired professor and his fellow hostages by Thursday unless all prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centres were released.Mr Altikriti is also due to be interviewed on al-Jazeera, which has been criticized for broadcasting the two kidnap videos of the captives.But the independent news service, which President Bush allegedly told British PM Tony Blair he wanted to destroy, has also published Islamic support for the CPT hostages, and has publicised a worldwide petition for their release.

The National Council of Churches USA has joined the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical and denominational groups in calling for the peace workers to be freed. They have also criticised the occupation and called for moves to withdraw US and allied troops.Mostly, Christian groups have decided to take a back-seat in the quest for release, recognising that Muslim voices (including, in Britain, the Muslim Council of Britain as well as MAB) are those that most need to be heard.

CPT is, however, encouraging groups to organize public candlelight prayer vigils throughout the coming week highlighting the messages “Love your Enemies”, “End the Occupation” and “Release the Peacemakers.”

Christian Peacemaker Teams, a global pro-active violence reduction initiative, is supported by the Mennonite Church USA and the Mennonite Church Canada. It has a UK network which is a partner of Ekklesia, the religious think tank. CPT works ecumenically with Protestants and Catholics, but also resources volunteers of other faith and no faith. It has specifically helped equip Muslim peacemakers. Sami Rasuli, is a member of the Muslim Peacemaker Team which was founded in Iraq in conjunction with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. He was recently interviewed here from Najaf.

The non-missionary CPT has been operating in Iraq since 2002, and has had a presence in Gaza and the West Bank for the past decade. It has previously worked in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Bosnia.

A full briefing on CPT can be found here

Prayer vigil information; Mennonite Church USA Peace and Justice Support Network. UK vigils - Fellowship of Reconciliation.

[Also on Ekklesia: Christian peacemakers say coalition force causes Iraqi violence; Muslims urge release of Christian peacemakers missing in Iraq; Christian peace activists launch in the UK; Christian peacemakers advised to leave Iraq; Vigils and messages of support for abducted peace activist; Palestinian bishop seeks mercy for Iraq peace workers]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[263.1] THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING HELD

Last month, Tom Fox [one of the four CPT workers kidnapped in Iraq] helped lead one of the team's more gruelling missions, helping 19 Palestinian refugees who were trying to migrate to Syria because of rising animosity against Palestinians in post-Hussein Iraq. Team members rode with the Palestinians to the Syrian border and camped with them in the desert for a portion of the five weeks it took to get the refugees entry. Fox, who is tall and thin, later joked that the trip had been a great weight-loss programme.

In Baghdad, the team lives at a nondescript downtown apartment building and shares chores in what feels like a group house for aging college students. Last month, after fixing a dinner of pasta and salads for the team and a visiting reporter, Fox offered a variation on the traditional mealtime prayer of thanks and blessing.

"Let's take a moment to meditate about journeys," he said. "We're all on journeys."

Fox's team members expressed anguish on Wednesday about where their peacemaking journey has taken him and his fellow hostages. (A Perilous Peace Trek)

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who say no to war as a means to peace.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who are committed to disarm weapons of mass destruction.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who wage peace at great personal cost.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who challenge and confront judges, courts and prisons.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who bring hope to those who are hurting.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who befriend perfect strangers.

Blessed are you peacemakers,
who open doors for acting justly,
loving tenderly and walking humbly with God

And all people of good will.

[From Pax Christi’s Prayers & Liturgy (scroll down), echoing St Matthew 5. See also this Jewish, Muslim and Christian invocation created out of an inter-faith encounter in Jerusalem, 2003. As for my title... well to live in prayer is to be held in the midst of not being held, and to know the question "whose are you?" And yes, the Milan Kundera reference is meant, for a number of reasons.]

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety

[262.2] WORDS OF HOPE & DEATH FOR IRAQ DETAINEES

[Update: Insurgents say they will kill Christian peacemakers 02/12/05]

Most of the important work, obviously, is going on behind the scenes -- to try to establish a link with those sanctioning or influencing the kidnappers; to convince faction leaders that these men are not "spies", they are genuinely what and who they say they are; and to appeal for mercy.

It's easy to be cynical from a distance. "How do you expect monsters who would do this to respond to such pleas?" is a common response. But words and gestures are the only possible lifeline in a situation like this. That and the search for a common language of honour and dignity, however difficult and improbable that may seem. Captives have been freed as well as lost, let's never forget that.

So Electronic Iraq has launched a release petition in Arabic and English, together with a statement on CPT from Palestinian parties and groups.

Meanwhile, Bishop Munib Younan, a Palestinian from the Lutheran Church of the Holy Land, has called on those holding the four Christian Peacemaker Team workers in Iraq to release them. To those with the will to act, he declared: "I urge you from Jerusalem, the city of peace, to do your utmost to bring about the release of these apostles of peace who are the friends of every oppressed people." A similar call has been made by the World Council of Churches.

People of different faith groups and none have been joining vigils and prayer events in London and other parts of the world today to remember Tom Fox (USA), Norman Kember (UK), James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden (Canada).

This just in from The Nation: "Echoing the call[s from around the world] is an urgent appeal that's being introduced today by an ad-hoc group of concerned writers and activists in the US and Canada. Please read it and circulate it widely. Click here to join Arundhati Roy, Rashid Khalidi, Cindy Sheehan, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Nation writers Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill in signing the statement which calls for the activists' immediate release so that they may continue their vital work as witnesses and peacemakers. And, remember, time is of the essence." [This appears to be a mirror from the Electronic Iraq petition]

A full briefing on CPT and those who have been kidnapped is available here. And the BBC resume is also worth looking at.

Comment on this post: FaithInSociety