Richard Land, President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

Five months before the second war against Iraq started in 2003, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) sent a letter to President George Bush declaring that a war against Iraq would be a “just war” according to his and other evangelical Christian leaders’ interpretation of the Bible. Any honest observer of the war on Iraq would know that it was not a “just war” as it was sold to Americans with lies propagated by our leaders and the mainstream media. The most prominent lie was: “Saddam Hussein had “Weapons of Mass Destruction” (WMD); there were none. Also, there was no connection to be found between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The terror and destruction wreaked upon Iraq by the US “just war” continues to this day. About one million Christians were peacefully living in Iraq before the 2003 war. Now, they are suffering terribly with their fellow Muslims. Proponents of a “just war” that is not, have innocent blood on their hands.

Fast forward to 2016, and, it still appears that the Southern Baptists have a ways to go before they can be called peacemakers. However, there are some encouraging signs from some peacemakers within the SBC who are asking to be heard by their fellow Baptists. Listen and find out what’s going on in a We Hold These Truths podcast. (23 mins.) For more background info read Chuck Carlson’s insightful article from 2002: “The Cause of the Conflict, Part I: Fixing the Blame.”