To President George W. Bush
Dear Mr. President,
The brutal acts of terror that the American people were
subjected to on September 11 have given rise to consternation
and grief all over the world. This is also the case among us Christians
in Sweden. When the attacks against the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon were being carried out, several church leaders in Sweden were gathered at a board
meeting for the Christian Council of Sweden. The board members
later called upon the Christian churches of Sweden to pray for
your people and for all the innocent people who suffered by the
brutish action of the terrorists.
Yesterday we prayed in our churches for your people and
for you, Mr. President. We hope that the support from various
parts of the world will instill courage in all of those who are
now working to restore order in the chaos that these acts created
and that the grieving will find comfort in the care and prayers of many. We will earnestly continue
our prayers. Together with the Muslim Council of Sweden we have
in different manifestations urged people not to judge and harass
innocent Muslims.
We have furthermore expressed our hopes that the parties
guilty of these terrorist acts will be arrested and brought to
justice. It is up to all the countries of the world to search
for and arrest those behind these actions.
At the same time, we would like to appeal to you, Mr.
President, to refrain from such military actions which threaten
the lives of other innocent people. The terrorist acts of September
11 were successful crimes against the principle that all people
have a unique worth and nothing can motivate retaliation with
new crimes against that same principle.
We ask you, Mr. President, to listen to the religious
leaders in your country, who have encouraged you to practice moral
leadership based upon "the vision on community tolerance,
compassion, justice and the sacredness of human life, which lies
at the heart of all our religious traditions". We fully support
the challenge in this letter: not to let the terrorists have the
last word by fighting them with their own methods so that the
violence continues with violence.
As Christian brothers and sisters, we ask you to thoughtfully
consider the contents of Paul's letter to the church in Rome:
"Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to
do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible,
as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not
take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for
it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.
On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if
he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:17-21)
We pray, Mr. President, that you will be able to exercise
a leadership that will give healing to the people of the United
States and that God in His mercy will give you strength and guidance.
The Christian Council of Sweden