Thirty Million Evangelicals Call for Immediate Intervention in Sudan

Thirty-five leaders from the Evangelical front signed onto a letter that urged President George W. Bush to take “decisive action to prevent further slaughter and death” in the Dafur region of Sudan, August 2, 2004. The brief letter noted the lack of serious action by the Security Council of the United Nations to halt what has already been deemed “genocide” by both U.S. congressional houses, and thus called for immediate intervention by the U.S. government.

“It's our judgment that deteriorating circumstances and obstruction, indeed complicity, by the Khartoum regime now necessitates additional actions by the United States government,” the letter began. “Now is . . . the time for the United States government to take a more decisive role to prevent further slaughter and death.”

Political observers note that as a main voter base for Bush, the Evangelical voice has had much influence in shaping the foreign policies of the current administration. In recent years, evangelicals have helped initiate major governmental actions in combating HIV/AIDS, human trafficking and religious persecution internationally.

Most of the past evangelical actions have been focused on halting violence against Christians in southern Sudan and deliberating peace talks between Christian rebels and the Islamic government in the nation. The situation in Darfur, however, differs in that the genocide is being made against the mostly Muslim population in the region; some 300,000 Black Muslims have been slaughtered and 1 million re-located from their homes in the past 14 months.

"We view this as an opportunity to reach out to Muslims in the name of Jesus," the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), said. "Christian people are appalled by this kind of genocide, and we don't want it taking place in our generation."

At that end, the evangelical leaders, collectively representing over 30 million Americans, urged for three immediate steps of government action:

(1) Authorize massive humanitarian aid to protect the highly endangered civilian populations displaced in Darfur;

(2) Authorize active exploration of all plausible intervention options in order to stop the killing;

(3) Authorize a serious multinational effort to remove Sudan from membership on the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

"If, as is true, the United States government cannot end all evil in a large and complex world, it can nonetheless immediately adopt policies that limit today's persecutions and ensure greater fulfillment of inalienable and internationally recognized rights to freedom of belief and conscience,” NAE’s Haggard said.

Meanwhile, the leaders called on their churches and related ministries to “give generously to the relief agencies active in the Darfur region of Sudan.”

Those signing onto the letter included officials of the NAE and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Assemblies of God, Church of the Nazarene and other related ministries and denominations. Several relief groups, seminaries and evangelical publications also signed the August 2 letter.

The following is the full text of the letter as released by the NAE:

August 2, 2004

The Honorable George W. Bush
President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We commend you for your commitment to fostering democracy, religious freedom and human rights. We believe that your leadership on the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan -- including sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region -- has been appropriate thus far. It is our judgment that deteriorating circumstances and obstruction, indeed complicity, by the Khartoum regime now necessitate additional actions by the United States government.

The decision of the United States Congress [S. Con. Res. 124; H. Con. Res. 427] urging the Administration to call the atrocities being committed in Darfur, Sudan by their rightful name -- genocide -- is consistent with what evangelical relief and development agencies are reporting from the region. We agree with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum which has named the Darfur crisis a "full-fledged genocide emergency," the first such warning in the museum's history.

It is imperative for your administration to take additional clear action. We represent organizations which led efforts to enact these ground-breaking human rights initiatives: the International Religious Freedom Act, Sudan Peace Act, Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and just last week House passage of the North Korea Freedom Act. Your Administration's goal -- to redefine our national interest not as power but as values, and to identify one supreme value, what John Kennedy called "the success of liberty" -- could be jeopardized by not taking a strong enough position on Sudan's genocidal behavior. The World Health Organization estimates that ten thousand people are dying each month and that a catastrophe equivalent to what occurred in Rwanda a decade ago could unfold within weeks.

Americans, especially tapping our resources within the religious and non-governmental community, must act quickly to alleviate this crisis. As representatives of our 51 denominations and 45,000 churches, we are urging our churches and related para-church ministries to give generously to the relief and development agencies active in the Darfur, and encouraging other national alliances in the World Evangelical Alliance to do same. Our agencies are willing to work with any and all international bodies, including the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, to alleviate the suffering. We are already consulting with the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Tony P. Hall.

Now is also the time for the United States government to take a more decisive role to prevent further slaughter and death. It is irresponsible to expect that the Government of Sudan, which has backed the Janjaweed militia, to restore peace in the Darfur. Since Khartoum can not be counted on to provide security, others must lead the way. In sum, we urge your swift action authorizing:

(1) Massive humanitarian aid to protect the highly endangered civilian populations displaced in Darfur. Thus far, collective financial contributions by the European Union are very small and may require that our own government increase its commitment to fill the gap; (2) Active exploration of all available intervention options -- including sending troops to Darfur as has been proposed by the United Kingdom and Australia -- in order to stop the killing. One option short of military intervention would be dramatic expansion of the efforts of the African Union Protection Force by providing its soldiers and monitors with much-needed equipment and resources, toward the goal of securing humanitarian relief corridors; and (3) A serious multinational effort within the United Nations to remove Sudan from membership on the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Sudan's genocidal policies make its continued participation on that body a travesty. Its removal would be an important step toward restoring integrity and strength to international human rights advocacy.

A litmus test of Sudan's willingness to restore peace would be the removal of all obstacles to aid distribution, including the granting of visas to aid workers; a decision to stop providing air cover to the militia; and the arrest and prosecution of Sheik Musa Hilel, the Commander of the Janjaweed militia in Sudan.

In statements adopted in 1996 and in 2002, the NAE has urged governmental action to stop religious and other forms of persecution, such as the "ethnic cleansing" taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan: "If, as is true, the United States government cannot end all evil in a large and complex world, it can nonetheless immediately adopt policies that limit today's persecutions and ensure greater fulfillment of inalienable and internationally recognized rights to freedom of belief and conscience."

As stated in these historic documents, which led to a prairie fire of concern for human rights and passage of ground-breaking legislation, we "vow never to commit the sin of silence whenever we learn of persecution."

Sincerely, the undersigned,


Ted Haggard
President
National Association of Evangelicals

Richard Cizik
Vice President for Governmental Affairs
National Association of Evangelicals
Gary Edmonds
General Secretary
World Evangelical Alliance

Diane Knippers
President
Institute on Religion and Democracy
David Neff
Editor
Christianity Today

Ambassador Robert Seiple
Chairman of the Board
Institute for Global Engagement

Robert Andringa
President
Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

Peter Vander Meulen
Coordinator of Social Justice and Hunger Action
Christian Reformed Church

Paul F. Yaggy
OC International

Steve Beard
Editor
Good News

Peter Borgdorff
Executive Director of Ministries
Christian Reformed Church

Stephen E. Freed
President
IT USA

Ann J. Buwalda
Director
Jubilee Campaign

Richard J. Mouw
President and Professor of Christian Philosophy
Fuller Theological Seminary

Johan Candelin
Goodwill Ambassador
World Evangelical Alliance



Bernard Evans
President
Elim Fellowship

Richard Snyder
Bishop
Free Methodist Church of North America

David Rambo
Director
Beeson International Leaders Program
Asbury Theological Seminary

Robert E. Cooley
President Emeritus
Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary

Randall Bell
Associate Director
Association for Biblical Higher Education

Edward L. Foggs
Minister at Large/Interchurch Relations
Church of God Ministries

Harry Thomas
President
Come Alive Ministries and Creation Festivals

Kenneth D. Hunn
Executive Director
The Brethren Church

Paul Edwards
President
Paul Edwards Consulting

James W. Skillen
President
Center for Public Justice

William Hamel
President
Evangelical Free Church of America

M. Donald Duncan
Vice Chairman of the IPHC
Executive Director of World Missions Ministries

Thomas E. Trask
General Superintendent
General Council of the Assemblies of God

Clyde M. Hughes
Bishop
International Pentecostal Holiness Church

Don Argue
President
Northwest College

Paul de Vries
President
New York Divinity School

Winnie Bartel
Executive Director
WEA Women's Commission

Don Lyon
President
Illinois State Director

Paul McKaughan
President
Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies

B. Edgar Johnson
General Secretary (Ret.)
Church of the Nazarene

Glen Stassen
Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics
Fuller Theological Seminary

Roger Parrott
President
Belhaven College and Executive Director, Lausanne

Carl A. Moeller
President/CEO
Open Doors

Michael J. Nyenhuis
President/CEO
MAP International
Samuel B. Casey
Executive Director& CEO Christian Legal Society
Co-Chair, Advocates International

Samuel E. Ericsson
Advocates International

Janice Shaw Crouse
Senior Fellow, The Beverly LaHaye Institute
Concerned Women for America

Rob Schenck
President
National Clergy Council

David C. Brown
Chairman of the Board
Evangelical Child & Family Agency

Bill Vermillion
General Superintendent
Evangelical Church of North America

Hudson T. Armerding
Minister at Large
Officers Christian Fellowship

Eddison G. Brooker
President
Florida State Director



Pauline J. Chang
Ecumenical Press