76.7 percent of Presbyterian lawmakers favor war authority, not PCUSA’s declarations
The Layman Online, October 18, 2002
The Presbyterian Church (USA) bombarded Congress with letters and declarations opposing the resolution that authorized President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq, but Presbyterian lawmakers were not swayed by the denomination’s arguments.
Senate Presbyterians 9-1
in favor of Iraq resolution
Republicans
YES – George Allen (VA), Christopher Bond (MO), Mike Enzi (WY), Bill Frist (TN), James M. Inhofe (OK), Jon Kyl (AZ), Richard Shelby (AL)
Democrats
YES – Thomas Carper (DE); John D. Rockefeller IV (WV). NO – Mark Dayton (MN).
House Presbyterians: 24-9
Republicans
YES – Shelley Moore Capito (WV), Howard Coble (NC), Jo Ann Emerson (MO), Porter J. Goss (FL), Jim Greenwood (PA), Robin Hayes (NC), Joel Hefley (CO), Sue W. Kelly (NY), Jerry Lewis (CA), John Linder (GA), George Nethercutt (WA), Deborah Pryce (OH), Thomas M. Reynolds (NY), Jim Ryun (KS), Cliff Stearns (FL), William M. Thornberry (TX), Wes Watkins (OK), Frank R. Wolf (VA). NO – John J. Duncan Jr. (TN).
Democrats
YES – Ken Bentsen (TX), Bobby R. Etheridge (NC), Carolyn B. Maloney (NY), Mike McIntyre (NC), Earl Pomeroy (NC), John M. Spratt Jr. (SC), NO – Eva Clayton (NC), Diana DeGette (CO), Nick Joe Rahall II (WV), Victor F. Snyder (AR), Thomas C. Sawyer (OH), Melvin Watt (NC), Lynn C. Woolsey (CA), David Wu (OR). Of the 43 Presbyterians in the House and the Senate, 33 (76.7 percent) voted in favor of the resolution – 90 percent of the Presbyterians in the Senate and 73.4 percent of those in the House.
Only one lawmaker – House member Eva Clayton (D-NC) – said the PCUSA’s opposition to the resolution influenced her vote against it, according to the Presbyterian News Service.
Through Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and the Washington Office of the PCUSA, the denomination mounted an aggressive attack against the resolution.
Kirkpatrick sent letters to members of Congress and the administration opposing the resolution. His office also published commentary by Vernon Broyles, staff social justice advocate, who has been a long-time critic of the nation’s military.
Broyles was widely quoted for a comment he made shortly after terrorists murdered thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001. In an official commentary for the denomination, he said, “While it may seem politically helpful to call them [the terrorists] ‘barbaric’ in their acts against the ‘civilized’ world, it is appropriate to ask why the incineration of several thousand people in the attack on the World Trade Center was a ‘barbaric act of terrorism,’ while the incineration of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are seen as a ‘necessary act of war by a civilized nation.'”
Members of the House and Senate spent days of solemn and passionate debate on the resolution, but the 214th General Assembly and the General Assembly Council weighed in with virtually no debate on or opposition to resolutions seeking a more favorable posture toward Iraq.
In June, the General Assembly called for ending economic sanctions against Iraq and urged the U.S. government to “exercise restraint in its contemplated military action against Iraq.”
In September, Kirkpatrick asked the General Assembly Council to adopt another resolution – this time specifically opposing congressional authorization for the president to use military force against Iraq. The staff-written resolution was approved by voice vote with no debate.
But the members of Congress, who were privy to classified briefings, heard detailed testimony through their committees and conducted vigorous debates to reach an altogether different conclusion. Majorities in both houses – including the Presbyterian lawmakers – were convinced that Saddam Hussein’s biological and chemical weapons pose a global threat.
Of the Presbyterians voting recently, 10 are senators – seven Republicans and three Democrats. All of the Republicans and two Democrats voted for the resolution. One Democrat voted no.
Thirty-three Presbyterians are members of the House – 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. Eighteen Republicans and six Democrats voted for the resolution; one Republican and eight Democrats voted against the resolution.