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Thursday, August 14, 2014

Decisive action in Iraq urged in open letter


An open letter endorsed by the Southern Baptist Convention's lead ethicist and religious freedom advocate calls for the United States and other countries to support decisive military action to incapacitate extremist Islamic forces conducting genocide in Iraq.

Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, joined a group of signatories from across the religious and political spectrum to the letter, which was unveiled Aug. 11. The letter -- initiated by Robert George, professor at Princeton University and vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom -- commends President Obama's authorization of airstrikes but contends the terrorists' attacks on religious minorities require more.

The United States and the international community should do what is needed, the letter says, to enable local forces to protect Christians, Yazidis and others in the face of a purge by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"No options that are consistent with the principles of just war doctrine should be off the table," George, Moore and others say in the letter. "We further believe that the United States' goal must be more comprehensive than simply clamping a short-term lid on the boiling violence that is threatening so many innocents in ISIS/ISIL's path. Nothing short of the destruction of ISIS/ISIL as a fighting force will provide long-term protection of victims." Read more

See also
Second ‘Flood of Noah’ threatened after seizure of dam by terror group

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