WASHINGTON (CNS): Church leaders in the United States have expressed mixed reactions to their country’s targeted attacks against Afghanistan.
In a letter to President George W. Bush, Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia called the US war against terrorism ‘a just war’ and commended the administration and Congress for their actions.
He sharply warned against interpreting the September 11 terrorist attacks on America as ‘God’s punishment for moral decay within our nation’ or as ‘an inevitable and deserved response to United States foreign policy’.
‘These were the acts of men with evil in their hearts, perpetrated against innocent human beings,’ he said. ‘No reason can be given to explain them or the loathing which inspired them.’
Another bishop warned that the American response to terrorist attacks ‘must not be a protracted effort to get even’.
Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Connecticut, said in a homily that patriotic fervour sweeping the country must be channelled in clear thinking, based on sound principles and illuminated by faith and reason.
He offered several moral considerations to guide the US response, beginning with the question ‘Is this cause just?’
