Edict Date 07-18-2006
The Church of Reality condemns the unprovoked attack by Israel against the nation of Lebanon as a crime against humanity. This undeclared war against the new sovereign democracy of Lebanon is unjustified and we urge the free-thinking people of the world to speak out and condemn this act and to resist accepting an artificial justification for what is essentially an act of terrorism.
Lebanon is not Hezbollah. Israel is not attacking Hezbollah only. Israel is destroying the nation of Lebanon. This condemnation is focused on what Israel is doing to Lebanon as an innocent third party and the unprovoked attacks on Lebanese civilians destruction of the country's infrastructure. This is also not an endorsement of Islamic terrorism which is actually a far greater threat than Israel's insanity. Israel's acts only make their enemies stronger and Israel is acting against its own cause and against peace. Israel is increasing the hate and you don't achieve peace through injustice.
The human population is organized into societies. We are a community that includes many levels of organization. But ultimately everyone on the planet is a member of the human community. Especially in this age of the Internet and world wide communication, it is clear that every person on the planet and of every culture has the right to live a quiet peaceful life and has the responsibility to respect the rights and liberties of others. A citizen of Lebanon and a citizen of Israel are equal and neither one has any greater rights than the other. Both have a responsibility to maintain peace and respect the right of others to live and thrive in the world.
A war is like a sickness that infects the soul of the human race itself. Every war affects every person on the planet and has a cost to humanity itself.
War is always wrong although it is sometimes necessary. War always represents failure and is something that, even when justified, is a shameful act. War must always be an act of last resort after all other options have been tried. It should only be contemplated as a defense and with the consensus of the world community. We are all part of the human race and although we are individual life-forms, we all are part of a greater life-form, humanity, and war is a sickness within humanity itself. Every war affects every person on the planet and takes a toll on the positive evolution of all of us. Thus we all are paying the price for every war that we allow to occur. To start an unjust war it to commit a crime against humanity itself.
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Rabbis burning Israeli Flag in Protest of Zionism
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In this instance, Israel has attacked the nation of Lebanon without provocation. Israel has destroyed Lebanon's infrastructure. Israel has targeted and destroyed its roads, bridges, airports, utilities, power plants and ports. Israel is bombing the civilian populations without regard to the innocent lives that they are destroying. To attack a nation in this way is an attack on every single person in the nation of Lebanon who have done nothing at all to justify this attack.
The government of Lebanon is a new democracy moving away from Syrian domination and struggling to form a secular society where people from all cultures can live in peace. Within it's borders and part of it's culture is Hezbollah which is an enemy of Israel and was formed in response to a 1982 incursion by Israel. In condemning Israel the Church of Reality is not endorsing or justifying the acts of Islamic terrorists. We recognize however that Lebanon is not Hezbollah and for Israel to attack the nation of Lebanon because Hezbollah kidnapped two soldiers is almost as insane as America attacking Iraq over 9-11. The kidnapping of two people is no justification for a war and certainly not a justification to destroy a third party nation that was not involved in the offense against Israel.
Israel claims that the attack is justified because Lebanon failed to eliminate the Hezbollah threat. However, the current government is a new democracy that hasn't been around long enough to have the power to stop Hezbollah. Hezbollah is not just a hate group that exists to hate Jews and eliminate Israel. Hezbollah exists in part as a defense to Israeli aggressions, to defend the population from acts of Israeli terrorism. To the extent that Israel uses terrorism and shows a complete disrespect for the lives of the people of all other nations, it is their fault in part that they are hated in the region. It is attacks like this that fuel groups like Hezbollah and even if they kill every member of that group, they will cause an even bigger group to be formed in response. War breeds war and hate breeds hate and Israel's crime is as much a crime against their own nation as it is against the world community. The worst thing that can happen to Israel is that they are successful in this aggression because it will cost them the respect of the world community.
The life of a citizen of Lebanon is just as important as the life of a citizen of Israel.
Israel has chosen not to take their cause to the United Nations and not to ask for the consensus of the world community, and not to lobby the world community for assistance to craft a peace based solution. Israel apparently feels that it is above such rules and that it can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and that it is above international law. But when a nation defies international law, they pay a price in the long run, because some day Israel will need the world community and we will remember this and take it into account when evaluating if religious states like Israel and Iran are a good idea. Israel is proving that a religious state doesn't work because it allows it's citizens to enjoy the illusion that their people have superior rights to everyone else on the planet.
Israel is not above international law. Like every other nation they have to get a consensus of the world community before going to war.
If the kidnapping of merely two people were justification for a war, then is Canada justified in declaring war on Israel for the killing of eight Canadian citizens in their unprovoked war on Lebanon? Why are eight Canadians worth less that two Israelis? Why are two Israelis lives worth more than thousands of citizens of Lebanon? Why are two Israelis lives more valuable that the other Israelis who have died in this conflict? When you consider the price of this aggression, it is clear that there is no positive outcome of Israel's actions.
Israel risks widening the war in that other nations might come in on the side of Lebanon. In a world where there are already too many people trying to start World War III, Israel's act is a crime against all people and it's attack is essentially a terrorist threat against every other country in the region. Israel is also alienating the sane peace-loving Jewish community and Israel's act of war is splitting Judaism into two camps that are at odds with each other. In this case the Israeli Jews are on the wrong side of justice.
There is nothing special about the nation of Israel. When Israel is wrong, it is no different than is any other nation is wrong.
Israel should be a beacon of peace, not a beacon of war. If a nation would demand of the world that it has a right to exist, then it has to respect that other people of the world have the same rights. There is nothing special about being a Jew or an Israeli and Israel is no different than any other nation on the planet. There is nothing at all that gave Israel a superior standing to any other people on the planet and Israel is subject to the same laws as everyone else. Israel is not above scrutiny. When Israel is wrong they are subject to the same condemnation as any other nation that is wrong.
The Church of Reality declares Israel's cause to be unjust and asks members to stop supporting Israel.
Now then, for the above stated reasons, the Church of Reality issues this edict condemning the government of Israel and does hereby declare this war to be an unjust war. The Church of Reality finds that Israel is engaged in an act of terrorism against the population of the nation of Lebanon. We urge the voices of reason in the world to denounce this war and to take whatever steps necessary to stop Israel and to act to build the peace. War does not lead to peace, it leads to more war. These people have been fighting for thousands of years and if the human race is going to evolve forward, we need to learn how to build the peace and eliminate the violence and hatred that fuels perpetual war.
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