Thursday, 26 December, 2002, 12:25 GMT – BBC

Archbishop’s anti-war message

Dr Rowan Williams, who leads the Anglican Church, used his Christmas message to attack the Government over its readiness to launch a military attack on Iraq.

“It is as if the wise, the devious and the resourced can’t help but make the most immense mistakes of all”.

He warned world leaders that even “wise men” could “wreak havoc and suffering”.
Dr Williams likened “strategists” to the Three Wise Men who told King Herod about the birth of Jesus on their way to Bethlehem, prompting a massacre of children.

“It is as if the wise, the devious and the resourced can’t help but make the most immense mistakes of all,” he said.

“The strategists who know the possible ramifications of politics miss the huge and obvious things and wreak yet more havoc and suffering.”

Despite better communications, intelligence and surveillance than ever before, the innocent continue to be killed, he said.

“Here we all are, tangled in the same net … stepping deeper and deeper into tragedy”, he added.

Dr Williams has previously warned against the dangers of war and urged the government to find a diplomatic solution.

On the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks he described war as “at best the lesser evil” and added that attacking Saddam Hussein could bring “real cost to our own humanity”.

He said that suicide bombers and the military methods of the US and Britain have qualities in common.

On BBC Radio Four’s Thought for the Day, on Boxing Day, he said: “The terrorist, the suicide bomber, is someone who’s got to the point where they can only see from a distance: the sort of distance from which you can’t see a face, meet the eyes of someone, hear who they are, imagine who and what they love.

“All violence works with that sort of distance, it depends on not seeing certain things.”
He added: “With the high-tech military methods we’ve got used to in recent years, there’s a greater temptation to take for granted the view from a distance.

“And this means we should see the military option as something to be considered a lot further down the road than it would have been 50 years ago.”

Pope Urban II’s 1095 Crusades Speech

In 1095, Pope Urban II called a mass meeting in France of all the knights of Christendom. He made a passionate speech to them, calling on them to fight against the evil enemy to regain Jerusalem. At the end of his speech, thousands surged forward, shouting that they were ready to fight and die for Christ.
“Although, children of God, you have made a solemn promise to keep peace among yourselves and faithfully uphold the rights of the Church, you must now, fortified anew by the grace of Our Lord, show the strength of your zeal in the performance of a precious task, which concerns all of you less than it concerns the Lord. It is imperative that you bring to your brothers in the East the help so often promised and so urgently needed….if you do not make a stand against the enemy now, the tide of their advance will overwhelm many more faithful servants of God.

Therefore I beg and beseech you…rich and poor alike make haste to drive this evil race from the places where our brothers live, and bring a very present help to the worshippers of Christ. I speak in my own person to you who stand here; I will send the news to those who are far off; but it is the voice of Christ which commands your obedience.

If anyone who sets out should lose his life either on the way, by land or by sea, or in battle against the infidels, his sins shall be pardoned from that moment. This I grant by right of the gift of God’s power to me.

May those men who have been occupied in the wicked struggle of private warfare against their fellow Christians now take up arms against the infidel and help bring this long-delayed campaign to a victorious end. May those who have been brigands now become soldiers, and those who have fought against their own families now fight as they should – against barbarians. Let those who have fought for mercenaries’ pay now earn an everlasting reward, and let those who have dissipated their body and soul now gather their strength to win a double prize. What more is there to say? On the one hand there are people in great distress; on the other there are those who live in plenty; over there are the enemies of God; here are His friends. Join us without delay! Let those who are going settle up their affairs and collect what they will need to pay their expenses, so that when the winter is over and the spring comes they may set off joyfully under the guidance of Our Lord.”

(Urban II’s speech at the Council of Clermont, according to Fulcher of Chartres)