Tom Fox, member of the four-member group of CPTers kidnapped last year in Iraq, has been found murdered. According to the Iraq Interior Ministry, his body was found near a rail line, bound and with gunshots to his head and chest. The group who took him, I choose not to name out of my disrespect for them. Nonetheless, I also choose to try and hold onto what Tom himself once said:"We reject violence to punish anyone. We ask that there be no retaliation on relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. We hope that in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening nonviolently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation.”
We mourn the loss of this brave, good man who was bearing witness to the love and power of Christ to reconcile humankind. Please do remember the Fox family, as well as the three other members of CPT still in captivity.
Tom Fox was a man who wanted peace in the middle-east and was willing to lay his life down as a peace offering. (This photo of him in Palestine, protesting the Israeli's dividing wall, underscores the Christian yearning for unity and community I find so refreshing in CPT's approach.) I honestly doubt he thought it would actually lead to his kidnapping and death, but he did know such a risk existed. And yet he dared to do it. Despite the ignorant comments from right-wing hacks such as Rush Limbaugh (who now got his wish, apparently) the peace tradition of Martin Luther King, Ghandi, and so many in South Africa during that nation's apartheid era is a tradition both noble and effective.For more information, the CPT website offers latest news as well as more on their mission. And I'm glad to report that Cliff Kindy of CPT will be at Cornerstone Festival this year, speaking on Iraq, peacekeeping, and how the faith we say we hold might impact this violent world...
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2 comments:
Tom Fox was a very foolish man who brought his own destruction upon himself.
These Christian Peacemakers, like any Christian calling himself a soldier are going directly against what Christ wanted for his followers - getting involved and enmired in the world's politics and wars. You were commanded to spread the Gospel and the hope held out to all in God's Kingdom which will eventually destroy all of the governments on this earth at Armageddon (including the USA and Israel). By supporting any national, international or political group or terrorist group on this earth you are disobeying God.
Victoria,
With all due respect, your shrill comment comes without any biblical or logical content.
Do you pay taxes? If so, you pay for the war in Iraq with tax dollars. That means you are in effect helping our government make war, and therefore are involved with making war yourself.
Please ponder this.
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