Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on Crisis in Syria
April 20, 2018
Syria’s protracted civil war has decimated the homes, security, futures, and lives of hundreds of thousands. With the allegations of chemical attacks by the Syrian government on Syria’s own, the conflict has entered a realm where international treaties are disregarded wholesale, the rule of law is mocked and trodden underfoot, war crimes proliferate, and the heinous scourge of war only escalates.
When governments alone fail to broker reconciliation, it behooves members of grassroots civic and religious organizations around the world to join the global discussion and, as agents for peace, raise their voices in an effort to reach a resolution.
Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is founded upon the following principles of peacemaking:
- Peacemaking is proactive and courageous
- Peacemaking seeks to unify instead of divide
- Peacemaking demands great tolerance for people and none for injustice
- Peacemaking views human suffering as sacred
- Peacemaking chooses love instead of hate
- Peacemaking believes that ultimate peace is not only possible but sure.
Such principles underscore MWEG’s belief that there is no military solution to war. War begets war, just as peace begets peace. Members of MWEG reject and oppose any attempt to use power or authority for the purposes of self-interest, justification of evil, or exercising unrighteous dominion or compulsion over others. We seek to dismantle all such corruption and the injustices it perpetuates. We aspire, therefore, to be mediators and conflict responders. Likewise, we encourage others to be instruments of peace.
Therefore, we plead with government leaders worldwide to not lose sight of the suffering that continues in Syria, and to join forces with other leaders of all faiths, nationalities, and cultures to design innovative responses to the calamity that reigns in that region which is driving the distressed and the desperate to flee conflict, persecution, and terrorism, often on foot and in grave peril of their lives. Governments ought to partner with other stakeholders to take measures that will punish war crimes and expose terrorist organizations and their atrocities. They ought to work with religious-based and non-governmental organizations to organize more humanitarian aid and refugee relief, especially in the countries surrounding Syria. And they ought to pursue with all urgency policies that will welcome substantially higher numbers of refugees into their own countries and support them over the protracted and complex process of cultural integration.
For Syria, as with so many regions in turmoil, resolution and stability will best be reached as global leaders from government, civic, and religious groups are all invested in the peacemaking efforts.
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Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is a nonpartisan group dedicated to the ideals of decency, honor, accountability, transparency, and justice in governing. MWEG is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We do, however, fully sustain the leaders and doctrines of the Church.
Image by Freedom House, https://www.flickr.com/photos/syriafreedom/12341226034
