Standing With Our Neighbors

III.    Vows of Nonviolent Witness

“We pledge to act in allegiance to God alone, and to resist injustice with goodness”

11. I will resist evil and injustice by individuals, governments or other institutions, with the goodness exemplified by Jesus Christ and his apostles; I will not hold back from fear of punishment or loss

PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly - 7.7.2006

*When governments declare battle against national enemies, Christians can feel helpless to be Jesus’ hands and feet in international arenas of violent injustice.  Despite a growing sense of powerlessness regarding the second Iraq War in the mid-2000s, Christians and others in Harrisonburg, Virginia found ways to be God’s vessels of peace for Iraqi people by responding to the war’s evil effects in their own town. 

During the 1990’s the U.S. brought 67 endangered Kurdish families from northern Iraq (Kurdistan) to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia as political refugees. They were among thousands threatened for their relief work.  As families resettled and found work in the Shenandoah Valley, they sent money back to Iraq. But in the culture of fear after 9/11, the FBI put several under investigation. In August 2004 fourteen government agencies collaborated in a fearsome operation, surrounding the homes of six Kurdish families, confiscating belongings, records, even finances. Families aroused from sleep were reminded of Saddam’s terror tactics. Given no effective opportunity to respond, the refugees were traumatized by the violation of their dignity.

In the end, the government decided none of the families had connections to terrorism and that all their money had been sent to legitimate family, friends or charities. Yet four men, Fadhil Noroly, Rashid Qambari, Amir Rashid and Ahmed Abdullah, were arrested in 2005 and charged with unlicensed international money transfers which, in post-9/11 anxiety, had been changed to a felony in the.

Seeing an opportunity to strive for Christ’s peace amidst the legal system’s injustice against their Kurdish neighbors, community members responded to the xenophobic trials. To recognize the Kurds as human neighbors and not as dangerous foreigners, the impromptu group "Standing With Our Neighbors" ran a full-page newspaper ad with nearly 700 signatures, publicized the unjust charges, accompanied the men to trial, agreed to respond quickly as witnesses in the event of further FBI raids, prayed around the courthouse, created a documentary and even contributed thousands of dollars to legal fees. In the end the men were fined thousands of dollars and put on probation but not charged with felony.

While local churches could not work directly for justice in Iraq, the pressure from the faith community helped restore some stability and dignity to their local Iraqi-Kurdish neighbors. May we continue to seek Christ’s peace as we similarly enact today’s vow: “I will resist evil and injustice by individuals, governments or other institutions, with the goodness exemplified by Jesus Christ and his apostles; I will not hold back from fear of punishment or loss.”

[*A version of today’s story was published in the March 2010 edition of Connections, a joint newsletter of Virginia Mennonite Conference and Virginia Mennonite Missions]

For Reflection and Action:

1. I Peter 3:9-14 was written to churches facing great evil and injustice. Romans 12:9-21 contains words for a church living at the heart of an unjust empire. What is God speaking to you and your church in these words today?
2. Who in your neighborhood suffers injustice or other evils at the hands of individuals or institutions (economic, educational, health, legal, governmental, religious, etc.)? Pray for their protection from injustice. (If you can’t think of anyone, do some asking around to various members of your community.)
3. How might you stand with your hurting or disadvantaged neighbor, “overcoming evil with good” and “repaying with a blessing”? What holds you back? What costs do you anticipate (reputational, relational, time & energy, financial, legal, personal safety, etc.)?

Prayer Focus

God of the orphan, the widow, and the immigrant foreigner:

You have called us to do justice,

to overcome evil with good;

 extending hospitality to both stranger & enemy,

repaying evil with blessings to both victim & oppressor.

Give us the courage to stand with our suffering neighbors,

to call for justice, to seek peace and pursue it.

Yet give us the patience to hand vengeance on evil over to you, Lord.

Now go with us into our day as we overcome evil with good.

Amen—It will be so.