Jim Winkler

Not only has Mr. Trump illegally assassinated an Iranian military leader, he now threatens to destroy ancient Persian cultural landmarks. The entire world is disgusted by such barbaric declarations.

Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary

The United States is now at war with Iran. Except for a brief truce arranged by President Obama, the United States has been at war with Iran since 1952 when the CIA overthrew the prime minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh, and installed Shah Reza Pelavi as ruler.

When I visited Iran in 2007, people repeatedly asked me why the US had overthrown Dr. Mossadegh. They told me stories of how their parents and grandparents used to have portraits of two people in their homes, those of Franklin Roosevelt and Mossadegh, and how much they revered the United States.

More than 40 years ago, during my freshman year of college, I lived in a dank and dreary men’s dormitory along with several young Iranian students. I knew little of Iran, but these students told me of the tyrannical Shah, backed by the United States, and of the repression he enforced in their homeland. Each week, the Iranians would don paper bags with holes cut out for their eyes and mouth and go to the quad to protest against the Shah. For us cloistered Midwestern kids, the protesters were a curiosity at best and somewhat lunatic at worst.

“Why,” I asked them, “are you wearing those ridiculous masks?”

“SAVAK,” they answered replied. “The Shah’s secret police are everywhere. They are watching us and they work closely with the CIA.” All of this provoked my interest and I have been following events in Iran now for decades since. Those students envisioned a democratic Iran, but theirs were minority voices. Ayatollah Khomeini led the 1979 revolution that overthrew the Shah and created a theocratic government determined to end US dominance.

As we all know, a few months later protestors overran the US embassy, took 52 US diplomats as hostages and held them for 444 days. The point I wish to make is that our conflict with Iran predates the tragic hostage crisis and people need to understand that history to grasp the importance of the assassination in Iraq of Gen. Soleimani that was ordered by President Trump on January 3. The NCC issued a statement following his assassination.

Not only has Mr. Trump illegally assassinated an Iranian military leader, he now threatens to destroy ancient Persian cultural landmarks. The entire world is disgusted by such barbaric declarations.

Meanwhile, dozens of Americans of Iranian descent were detained by the United States at our border recently as they were returning from an Iranian music festival in Canada. Iran has fired missiles into American bases in Iraq. War-related hysteria is developing quickly.

The parliament of Iraq, alarmed that the United States carried out the assassination while the General was in their country, voted to demand US military forces leave Iraq. A US General sent a letter to Iraqi military leaders in which he said we respect Iraq’s sovereignty and proposed plans for US troop withdrawal. That has now been disowned by the United States. President Trump has made it clear we will not leave Iraq and that if Iraq demands we do so, he will impose sanctions on Iraq.

Let us recall that the United States illegally invaded Iraq 17 years ago and killed hundreds of thousands of their citizens. And let us not forget that failed war in Iraq pales in comparison to the complexities of a potential invasion by the US of Iran. Iran is three times larger than Iraq both in terms of population and land size. Further, while Iraq was created by French and British diplomats drawing lines on a map 100 years ago, Iran is a proud and ancient civilization.

I do not for a moment believe General Soleimani was a good guy, but I know that many more people turned out for his funeral in Tehran than for the inauguration of Donald Trump. A US military invasion of Iran might overthrow the government, but millions of troops and trillions of dollars would be required to have the slightest chance of success. Who are those troops? Why would we go?

Significant numbers of self-identifying American Christians celebrate each abomination perpetrated by President Trump. Many of them heretically believe Trump has been sent by God. He himself has said he is the ‘chosen one.’ Millions of other Christians remain silent as these travesties unfold.

Our long war with Iran is now at a boiling point. It is time to bring it to an end. I know from personal experience that the Iranian people do not hate the United States. They do not want US interference in Iran. They do not want a war with the United States. We ordinary Americans must join them in demanding peace.

It has been said, “The times change and with them, the people.” Perhaps that is so in the United States today where overt racism, as well as hatred of immigrants, is growing. I pray it is not the case. But as I travel the world, I universally find sadness and dismay from people who are in disbelief that the United States they loved and admired seems to have disappeared into a miasma of ignorance and intolerance.

We are in the midst of a national crisis that has deep roots in American history. I have written before in this space that it is my conviction a nation borne on the backs of slaves on land stolen from its native peoples is by definition a violent and racist land, but there are times when a national crisis is embodied by a particular person. Today, that person is none other than the president of the United States himself, Donald J. Trump.

I lived in New York City in the early and mid-1980s when Donald Trump was a well-established tabloid star. He was a cartoon figure known for his bluster, overweening ego, and naked greed. This turned more sinister when he took out a full-page ad in the New York Times in 1989 calling for a return to the death penalty after five young men of color were wrongfully accused of raping a white woman in Central Park.

Mr. Trump famously refused to apologize for that newspaper ad. It is well known that he refuses to apologize for anything because he sees it as a sign of weakness. Typically, after issuing a harsh and unjustified attack on a person, group of people, an organization, a city, or even an entire nation(s) he then demands an apology from those he has attacked!At his best, he is graceless, awkward and unbecoming of high office. At his worst, he is vile and repulsive. He is aided and abetted by court prophets who comprise his so-called “Evangelical Advisory Council.” These false prophets, who claim to be Christian, adore Mr. Trump, spew hatreds of their own, decree days of prayer to defend Mr. Trump against his ‘enemies,’ refuse to challenge his ignorant rants, and bring shame upon themselves. Like Mr. Trump’s, their words and actions are menacing to the health of our society.This is encapsulated by the one-word response Jerry Falwell, Jr. provided to a question posed to him by the Washington Post, “Is there anything President Trump could do that would endanger that support from you or other evangelical leaders?”“No.”

Mr. Trump’s defense of racists, his attacks on women and people of color, his thousands of falsehoods, his cruelty, his pettiness, his crimes and misdemeanors, are too many to recount. Where does one begin? Where will it end?

It is evident a great many of Mr. Trump’s admirers and supporters delight in all, or nearly all, that he says and does. A virtual cult of personality has developed around him. There will come a day when millions will look back on these years and shake their heads in disbelief. They will ask themselves how they came to be swept up in such madness and hatred and how they betrayed their own values and beliefs.

President Lincoln said of Americans from both the North and the South, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Let us embrace those words again.

I write this column in great sadness and out of disbelief for what is taking place. I am comforted by these words from Psalm 147:3-6, “God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God determines the number of the stars; God gives to all of them their names. Great is our God, and abundant in power; God’s understanding is beyond measure. God lifts up the downtrodden; God casts the wicked to the ground.”

Recently NCC President and General Secretary Jim Winkler spoke on the occasion of the 225th anniversary of the Valaam Mission to North America, the Orthodox Church mission to indigenous peoples in Alaska. The program was held at the Mother of God, Joy of All Who Sorrow Orthodox Church in Princeton, NJ. Below are excerpts of Jim’s address:

I stand before you as president and general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC). The Council consists of 38 member communions comprised of some 30 million Christians in approximately 100,000 local congregations across this nation. 

The NCC was founded in 1908 and was then known as the Federal Council of Churches. In 1950, a number of other organizations came together with the Council, and it was re-christened as the National Council of Churches. The Orthodox Church in America is one of the member churches of the NCC.

My thanks to His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, for inviting me to be with you today. His Beatitude memorably addressed the Christian Unity Gathering of the National Council of Churches several years ago, and I remain grateful to him for honoring us on that occasion. He also joined us last year on a remarkable evening at St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC for the opening event in our rally against racism. 

I wish to express my deep appreciation to the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky for his longtime leadership in the ecumenical community. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Fr. Leonid’s election as president of the NCC. He was the first Orthodox president of the Council, meriting a major article in the New York Times. Today, he continues to serve on the executive committee as a voice of wisdom and reason. He is a mentor to me.

I also wish to thank my good friend and the pastor of this parish, the Very Rev. Peter Baktis not only for his gracious invitation to me to be with you today but for his participation in the Interreligious Dialogues Convening Table of the NCC. 

Metropolitan Tikhon has provided us with a precious gift in his guiding framework for the Orthodox Church in America, “Of What Life Do We Speak?” This document will be shared with the leaders of the member communions that comprise the NCC. 

The NCC is a form of conciliar ecumenism—that is, it is organized for common prayer, counsel, and decision. Also, the search for unity is envisaged as a conciliar fellowship, with each local church possessing the fullness of catholicity and apostolicity.

St. Tikhon, who served as archbishop in America from 1898 to 1907 and then as Patriarch of Moscow, himself affirmed the openness of the Orthodox Church to dialogue.

It is important, as well, to note that in 1920 the Ecumenical Patriarch issued an encyclical, “Unto the Churches of Christ everywhere” in which he stated, “Our own church holds that rapprochement between the various Christian Churches and fellowship between them is not excluded by the doctrinal differences which exist between them. In our opinion, such a rapprochement is highly desirable and necessary.”

We have come a long way over this past century in furthering rapprochement between the churches and yet have much further to go. This is difficult but joyful work, and it takes time. After all, let us recall it was 1200 years between Great and Holy Councils of the Orthodox Churches.

It is very appropriate, in my view, for Metropolitan Tikhon in his guiding framework for the Orthodox Church in America to ask several basic and informative questions including:

• How has Holy Orthodoxy in North America fared since those days full of apostolic zeal and missionary activity? Here he recounts geographic and numeric expansion and other signs of the advancement of the Church.

• Metropolitan Tikhon boldly acknowledges, “…the Church faces great obstacles and tremendous change in the world as she makes her way through the 21st century. We ought to ask ourselves if we love the people of our lands, and if they love us? Do they voluntarily accept baptism and smash the idols that are provided to them by the shamans of our age?” 

I suggest to you, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, that these same challenges face every church in America. From my vantage point as president of the National Council of Churches, I can assure you that you are not alone either in facing enormous tests in a secular society nor in your devotion to the faith. 

Metropolitan Tikhon then wisely observes, “What is called for is a Church-wide endeavor, involving every parish, institution, and individual of the Orthodox Church in America, to tackle the enduring goals that lie before us. As there have been challenges in the past, so there will be many new ones along the way, but such struggles are part of our Christian journey. We need to consider and respond to those challenges, but we can only do this if we are willing to personally and collectively experience and share the gift of communion with Christ.”

The third pillar is “Relations with Others” and includes a section on “Ecumenical, Interfaith, and Civic Relations.” Here, Metropolitan Tikhon notes that “Some place great value on ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, while others believe it to be fruitless or even apostasy. Part of the weakness of the present state of ecumenical dialogue with other Christians and relations with other faiths is that it is understood to be a specific field in which only certain people engage. Our participation in ecumenical bodies cannot simply happen in order to have a presence if that presence is limited to superficial participation. Our presence must be a bold and substantial one, where we both encounter the other and remain firm in our proclamation of the authentic faith of our fathers.”

There are churches that will not engage in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and work. Humbly, I suggest to you that this is a mistake and it is prideful. Ecumenical and interfaith dialogue is not intended to create one world religion or to get everyone to agree on every point. It is intended to develop understanding and solidarity and at a time when churches, synagogues, and mosques are being attacked, we must work together to preserve our freedom to worship in peace. At a time when divisions are deepening in our society, it is essential that Christians lead the way to reconciliation. For any church to forego participation in ecumenical and interfaith work would be a tragedy. 

This work is arduous. It takes us out of our comfort zones. It exposes us to beliefs with which we are not familiar and that we may find distasteful. But it gives us the opportunity to explain and defend our faith and to question others about theirs. When we establish authentic relationships and can see that others are also children of God then joy comes with the morning. 

Metropolitan Tikhon calls us to continued faithfulness, to avoid striving after new fads and programs that falsely promise renewal and membership growth, but also and importantly he calls us to a spirit of openness, for as he writes, “We cannot contribute to the life of the world if we have not grafted ourselves onto the living body of the Church by striving to conform ourselves to what the Church is. We cannot be a part of the Body if we do not live a life of communion with Christ, in sanctity of life, with love towards our neighbor, and with zeal for the mission of the Gospel. This is our prophetic witness.”

I did not go to seminary, and I do not have formal theological training. However, like many, I have engaged in Bible study for years and am a daily Bible reader. There are passages in the Bible I find quizzical, disappointing, infuriating, beautiful, and humorous. One example of Scripture’s multi-faceted appeal is found in the 9th and 10th chapters of the Book of Ezra.

At the outset of the Book of Ezra, King Cyrus of Persia permits the Jews living in exile to return to Jerusalem to “rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem (1:3).” 50,000 or so were permitted to make the journey home. They returned and lived “in dread of the neighboring peoples (3:3).” 

When the “adversaries” heard the returned exiles were building a temple, they asked if they could help, “for we worship your God as you do and we have been sacrificing to him… (4:2).” But the response was, “You shall have no part with us in building a house to our God… (4:3).” Even though they worshiped the same God, they believed their life experience kept them apart. What a lost opportunity! 

Oh, how I wish I could have read that the offer was graciously accepted and that dialogue and goodwill helped to lead to an era of peace and tranquility. How many times have we heard the inspiring reports of peoples of different faiths standing together in solidarity in recent years? Some have even offered their sanctuaries as places of worship for those who have other beliefs and practices!

Then, the priest Ezra arrives in Jerusalem and learns the Jews are living among “the peoples of the land with their abominations (9:11)” and have married some of them, had children and raised families so that “the holy seed has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands… (9:2).” Ezra demands they send away these family members. That’s right! He insists they force their own spouses and children to leave. Despite all efforts to spin these verses, they still possess unbearable cruelty. 

“Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethia the Levites supported them (10:15).” These are my heroes in the Book of Ezra. Their opposition was such that we know of it to this day, and I am grateful for it. 

I am aware of interpretations that emphasize themes such as faithfulness and repentance, restoration, and the need to understand the cultural context. Sure, OK, but to the lay reader, it reads as ugly. I suppose I appreciate that this is included in the Holy Scriptures because it reminds us yet again of how frequently we fall short of our beliefs and seek to exclude “others.” After all, it’s the daily drumbeat that emanates from the White House. 

As for me, I desire a faith that draws the circle wide and emphasizes love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. That’s the faith I try to live out. That’s the faith I believe Jesus is all about.

The long and shameful record of the United States of America’s overt and covert interventions into the affairs of other nations is one of the great tragedies of the past 120+ years. Tens of millions have died because of our bloody history of dozens of military invasions. Additionally, we have sponsored countless coups d’états. It is said only three nations on the planet have not had a US military presence of some kind: Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.

Now, the pattern is repeating itself in relation to Venezuela. Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton are relentlessly pounding the drums of war. They are demanding President Nicholas Maduro leave his country. “Fire up the plane,” demanded Secretary Pompeo. He added, “Military action is possible. If that’s what’s required, that’s what the United States will do.”

National Security Advisor and longtime warmonger John Bolton said to President Maduro, “Your time is up. This is your last chance.” Convicted criminal Elliott Abrams, now US Special Representative for Venezuela, warns, “We urge the Venezuelan military to stand up for the nation, and for the constitution, and stand behind the people of Venezuela. They will be judged by their actions today.”

These are dangerous, irresponsible, and highly inflammatory statements made by those at the highest levels of the United States government. Congressional investigations of this nonsense should commence immediately.

The faith community’s resistance to our country’s disgraceful conduct is all too scarce. When you google “religious opposition to US wars” you mostly find articles about the history of religious conflict in the United States, religious war, and pacifism.

The US regime is particularly incensed that Cuba has sent some 15,000 doctors, nurses, and teachers to Venezuela over the past 20 years or so. Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States—whose offices are located conveniently between the White House and the State Department—refers to these people as an ‘occupation army.’ The supposedly left-wing New York Times hints that Cubans in Venezuela are ‘spies.’ Ambassador Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba’s director-general of US affairs, has told me personally there are no Cuban soldiers in Venezuela.

Over and over and over, we see the same sequence of events: the government of another nation not entirely in line with US thinking is identified as a threat. The President and his satraps demand action, a quiescent Congress fails to rein in the military industrial secret police complex, armed forces move into place, sanctions are applied, the media falls into line, and ordinary citizens try to figure out what’s going on.

Most of all, the United States is infuriated that Venezuela and Cuba have dared to chart a course for their nations of which our government does not approve. In addition, it just so happens that Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. That’s right—not Saudi Arabia, not Iran, not Iraq—Venezuela. If Venezuela were the world’s largest producer of broccoli, there would be little concern for it.

To date, I have yet to locate a government that is blameless and perfect. Venezuela’s is not. I am deeply concerned about the turmoil Venezuelans are experiencing. If genocide was underway there or if Venezuela had threatened to launch an aggressive war against its neighbors, it would be my feeling the international community—not the United States alone—should act decisively to save lives or stop a war. However, short of that I wholeheartedly believe it is the right and responsibility of the people of Venezuela to sort out its problems.

Moreover, we must not stand idly by, passively allowing another catastrophic US-led war to unfold. It is the responsibility of people of faith to stand against the acts of aggression the government of the United States is making against Venezuela.

It now appears that the slaughter in Sri Lanka of Christians worshiping on Easter Sunday was carried out in retaliation for an earlier slaughter in New Zealand of Muslims who were themselves in the midst of worship. Extremists carried out both of these massacres, but we should not view these as isolated incidents. Attacks on houses of worship have become all too common. 

The cycle of violence is also known as the Myth of Redemptive Violence. For example, Dylann Roof, the murderer who killed those engaged in Bible study at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, said he murdered black people because he believed they raped white women daily. Timothy McVeigh asserted his bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was in retaliation for various attacks and raids carried out by federal agents over the years.

The drums of war and violence are beating once again. Frank Gaffney, president of “Save the Persecuted Christians,” and a longtime purveyor of Islamophobia, is demanding the US government use the tools at its disposal to punish those who attack Christians. There are those who would love nothing more than a “holy war” to cleanse the world of people they refuse to accept.

I confess that when I was growing up, I was a true believer in the Myth of Redemptive Violence. It was no mere myth for me; it was an article of faith. I relied upon my belief in redemptive violence continually in my relationships with my younger brother and sister. My violence toward my siblings was physical and emotional, and in my mind, it was always justified as retaliation for some real or imagined slight. My violence was carried out simply to right the wrong(s) I had been subjected to. 

I don’t mean to be trite or flippant when I say this. I think there are genuine parallels. As the theologian Walter Wink pointed out so brilliantly in his powerful trilogy (Naming the Powers; Unmasking the Powers; Engaging the Powers), young children are indoctrinated into the Myth of Redemptive Violence through cartoons. 

As a boy, my favorite cartoon hero was Mighty Mouse. In each episode, Mighty Mouse saves the day from the bad guys and rescues fellow mice who have been harmed. Never are any lessons learned, never are relationships made whole. Each episode stands alone as a satisfying example of evil intent and actions defeated by a mythic hero coming to the rescue.

These same “lessons” are imparted through spy thrillers, westerns, and war movies. They are deeply embedded in our worldview. Road rage is another manifestation of the Myth of Redemptive Violence—‘he/she cut me off and I had to get revenge!’
Entire wars have been fought based on the Myth of Redemptive Violence. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 in which, supposedly, a North Vietnamese attack was carried out against an American warship? In retaliation, the United States killed as many as two million Vietnamese and lost tens of thousands of its own soldiers in a war of folly. 

My parents enrolled me in first grade when I was five years old. I was thus among the smallest children in the schools I attended. I reluctantly set my faith in redemptive violence aside for eminently practical reasons—fear of being beaten up being chief among them. This experience began to create doubts in my mind as I learned that kindness, negotiation, persuasion, and forgiveness—which I utilized out of necessity—could often work wonders. 

The Myth of Redemptive Violence is a favorite tool of the bully and the coward. It is no wonder that attacks have been carried out on houses of worship because people gathered there are not anticipating violence and because, ultimately, their faith teaches that violence is wrong. Equally, it is wrong to retaliate. What is proper is for a criminal investigation to be made, for those responsible to be taken into custody, for judicial proceedings to be held, and for those responsible for acts of violence to be held accountable for their actions. 

The Myth of Redemptive Violence is part of a mental superstructure that holds us in captivity and prevents us from becoming the people God intends us to be. We must disenthrall ourselves from such myths to advance the Kindom of God.