I met Betty at an Arvada Peace & Justice Commission meeting a few years ago. She is a person who really works to live consciously, and I have deep respect for her. Betty's dad took her to her first peace rally when she was in junior high, and he is still going to protests!

The statement that she will give at the trial on Monday is especially striking to me, since it was written from a Christian perspective. Around eighty per cent of the people in our country claim to be Christians. OUR OWN W claims to be Christian. Betty's vow, upon baptism to “...strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being." surely has been taken by MANY other Christians. I hope that we hear their voices joining Betty's soon.

Here is Betty's statement:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before I begin, I want to thank members of the jury for taking time out of your busy lives to participate in an essential part of democracy—our judicial system.

My name is Elizabeth ____. I am a mother of two and grandmother of three. Before I retired, I worked for Lucent Technologies. Now I do mostly volunteer work.

My reasons for participating in this act of resistance against the war in Iraq go back many years. In my early teens, I began to study the Holocaust intensely. This interest continued for many years. I wondered WHY I felt such a deep urge to learn about something so morbid and depressing. I came to realize that I was making myself deal with the issue of what would I have done. Would I have been the good German, who looked the other way and while my neighbors were disappearing into the night? Who did nothing to stop the evil? I learned about the Nuremberg Trials and that doing nothing in the face of evil is to share the guilt for what happens.

I decided that I would never allow myself to play the part of the “good German.” In every house I have lived in as an adult, I have found a place where I could hide people if the need ever arose. But history gives us different challenges. For me, the question is broader than “would I hide people.” It is simply, “What should I do when huge numbers of people, mostly civilians—mothers and children, are put to death because they are unlucky enough to be in the wrong country at the wrong time?” By my own government. My own personal ethics demand that I take non-violent action to resist the war.

I grew up in a non-religious household. I became a Christian when I was 30. There are three baptismal vows I took in the Church. One says, “I will strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being.” I take this very seriously. Whenever a baptism takes place, the whole congregation reaffirms these vows, so I have said these words many times.
I now attend a Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II condemned this war as immoral and illegal. He sent several Cardinals to President Bush to deliver this message. The new pope, Pope Benedict, expressed the same view before becoming Pope. I believe that as a Christian, I must do whatever I can to stop the evil that is happening in Iraq.

The Catholic Church, among others, has a concept of “just war.” Here are some of the criteria: First, a war is just only if it is responding to real and certain danger. Second, it must be conducted without attacks on civilians. And finally the attack must be “proportional”—to be in some way related in scope to the evil being fought. Over 100,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq. How could this possibly be considered proportional? It is clear that the current war is unjust and therefore immoral. In fact, Pope Benedict has said he doubts that ANY modern war could be regarded as just because modern wars are always conducted in a way that causes massive civilian deaths.

Religious opposition is far broader than the Catholic world. There are 34 American Protestant denominations that are American members of the World Council of Churches. In February of this year, they issued the following statement:

"We lament with special anguish the war in Iraq, launched in deception and violating global norms of justice and human rights. We mourn all who have died or been injured in this war. We acknowledge with shame abuses carried out in our name."

We define terrorism as the taking of innocent life to further political goals. I believe that is what the US is doing in Iraq: taking innocent life to further our own political goals. My ethics and my religion demand that I take non-violent action to oppose the war in Iraq. My actions at the recruiting station were done in obedience to higher laws that the US is violating.

We can’t know if our actions make a difference. My actions are like a grain of sand. I want to drop my grain on the side of justice and peace.