Italian Baptists ask U.S. Baptists to help end war

WASHINGTON — Baptists in Italy — a nation President Bush counts as an ally in the Iraq war — are asking their American counterparts to help bring an end to that conflict.

In a letter sent Nov. 12, the Italian Baptist Union’s president, Anna Maffei, asked “all the Baptist conventions in the U.S.A.” to join together in efforts toward reconciliation rather than encouraging further military conflict in war-torn Iraq.

The letter was authorized by delegates to the union’s general assembly Oct. 8­­–10.

The conservative government headed by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been one of only a handful in the world to join Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” in support of the United States’ efforts in Iraq.

Italian Baptists chose to address U.S. Baptists, Maffei said, “because we thought that our Baptist churches in the U.S.A., on account of their number and strength, could make a difference in the world and contribute a great deal, if they so wished, to develop peace strategies in the international arena. As sons and daughters of the Prince of Peace, we desperately need to struggle for peace and justice.”