Most importantly, the hardships of the sanctions recently passed by the House would by far fall most heavily on the most vulnerable of the Iranian population. Iran imports 40% of its refined fuel; this would all be cut off under the sanctions bill. Those most affected would be women, children, and the poor who would not be able to afford to heat their homes at the skyrocketing prices sure to result. This directly violates the Biblical mandate to tend to the poor.
And for what? Sanctions have never proven an effective tool. Rather than turn the citizenry against their domestic leadership (which is the story commonly told), sanctions embitter the people toward the foreign enforcer and entrench support for the domestic power structure. If there is a shortage of fuel in Iran, who do you think will get it? The State will take all it needs, leaving the populace in a far weaker position to oppose them even if they wanted to.
Many very prominent conservative Christian leaders and organizations are represented in the letter, including Richard Land, Pat Robertson, Chuck Colson, Gary Bauer, John Hagee, and Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family. FOCUS ON THE FAMILY!!! Supporting an evil act of war that will wreak horrific devastation on Iranian families.
I urge you to read Giraldi's well-written article. He points out several important inaccuracies and untruths contained the Christian Leaders' letter. One most important point is that Iran is in full compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has been fully cooperative with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Giraldi points out that seeking a nuclear-free Iran "is particularly ironic as Iran is in fact nuclear-free."
I call upon these Christian leaders to abandon their warmongering, and turn instead to truly honor the Prince of Peace they supposedly follow. Many of them were also signatories to the recent Manhattan Declaration, which among other things, staked out a firmly pro-life stance. I challenge these leaders to take a consistent pro-life stance, and reject sanctions which will only bring death to many innocents while pushing peace out of reach.
