I just wanted to pass on an update on the Korean Missionaries who
are being held hostage in Afghanistan. Sadly, a second missionary was
executed early this morning. The PCUSA reports
that the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea has requested the
U.S. and Afghan governments take the lead in negotiating the release of
the hostages.
CNN reported
that the families of the missionaries are pleading for the United
States "to be more actively involved". This reminded me of something I
heard last week at conference (I think it was Rob Bradford's message
the morning I visited the high school Bible Hour, but apologize if I'm
wrong). He spoke of a well-off church that wanted to partner with a
city neighborhood as reading tutors. After some time, the
neighborhood's leaders told the church that they could read and teach
their youth how to, but what they really needed was for the church to
use its socio-political connections and influence to give the
neighborhood a greater voice. Well, this is our chance to use our influence as U.S. citizens to assist our brothers and sisters.
I've
been cynical and relatively inactive in politics since shortly after
majoring in Political Science in college. Today, that has started to
change. I've written my House Representative and Senators. I'm not
convinced my singular letters will make a difference themselves, but
believe this is an important action to coupled with continued prayer. I'll conclude with my letter's text (feel free to use it) and instructions on how to your representatives in Congress. All three times really don't take that long, I've done most of the work finding out how and linking below.
Dear xxxx,
I am writing to request U.S. intervention on behalf of the Korean missionaries held hostage in Afghanistan. While I don't pretend to know everything involved, I strongly believe it is a mistake for us to stand by without offering the requested intervention. As their families said, "Please don't use force. Please save them through peaceful and humanitarian ways. Please help." Failing to give peaceful assistance against terrorism when called upon plays into the hands of the aggressors.
Sincerely,
Andrew J. Dawson
To Contact your Senators:
- Find BOTH of your Senators in the list on this page.
- Click on the "Web Form" link at the bottom of each entry.
- Fill out the form with your message and submit it.
To Contact your Representative:
- Look up your representative by entering your address information (requires zip + 4)
- I had to click on the "you are represented by" link to my representative's website then find his contact page on the menu
- Fill out the form one last time.
PS - Select "Foreign Relations" / "International Relations" if it asks for a topic (some of them had a lot).