| A note from the editor  Immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bishop Felton Edwin May of the Baltimore-Washington Conference urged United Methodists around the world to read and study the 1986 document from the Council of Bishops, In Defense of Creation, substituting the words terror and terrorist for nuclear war. Today, as the United States continues to press the international community for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq, Bishop May is again urging United Methodists to read and study In Defense of Creation for its insights and information on the issues of war and peace. In the pages of this special issue of UMConnection, we present excerpts of In Defense of Creation. In addition, a 2002 letter from the Council of Bishops president, Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, is printed on this page, addressing the same issues. I invite you and your congregation to form study groups to gather under the power of the Holy Spirit to discuss, pray about, and learn about the issues of war and peace. A short, one-session study gbwc_superusere is printed on page 8 for your convenience. (The full study gbwc_superusere and text of the foundation document is available from Cokesbury on-line at www.cokesbury.com .) Bishop May has invited United Methodists to a time of prayer, fasting and study on issues of ultimate importance: war and peace. My prayer is that you and your congregation will engage each other in this conversation, aided by the power of the Holy Spirit. May God bless you in your ministry of peacemaking. Xapis, Erik J. Alsgaard
managing editor | 
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