(RNS) — Four days after the U.S. military seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a strike on Caracas that took nearly everyone by surprise, liberal Christian denominations have begun to criticize the raid.
The bishops of the United Methodist Church on Wednesday (Jan. 7) issued a statement “condemning all acts of violence, military aggression, and violations of national sovereignty” and urging its members to pray for the Venezuelan people.
The United Methodist Church does not have churches in Venezuela, a mostly Catholic country with growing numbers of Protestants and other faiths, but it does have autonomous Methodist churches.
In the letter, the United Methodist bishops pointed to their social principles that oppose war and violence. It did not mention the deposed Venezuelan leader by name. Neither did it mention President Donald Trump, who ordered the raid that extracted Maduro from the country and brought him to a New York City jail. On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to federal drug and weapons charges.
The Episcopal Church was quicker to respond. An Action Alert released Saturday — the same day as the raid — by its Office of Government Relations condemned the use of military force “aimed at disrupting a non-imminent, uncertain military threat.” It also called on Congress to investigate the operation, which it said “marks a striking and unprecedented escalation of conflict.”
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