Open letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

President Ahmadinejad
Grace aand peace to you in the Name of the One True God. I pray that all is well with you and those you love. I pray that you are faithfully seeking truth and justice for all people. I pray that you will be able to help the people of Iran and all the Middle East improve their quality of life.
My name is Chuck Woehler (pronounced Wayler) and I am anEpiscopal Priest in San Antonio, Teaxs. I listened to your speech at the United Nations on September 23rd of this year. It caused me to go back and read some of the speeches you made there in previous years. I have thought and prayed long and hard about responding to you. The easy way out would be to do nothing, but that would be unfaithful to my Lord. I truly believe I have been called to write to you. I don not know if you will receive this letter; and if you receive it, whether you will read it; and if you do read it, whethere you will respond. I am also going to post this letter on a blog and/or send it to a newspaper. I trust that whatever becomes of it is God's will.
You have said that there are two conflicting outlooks in the world. One is based on materialism, inequality, and oppression. This outlook promotes poverty by imposing its will on other nations. The other is based on the oneness of God, the teachings of His messenger, respect for human dignity, and a secure world for everyone. Apparently, the former is the western nations, especially the United States; and the latter is the Islamic nations, especially Iran. With the questionable exception of the oneness of God, these two outlooks could apply to the opposite group of nations, depending on your viewpoint. Neither group is truly blameless, holy, or right.
You have said that the current world conditions cannot continue. You are absolutely correct. But we all are guilty of perpetuating the conditions. Imposition of one's thoughts on the international community is wrong whether it is in order to promote capitalism or religion. The killing of infidels or sinners doesn't help anymore than promoting poverty in order to produce profits.
I agree that the situation in Palestine and Israel is critical to world peace. As it stands now, it is not just of fair. But killing won't solve anything and revenge is self-defeat. The military will not produce true peace; it will only maintain fear and mistrust. The military budgets are too large for every developed nation both East and West. War is not the answer. Liberalism and capitalism are not the main causes of war. Greed, fear, ignorance, and indifference are. Terrorism is the number one enemy of peace today. We are all victims. It is committed by cowards who purposely attack the innocent. It is almost always committed for some political or religious bias. It weakens all nations and prevents the trust that is needed to achieve real peace.
You have said that the rulers distance themselves from values, morality, and divine teaching. I believe it is best seen in the separation, which is growing, between the rich and the poor in every country. Rulers have forgotten they are called to serve their people, not to have the people serve them. We could argue about human rights, especially the rights of women, but I am not writing to argue, but to try to help.
I commend you for continually honoring the major prophets of God who came to promote peace and love, and to eliminate war, hate, injustice, and indifference. Then why aren't governments pursuing those God given mandates? I have studied many of the world's religions. To the best of my understanding they all acknnowledge one God, known by many names, in some manner. The goal of every one of these religions can be summed up as: Honor God and be a blessing to one another. There will come a time when humanity will return to this knowledge that God is One, that God is good, and that He has given us all things necessary for justice, truth, love, and peace among all mankind.
War is a loser's game. No one ever wins and humanity always loses. All the great powers in history have fallen. The Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, English, Russians, Spanish, and perhaps now the Americans have lost the vision for being a means of good for the world. Perhaps Islam is next in line. However, I believe it too will fail if it continues the pattern of expansion beyond need and control that has doomed all who have gone before. We were not created nor intended to control one another, but to support and enable one another as a way of honoring God.
Governments have been unable or unwilling to bring about peace, prosperity, and cooperation among nations. Religion has had its share of failures as well. usually caused by people who tried to play God.
My brother, Mahmoud, if you are serious about changing conditions and seeking peace, I humbly suggest that you and President Obama seriously consider calling for, and enabling,a conference of world religious leaders, not to argue theology, but to pursue, "the peace of God that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). I have many thoughts on how this would happen, but this is not the time for it. As I said, I intend for this letter to get out and become as public as God wants it to be. I expect this letter to make some people happy and some people angry, but that is the price of trying to honor God.
May God bless you and keep you, may God lift up His face and be gracious unto you, may God lift up His countenance and giveyou peace, now and always.
In His Name,
The Rev. Chuck Woehler


Dear readers, I have already talked to the Iranian Embassy in DC, and sent them this letter. They will determine whether or not it goes to President Ahmadinejad. I have tried to get in touch with the NY Times but they won't return my calls or emails. I am going to send a copy to President Obama today. If this letter touches you in some way, makes you angry, makes you hopeful, I hope and pray that you will send it to your friends. I would love to hear back form you if you care to comment. God bless you. Chuck+