Protesters Fill Palmer Square in Princeton to Voice Opposition to Bombing of Syria

“Diplomacy not war”, “Don’t bomb Syria”, and “Mr. Obama, no bombs, no drama!” where just some of the slogans protesters displayed on Palmer Square Saturday.

More than 150 people turned out Saturday afternoon for the Princeton rally to protest President Obama’s plan to bomb Syria. The event was organized by the Coalition for Peace Action.

The Rev. Robert Moore, head of the Coalition, urged people to “do their homework after the rally” by calling their two U.S. Senators today to tell them they oppose bombing Syria.

“Please call them. It makes a difference,” Moore said.  “There is still a chance we can stop this in the Senate. Make your two calls.”

Moore and any others gathered called on the United States to use diplomacy to address the crisis in Syria and said bombing the country is not the solution to end the civil war there. It will only make things worse.

Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrim Karim of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch said it is not in the interest of the United States to bomb Syria.  It will not help Syria, and will motivate some of the foreigners in Syria now to possibly attack the U.S. He said the rest of the world looks to the United States for leadership, but not leadership based on power, leadership based on morals.

“What we want the U.S. to do is to bring people together,” he said. “Diplomacy works.”

The archbishop said Christians in Syria will suffer more if the United States bombs the country, and will be forced to flee. More than a million Christians lived in Iraq until the U.S. bombed the country, he said. Now less than 300,000 Christians live there.