I wrote this blog backwards because it got far too long. So there is the short read which should hopefully be enough to take part in the discussion on Sunday (7:30pm Platform 2, Tynemouth). There is then the questions for our conversation. After that you will find the extended addition. It is looong but will give a bit more detail and may help with some of the questions and help add a little more depth to the first part.
War may be good for absolutely nothing but it is hard to escape the fact that we are surrounded by violence. From a fight in a playground to rival gangs fighting over territory right through to the events taking place in Ukraine right now. The world is at war. As people faith or those trying to work out what life looks like in this world war is a really difficult subject for many reasons. That’s why it is in this A Question of series
In the later part of this blog in the loooong read you will find four of the western worlds views on war. These are principles, many of them rooted in the Christian faith that try to find a view or set of ethics for people to hold in the face of war. You may hold to one of these views, though if you are like me you have probably never had to put it into practice.
I would want to say I am a Pacifist or a Just Peacemaker right now. There are times in my life when Just War or even Holy War would have been my preferred options. If someone broke into my house and threatened by family would I hold to my non-violent peacemaking beliefs or switch to Just War fairly sharpish. If another nation invaded my country would I flee to the hills to avoid fighting like the early Christians did in the revolt against Rome or would I defend the oppressed or downtrodden.
I know none of the answers to these questions because I am not faced with any of these immediate realities.
How can I say if it is right for me to stand and say those people who have taken up arms in Ukraine to defend their land against Russia are not justified? How do I know if I would stand alongside the slaves who rose up against their oppressors in the US? Or the resistance fighters who defended the genocide of Jews during the Second World War?
What we need is a lived theology that finds itself made real in our lived experience and in the face of oppression and violence. That how we react in a moment or the choice we make when faced with a situation is one born out of our relationship with God and our practices of how we believe we should live. That may mean in that moment we stand and resist non-violently. It may mean that we pick up our sword to defend what is right. Yet which ever it may be we understand that God is with us.
Questions
- Have you ever been in a fight before and did you win?
- What is the first conflict you can remember taking place in your lifetime?
- If you were to choose a view point which one of Pacifism, Just War, Holy War, Just Peacemaking would you choose?
- How do you think you would live out your view if someone or something dear to you were threatened?
- What do you think is a more realistic way of living with the question of war for you and us as a community?
WARNING – This is a long read!
When we come to look at the ethics of war, the western world has four theories/viewpoints that have guided it over the centuries. There will be other ethics born out of other world views but as white westerners we have grown up with these four so it seems sensible to start here.
Let us start with one of the most ancient views and one that is still upheld today in Pacifism. Many hold pacifism as the standpoint that the early Christians took in the 300 or so years after Jesus’ death. It basically is the view that all violence is wrong no matter what the circumstance and peaceful means should always be sort to resolve conflict. It is a position upheld by Quakers, Mennonite’s, Some Pentecostal movements, Brethren churches and Franciscans today.
The theology of this view is found rooted in Jesus. The cross would be one of the prime examples of Jesus refusal to use violence, instead allowing violence to be done to him. There is also Jesus’ use of the Hebrew Scriptures in which he often misses out passages that encourage violence when speaking and highlights those passages where peacemaking present. Elsewhere we have verses like ‘love your neighbour’ and Paul’s encouragement in Romans to ‘overcome evil with good’. In the early church we see pacifism in the Christians flight from Jerusalem during the revolt against Rome instead of staying and fighting alongside others. There is also evidence that Christians opted out of serving in the Roman army until Christians was adopted as the official religion at which time other interpretations were made to allow Christians to serve as soldiers to.
In modern times Martin Luther king Jr, Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Helen Keller and many others are proponents of pacifism and have sort to live out this view in their lives.
The next view we will look at is Holy War. On the one hand this view has been tried by the church in the west with horrific consequences and found to be an appalling understanding of what Christians are called to be (See the crusades and Spanish inquisition). Having said that the US hasn’t quite shaken this view and it can be found increasingly in right wing white evangelical circles. We also find this view in some extreme Islamist viewpoints as well. (There is also an argument that the American Civil War, World War 1 and 2 all had holy war elements within them though other non religious issues were much stronger driving forces).
The Holy war view takes much of its theological underpinning from the Old Testament and particularly the books that deal with the capturing of the promised land. Time and time again God is found to instruct his people to go to war, handing them victories against their enemies and at times wiping out the enemy on the peoples behalf. There isn’t much in this theory that finds itself in the life of Jesus though the New Testament does have some passages that have been used to help prop up this view. The final battles in Revelation are some of these and a quick flick through the many interpretations of these will show many that see a Holy War at the very centre of the end of the world.
The third view is that of the Just War. This theory can be found in Ancient Egypt, China and other nations way before the western viewpoint took shape. For that we start where a lot of Western theology and thinking begins with Saint Augustine. His ideas were later developed by the likes of Ambrose and Thomas Aquinas and these have been the foundations of this theory in the west through the centuries. The theory or sometimes practices of Just War set out the conditions for war to take place. These are just cause, comparative justice, competent authority, right intention, probability of success, last resort, proportionality and once a war has begun distinction, proportionality, military necessity, fair treatment, no means and finally to end a war just cause of termination, right intention, public declaration and authority, discrimination, proportionality (wikipedia will give you some detail on all these).
As you can see that is a long list without the explanations and if you think of any conflict in the last 100 years or indeed ever you will probably struggle to tick every box to say a war has been just.
Finally the fourth and most modern of these views is Just Peacemaking. This view has risen due to the way in which wars are now fought. In a world where a soldier can sit at a computer 1000s of miles away from the frontline and fly an armed drone into enemy territory and drop a 1000lb bomb on an a supposed enemy hideout makes a mockery out of many of the principles of Just War. Just Peacemaking sets out an ethic for active war prevention instead of justification and has ten practices. Support non-violent direct action, take independent initiatives to reduce threat, use co-operative conflict resolution; acknowledge responsibility for conflict and injustice and seek repentance and forgiveness; advance democracy human rights and religious liberty; foster just and sustainable economic development; work with emerging cooperative forces in the international system; strengthen the UN and international efforts for cooperation and human rights; reduce offensive weapons and weapons trade; encourage grassroots peacemaking groups and voluntary associations.
For theological underpinning we have Jesus’ instruction to ‘go make peace with your brother or sister…’ or ’to turn the other cheek…’ and lets not forget ‘blessed are the peacemakers’.
Photo by Markus Winkler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/paper-on-a-vintage-typewriter-12220441/
Has been a part of BeachcomberFX since his arrival in the North East in 2014. He is well travelled (at least in the UK) having lived in Manchester, Nottingham, Derbyshire, Southport, Doncaster, Berwick and Edinburgh. Supporter of Newcastle United, will watch any sport.
