There
is a sign in front of the Mennonite Church in Fairfield which reads
“War is not the Answer.” Recently someone slipped a letter in
the front door asking, “if war is not the answer, what is? And
don't say prayer.” After a lot of thought and yes, prayer, here is
my answer. To your question, “If war is not the answer, what is?”
Here are a few thoughts to start a discussion.
There
are no easy answers or short term solutions to the problem of war. Any solution involves
addressing the the culture of violence and retribution that is so
prevalent around the world. That will take time. A long time.
As
a follower of Jesus I am convinced that the place to start finding different solutions to conflict is within
the Christian Church because Jesus, whom we call Lord, taught the
way of non-violent resistance. Rather than fight Rome he chose to
die on the cross. He taught us to “love one another, even love our
enemies, and to do good to those who despite-fully use us.” For the
first 300 years the early church practiced non-violent resistance to
aggression and tyranny. Thousands chose to die rather than fight
back. Then came Constantine, the Roman emperor who made Christianity
legal, baptized his troops and marched to war in the name of Christ.
Augustine followed with his doctrine of “just war” and it has
been downhill ever since, Salvation has been delegated to an after
life, even though Jesus' teachings were all about how we should live
in this life. Granted, the Jesus way is a tough way to run a nation.
Given
the reality of our violent world, war is viewed as the quickest and
easiest response to difficult national and international problems.
Diplomacy and negotiation not only takes time but require everyone
to enter into serious give and take given that few of us want to
admit that we are part of the problem. Diplomacy is challenging.
Even so, it's still true that the real goal of war is to force the
defeated party to the negotiating table, so why not start there and
avoid all the death and devastation? Then there is the additional
problem that war creates new problems that often end up being worse
than what came before. We learned this in Iraq. Killing off Saddam
Hussein simply opened Pandora's box unleashing a plethora of new
problems and religious rivalries that have actually escalated the
vicious cycle of killing.
In
the short term, war often seems a realistic response, especially if
done in conjunction with a long range commitment to confronting the
multiple challenges underlying rivalries and unrest, such as income
and opportunity inequality, religious intolerance, violent struggles
for power, and genocide.
If
war is not to be the answer, what is? Justice. Peace is not the
opposite of war, justice is. Therefore if we want to change the
culture of violence within the United States and the world we must
start with our own justice issues so we can truly become “ a more perfect
union.” We can rationalize that we are better than most other
countries but that is not an excuse for our current system of racist,
elitist, systemic injustice. Justice for all, not just the rich and
white race. The only way we can authentically demand the rest of the
world to stop human rights abuses and move toward more democratic
forms of government is by addressing the unmet needs and unjust
practices within our own country. Doing this would give our words
and actions credibility! By modeling peace through justice we'd
address the endemic racism that shapes our so called justice system,
pass realistic comprehensive immigration reform, stop the legalizing
corruption the comes from such decisions as Citizens United, unjust
voter ID laws that disenfranchise millions, and address the income
inequality that has reduced too many to virtual slavery. If war is
not the answer, what is? Justice. To quote Scripture: “do
justice, love mercy and walk humbly.”
“Follow
the money,” we often say. Well, 59% of our national resources go
into the military and -related programs and financing the military debt.
Most of that is not included in the budget so the real costs of war
are hidden. But hiding the cost of war in unfunded deficits is not
only bad policy, it weakens our economy and nation, making us more
afraid. This is why Congress needs to pass a war tax so we, the
people, know where our money is really going, why there is not money
for health care, roads, schools, etc.
Re-introducing
the draft is another important answer to “if now war, what?”
Why? Because all of us, rich and poor, educated and uneducated,
young and old need to share in the consequences of our national and
political decisions. Too many wars are started by older white men who
never served in the military and have romantic notions
of what war is.
If
every young person served a minimum of 2 years in some form of
national service, we could address many of the ”justice” issues
listed above, develop greater tolerance and
understanding for the plight for others and open our eyes to other
ways of seeing, doing and being. This could create a new patriotism
that is strong and vibrant.
It
is the nature of young people to long for meaning and purpose. They
are idealistic and critical of “the establishment.” Let's give
them real and viable ways to create positive change. For those who
wouldn't opt for military service, they could serve in an expanded
Peace Corps, Ameri-Corps, etc. They could become fire fighters, do
community development, work with inner city gangs, do needed
conservation work, housing rehab programs, disaster relief, legal
services, prison rehabilitation, health care in under served areas,
work in nursing homes, etc.
If
we are to prevent future wars we must harness the dreams of our young
who aren't afraid of change. By providing our young people with
meaningful opportunities to address social issues such as racism,
religious intolerance, immigration, and economic inequality far fewer
youth will be attracted to radical groups such as ISSIS. We could
create an alternative culture to that of war and violence. Our
nation could become truly exceptional by being less threatening to
others and model a better way for the rest of the world.
Several
years ago some “dreamers” started an organization called
Christian Peacemakers. Christian Peacemakers are trained in methods
of non-violent resistance and conflict resolution. They go into
difficult areas such as the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Iraq, Central
America, Pakistan, Mexico, Columbia. They serve as witnesses to
human right abuses, land grabbing, gang violence, drug lord abuses,
war crimes, and stand with the persecuted. Christian Peacemakers understand that
until we who call ourselves Christian are as willing to die for peace
and justice as soldiers are to die in war, wars will prevail.
Non-violence
works. Non-violence shaped our own Civil Rights movement.
Non-violence conquered apartheid in South Africa. Ghandi's
non-violent movement brought the British empire in India to its
knees.
There
is another way. But, peace-making, like warfare, demands that we who
care, especially those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ
must be willing to die when necessary that others might live. Peace
(justice) will take just as much time, money, commitment, and long
term political will as our current climate of perpetual war, but the
end results could be very different. Jesus said “love your
enemies. Forgive those who persecute and abuse use you.” His is
not an easy solution but in the end Christ-like non-violence is no
more difficult or painful than that demanded by war. And the
outcomes would be so much better!
As
the song says, “let there be peace on earth and let it begin with
me.”
