Is there such a thing as a “just war,” a question that we, as a people of faith, must ask ourselves. Is violence ever justified? Under what circumstances can we use violence to defend ourselves? These questions and others are difficult ones, made more difficult in light of Jesus’ comments on violence.
Waging war does more than kill a perceived enemy. It also dehumanizes us in ways in ways both subtle and not so subtle. During WW2 we dehumanized the Japanese as we put them in detention centers. We use the language of war to justify putting immigrants in similar kinds of places today.
Today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, in some ways a logical extension of acts that targeted civilians, both Axis and Allied, during that war often called good. Was war ever good? But what do we do when a nation is invaded? These questions force us to live in constant tension between nonviolence and just war, part of the cost of being human.
Prayer for the Day
Told we are to be a people of peace and nonviolence,
We often resort to violence in many ways;
Exhorted to love all your children as brothers and sisters,
We find ways to make exceptions to your call.
Hold us fast to your exhortations and calls to care for all,
Moving us past our desire to build walls.
In the name of the One who saw all as human,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts or the Day
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have never fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War general (1820-1891)
Soon all of you immortals will be as dead as we are!
Come on then, what are you waiting for? Have you run out of thunderbolts?
From The Trojan Women, by Euripides (480-407 BCE)
Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other one also.
Jesus in Luke 6: 27-29