Confronting the Powers that Be: Beyond Pacifism and Just War (Session 8)

"a direct expression of the nature of God and of the new reality breaking into the world from God." (TPTB 128)

That usually disregarded of Jesus' commandments, "Love your enemies," undercuts and invalidates the myth of redemptive violence once and for all.

For three centuries most Christians refused to serve in the army. But when Constantine recognized the faith as the established religion, as Wink remarks, it represented

"a weaponless victory of the empire over the gospel." (TPTB 129)

...when the church that had stood up nonviolently to the brutal repression of the Roman Empire found itself strangely victorious, it naively assumed the role of court chaplain to an empire eager for its support. It is as if Satan, unable to defeat the church by violence, surrendered to the church and became its ward. The price the church paid, however, was embracing violence as a means of preserving empire. But the removal of nonviolence from the gospel blasted the keystone from the arch, and Christianity collapsed into a religion of personal salvation in an afterlife jealously guarded by a wrathful and terrifying God--the whole system carefully managed by an elite corps of priests with direct backing from secular rulers now regarded as the elect agents of God's working in history. (ETP 217)

Christians, claiming to worship the Prince of Peace, then had to producesome justification for war. This took the form of the so-called Just War Theory. For a Christian to participate, a war had to fulfill certain conditions:

1. The war must have a just cause.
2. It must be waged by a legitimate authority.
3. It must be formally declared.
4. It must be fought with a peaceful intention.
5. It must be a last resort.
6. There must be a reasonable hope of success.
7. The means used must possess proportionality to the end sought.

Three additional conditions must be met regarding conduct permissible during warfare:
1. Noncombatants must be given immunity.
2. Prisoners must be treated humanely.
3. International treaties and conventions must be honored. (TPTB 1152-3)

Wink suggests we call these principles "violence-reduction criteria," and no longer talk about just wars, while also recognizing that the word "pacifism" sounds too much like "passivity." Here both advocates of just war and of nonviolence can agree on certain points:

1. Both acknowledge that nonviolence is in principle preferable to violence.
2. Both agree that the innocent must be protected as much as possible.
3. Both reject any defense of a war motivated solely by a crusade mentality or national interests or personal egocentricity.
4. Both wish to persuade states to reduce the levels of violence.
5. Both wish to hold war accountable to moral values, before, during and after the conflict. (TPTB 140)

Christian nonviolence is not passive, but it is often coercive. It forcesthe oppressors to make decisions they don't want to make, just as Jesus did.

...the church's own witness should be understandable by the smallest child: we oppose violence in all its forms. And we do so because we reject domination. That means, the child will recognize, no abuse or beatings. That means, the woman will hear, no rape or violation or battering. That means, men will come to understand, no more male supremacy or war. That means, everyone will realize, no more degradation of the environment. (TPTB 144)

For Discussion

2. Why is there such opposition in the United States to the United Nations after a half century?

opyright © 1998 by Vern Rossman