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Pacifism and Just War Theory
by Rev. Dr. David Anderman
March 23,2003

Today we are doing different things in our two worship services. In the ten o'clock service we are having Youth Sunday with some of our young people taking part in the service and presenting a play during the sermon time. For this service, in light of the events in our world this week, I am going to give you a little bit of how the Christian tradition has viewed participation in war.

Before I get into that I want to mention three things. First, I am not taking a position on the war in Iraq in this sermon. I do have a position, and will be glad to share it at another time. Today I hope to share with you some of the tools we have to use in thinking about the morality of war.

The second preliminary is to remind ourselves that responsible, thinking Christians can disagree on some issues. None of us has a direct pipeline to God, direct knowledge of God's will for us and our world. We use our knowledge of the scriptures, Christian tradition, and the contemporary world to make the best decisions we can. But we approach this task with humility, aware of our imperfections and shortcomings. And so we are respectful of those who come to different conclusions than we do.

The third preliminary is to remember that no responsible voice in the Christian tradition has argued that war is good. War is not good; war is evil. The question to be decided is whether or not, in certain limited times and circumstances, war is the lesser evil.

I'll repeat that question: Is war the lesser of two evils? Or we might ask: Can war ever be the lesser of two evils?

Within Christianity, within the United Church of Christ, and even within our congregation, we have two streams of thought about war. Pacifism says that war is never the lesser of two evils. Just war theory says that there are times when war is the lesser evil. Proponents of both views base their positions on the scriptures.

Pacifism is based on passages like the Beatitudes, where Jesus says, �Blessed are the peacemakers,� and on the example of Jesus' life. Pacifism looks to the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament, �Thou shalt not kill.� The early Christian church, for around the first 300 years, was pacifist. Early Christians faced persecution and great hardship for their faith, and responded non-violently.

I think Christian pacifism is the easiest position to understand intellectually. It's very simple to say that violence is just plain wrong, whether between individuals or among nations. Pacifism is the easiest to understand, but the hardest to put into practice in our world.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about how pacifists respond to violence or the threat of violence. Turning the other cheek is surely one option. But Christian pacifism is not only about responding non-violently to violent actions. Christian pacifists also work actively to remedy injustices which invariably lead to at least the temptation to violence. Two of the best known Christian pacifist organizations are the American Friends' Service Committee and the Mennonite Central Committee. Another group is the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which includes people from many denominations and has chapters in all the mainline churches, including the United Church of Christ. The two best-known pacifist leaders of the last hundred years are Gandhi, who was not Christian but was inspired by Jesus' teachings, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Our government has recognized that some citizens have conscientious objections to war and military service and has provided for alternative ways of service when there has been a draft. The Christian just war position is more complicated intellectually. It developed later in the Christian tradition � after Christianity had grown to the point of becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire. Then the Roman Empire can under attack from what were called 'barbarian hordes' in my high school history books, and responsible Christian leaders wrestled with the question of whether or how Christians could participate in the defense of their country. Some people are drawing parallels between this time period and our own.

Augustine was the theologian and church leader who is best remembered now for his thinking on just war issues, among many other areas of influence. Augustine was a bishop and a citizen of the Roman Empire. He asked himself if a Christian could ever, in good faith, participate in the killing involved in warfare. Later, in the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas, following Augustine's lead, developed a list of three conditions for a war to be considered just: a proper, rightful authority (government) needs to declare war; the cause being fought for needs to be just; and those involved in the combat must have the right intentions, to avoid an evil or achieve a good. Later, the list of three conditions was expanded to also cover some conditions on how a just war was to be conducted, for example not involving civilians and non-combatants.

In recent years, just war theorists have wrestled with issues related to technological development of weaponry. Some have concluded that no modern war can be just because of the character of modern warfare, thus coming close to the pacifist position. Others, probably the majority, have argued that in the modern world we face greater evils. World War II is often referred to as a just war in modern times, with the caveat that some actions, like the bombing of Dresden and Nagasaki and Hiroshima, were not justified.

Within our congregation we have people who were raised in churches strongly committed to Christian pacifism, and we have people who have served or are serving in the armed forces. Our congregation is not unlike the United Church of Christ as a whole. The UCC supports those of its members who conscientiously object to war and those who participate in the US armed forces, even supplying a number of active duty and reserve chaplains.

I hope that as we discuss this issue we can do so in an atmosphere of respect for differing opinions. Whatever our personal convictions, we can learn from each other and deepen our faith. And most importantly, whether we are pacifists or just war, we can join together in prayers for peace and justice and a quick end to active warfare.
Amen

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