The alternatives of the Christian community have been abandoned in the world of war. The Church, as it so often has since the days of Constantine, simply caves and accomodates and , in some cases, justifies through manipulation of theological arguments, the policies of their government as “God-led”.

The following is helpful fodder for refelection on the idea that there is an alternative that has been largely abandoned; indeed, even “forgotten” and pushed to the periphery as the world of violence has desensitized us and pushed us toward the “acceptance” of this as truth and “the way things are”; and so we say “That’s war”, as if this is not approachable from an ethiocal framework, much less a radical ethic; a “nonsense” ethic such as that of Jesus (“nonsense” as the world sees it).

One often hears those in the Religious Right rant about “worldliness”, and yet seem totially blind to the invasion of this sickness in to their own theology. This , to me, is the most dangerous and blasphemous worldliness, becuase it tunrs a blind eye to the most destructive violence; the most murderous violence, and the forsaking of the “value of life” itself. And yet the Church somehow finds a way to continue to be clueless and abandon the way of peace that Jesus proclaimed, and had proclaimed by the announcers of his birth (he shall be called “Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Mighty God”. This is sung over and over, and yet we miss it completely. When I say we, I am talking about the “American” aspect and the “Church” aspect, in which both I claim membership and citizenship, but am deeply troubled about the way in which each have forsaken their deepest roots and ultimate meaning.

In the Face of War, Sojourners Magazine/January 2005

Pacifists argue the nonexceptional rejection of killing violence and do so on both ethical-prudential and theological grounds. The ethical-prudential argument is that lethal violence is self-defeating for society in the long run and usually the short run as well. It breeds relationships that generate estrangement, work from grudges and promote revenge, dehumanize the parties involved, and issue in further violence, which then tends to spiral and escalate. The theological argument is that Christians are called to a community whose way of life should not include killing any whom God regards as unqualifiedly precious and for whom God suffers in patient love; and there is no one for whom this is not the case. God is never glorified by our violence and our humanity is never honored through it.