Reminding Myself that I’m Actually a Doctrinaire Pacifist

Yes, our media is biased. Yes, this whole war is unquestionably immoral. These things are true because we, as a society, are afraid. We know we should pursue policies that build relationships, but in the end we’re afraid, (sometimes with very good reason), that others won’t. Thus our reliance on violence. We also know that the same thing is true for Iran and its media. They are afraid, (sometimes with very good reason), that we won’t act out of a desire for peaceful coexistence. (This weekend being a case in point.)

So here we are again, just like the last time, whenever that time was, and the time before that and the time before that. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Canaanites, the Amalekites, the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans—all of them on the junk heap of history, buried under the remnants of all the empires that followed, came to this moment too. It’s like we, all of us, Iran, the West, all of us, including those who went before, don’t even realize our actions perpetuate an unending cycle of violence. Or, much more likely, we do know; it’s just we think it’s inevitable—to think otherwise . . . is to be naïve.

This is why pacifism is the only way forward. The cycle stops when we stop it and not before, period. “Here I stand,” said I as a younger man.

But now what do I do about Russia’s war on the Ukrainians?  What do I do about the atrocities perpetrated in that war? What about the half million+ Ukrainian and 1 million+ Russian casualties? The purist pacifist stance would say, “Let Russia roll in and take control. Ultimately the people, once they’ve given up on violent revolt, will try it Ghandi’s way. When they do, the Russian Empire will collapse under the moral weight placed upon its shoulders.” That’s the Jesus on the cross move. Shit, I’m not sure I can get there. So I’m left with some semblance of “Just War Theory,” as if there could be such a thing. When I look at what we’re doing in Iran, which can be justified, (though I don’t), on the theory the Iranians in power are mean, awful people who hate us and want to destroy us, I think, “Let’s stand on pacifism no matter the cost;” then I look at Ukraine and think, “Hell no.”

Some General on West Wing, (actually it was Aaron Sorkin), said, “All wars are crimes.” He’s right. Detrich Bonhoeffer, a doctrinaire pacifist, justified his participation in an attempted assassination plot on Adolf Hitler. (It was unsuccessful and Bonhoeffer was executed shorty before the end of the war.) He said, in effect, “It was a sin to participate; it was wrong and I knew it was wrong. And yet, I heard with incredible clarity, the voice of God saying, “You must participate.” But was it my God speaking? I needed to be prepared to accept the consequences of judgement for my actions. (By which he meant “God’s judgement.”) Then he remembered what Martin Luther had said in a different context. “Sin boldly and depend on the grace of God more boldly still.” (Bonhoeffer didn’t put it in those words. That’s my summary of the book he wrote to explain it.)

Is that what I’m called to do? Decide in the moment which wrong actions the Spirit is calling me to support and which to resist with all my heart? It feels almost impossible in a world where such decisions would necessarily need to be made the moment we allocate funds to purchase weapons. And yet, hear I stand, a doctrinaire pacifist prepared to “sin boldly” as I discern the movement of the Spirit in this, as of yet, imperfect creation.

But given that, I think it might be a good idea to remind myself from time to time that if this is the ground on which I stand, I should really spend more time seeking wisdom from the Spirit, aka. The Prince of Peace.