Category: Pondering Peace
Is War the Pathway to Peace?
In the early days after the United States and Israel started bombing Iran, a prominent U.S. senator spoke with approval regarding the escalating violence. “This regime is in its death throes. The amount of firepower coming in the next day or two from us is going to be overwhelming… The liberation of Iran is at hand. The gateway to peace is about to open.” Apparently many others in Congress agreed with him because the majority voted down the War Powers Resolutions on Iran that would have limited the U.S. President’s use of military power. But is war the way to attain peace? And what would Jesus have to say about this?
For us to better understand what Jesus might say, we need to look at the context or matrix in which he lived. The Roman empire dominated the Middle Eastern world at that time. The emperor Caesar Augustus had attained his power through military victory, and extended the reach of the empire through the violence of war. Conquered lands were regarded as sources of income and resources for developing the empire’s economic goals and enriching those in power, and therefore the people were heavily taxed and driven further into poverty. When discontent broke out into rebellion, it was brutally and violently put down. Subjugated lands were ruled by puppet kings put in place by Caesar, and in Israel, religious authorities collaborated with those in power to keep the people in line.
Having conquered the lands and kept them subjugated through repression, Caesar was celebrated for ushering in the Pax Romana, or Roman peace. His supporters proclaimed him to be the Son of God and Prince of Peace years before these titles were assigned to Jesus. Thus Roman imperial theology supported this approach to peace. As John Dominic Crossan describes it in his book God and Empire, their understanding was that the practice of religion and worshipping the appropriate gods secured a blessing for war that then resulted in victory and securing peace across the empire. This was a peace gained through the victory of war and maintained through the violent power of domination and repression.
As Jesus stood before the Roman ruler Pilate during his trial, he contrasted the kingdom of God with the normative type of kingdom in this world, such as that in which Pilate ruled. Jesus said, “If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over…” (John 18: 36, NRSV). The key differentiating characteristic of his kingdom was that it is nonviolent. His followers are not to be engaged in the violence of fighting, not even to protect Jesus.
This is entirely consistent with the teachings of Jesus and the life that he lived. He had expressed blessing and inclusion in the Kingdom of God of those who poor in spirit, nonviolent (or meek), hungry for justice, merciful, and peacemakers. He had taught them not to repay violence with violence but instead to simply stand their ground with dignity. He had taught them not only to love their neighbors, but also to love their enemies. When Jesus was being arrested and Peter rushed to defend him with a sword, Jesus told him to put it away with the words, “All who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 16:52, NRSV).
The pathway to peace that Jesus taught his followers is one in which the practice of religion includes a commitment to nonviolence and the earnest pursuit of justice for the most vulnerable. It is a peace that is attained through a distributive justice in which all have enough to live. Instead of the imperial use of the violent power of domination, Jesus taught the power of persuasion and nonviolent resistance.
Over the years, many have talked about the United States as being an empire. In his book The Sorrows of Empire (2004), Chalmers Johnson spoke of the United States as being “not an empire of colonies but an empire of bases” (23). With military bases in 80 countries and territories around the world and a military budget that is greater than the next nine countries combined, that assessment seems accurate. However, during this last year our current authoritarian president has been relentless in grasping to consolidate more power. His imperial ambitions appear to extend not only to an empire of bases, but also towards having what essentially can be regarded as colonies. The means by which he intends to accomplish this is through military violence and war, even as he proclaims himself to be a president of peace. And there are many who claim to be Christians who are cheering him on.
All of this shows clearly that the peace being pursued by the United States is the supposed “peace” of empire – a peace attained and maintained through violence. Military victory may appear to reduce conflict, but it actually is doing so only by repressing the people through threats of further violence. The U.S. President has spoken about how he anticipates an unconditional surrender by Iran because so many people will be dead that there may not be anybody left in leadership who can even speak the words of surrender. But massive death and destruction do not result in peace. They are instead the seeds for further hate, revenge, death, and devastation. War is never the answer to international disagreements and conflict. We only need to look at Gaza – another war that Israel engaged in with the help of the United States – to see the type of “peace” that comes from war. The Gazan people are barely surviving and have been left in desperate conditions, despair, chaos, and utter destruction.
The peace Jesus told us to seek is quite different from this and is best expressed by the Hebrew word shalom. It is not simply the absence of war, but is the wholeness and flourishing of all. It is based on a justice that results in everyone being equally treated with respect and having their basic needs met. It involves healthy relationships between people and with the economic, social, political, ecological, and religious systems that shape life. This is a peace that can only be gained through nonviolence and respectful involvement of all the people of the land. It is the peace that God longs for people and creation to enjoy.
So, what are those of us who seek to follow Jesus called to do? I believe we must follow Jesus in nonviolently resisting the tyranny that not only is scapegoating, hunting down, and mistreating many in this country but also is choosing to wage war on another country. War is evil. Already more than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, including over a hundred schoolgirls, each one precious and bearing the image of God.
There are many ways to resist this tyranny. One that needs the participation of us all is to take to the streets on No Kings Day and nonviolently protest the violence being perpetrated against the vulnerable and the war being waged in our name. We can understand this as part of our following Jesus, for he himself engaged in a planned nonviolent counterdemonstration when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with multitudes cheering him on while a Roman parade of warhorses entered the city on the other side.
We can also work toward a better future in which there will be a more just and inclusive democracy in our country. Despite the greatly disheartening events of these days, it is very encouraging that millions of people are embracing nonviolence as the best way forward. Even as Jesus picked up the prophetic vision of a peaceable kingdom and taught us the ways of the Kingdom of God, we can seek together to live out the compassion, love, nonviolence, equality, justice, and care for the most vulnerable that are characteristics of God’s will and reign.
Rev. Ruth Rosell, Ph.D.
Director of the Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita
Central Seminary, Overland Park, KS
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.