War is incompatible with the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ

The title of this blog entry is the title of a 1930 resolution passed by all the bishops of the Anglican Communion gathered in England for the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference. It was between the two world wars and nations were stockpiling armaments once again in such large quantities that the same resolution said,

The Conference believes that the existence of armaments on the present scale amongst the nations of the world endangers the maintenance of peace, and appeals for a determined effort to secure further reduction by international agreement.

This resolution is one of a collection assembled by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship for at a web page called Cross before Flag as it affirms the 1933 resolution of the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church which said,

It is our duty as disciples of the Prince of Peace to insist upon policies that are consistent with the maintenance of equity, fair dealing and the sanctity of pacts and agreements among races and peoples. We are bound by every solemn obligation to wage unremitting war against war. An excess of nationalism or an attitude of detached unconcern for the ills of other nations, together with the building up of an armed force beyond reasonable national needs, deprives us of any opportunity to be a conserver of the world's peace. Love of country must be qualified by love of all mankind; patriotism is subordinate to religion. The Cross is above the flag. In any issue between country and God, the clear duty of the Christian is to put obedience to God above every other loyalty.

Some call the present unrest the beginnings of World War III. I may well be wrong, but I do not think that's where we are, even if it could be where we are heading. And for someone who feels strongly about supporting our troops in a tangible way, perhaps resolutions about peace could seem not contradictory, but overly naïve. But that is the call of Jesus Christ to naïvely stand for peace as the world postures toward war. To support peace knowing that God is on the side of peace.

Just War theory only works if one sees all wars as evil, even if war could become a necessary evil. Knowing that the world was rising toward the point of war, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church wrote in 1931,

Peace will never come without preparation, effort, risk and sacrifice.

This is still true. War exacts a heavy toll, even on non-combatants. There is cost either in war or peace. The cost of peace is determining the root causes leading toward war and dealing honestly with those injustices. This is part of what the House of Bishops wanted to address in 1940 in stating,

Nations as well as individuals must be united in a law-governed society. There can be no enduring peace except that which is grounded on the eternal justice of God. We deplore the persistent persecution of helpless peoples, either because of race or religion, as contrary to the Christian doctrine that God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the whole earth.

It is never the easy path to press for peace. What a greater weight of responsibility our soldiers have now in Iraq and Afghanistan as they seek to bring peace to those nations torn apart by war. It was easier to conquer their leadership and its armies than to pacify all of the people. The path to peace in those nations will be to make room for those peoples to create just societies which honors all of its citizens. The same is true for Israel and its neighbors. This is not to say that I have the solution. Instead I just wanted to restate the problem, knowing that war is messy and imprecise and can never fully be just.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church

note: for those of other denominational backgrounds, you will find some more information at:
Pax Christi a Roman Catholic peace group
Lutheran Peace Fellowship
Peace & Justice Support from the Mennonite Church
and Baptist Peace Fellowship.