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ON THE SUBJECT OF WAR

Today is Memorial Day, so it is appropriate that I blog about war. There aren’t a lot of people around me who support the current war in Iraq. I live in a big city, work with mostly African-Americans, and live in the shadow of a major university. So I hear a lot of opposition to President Bush and don’t bump into too many conservatives.

The Memorial Day weekend has caused me to contemplate the nature of war and my opinion of war. Many of my liberal friends have told me they appreciate hearing from me because it’s not often they hear an intelligent person defending the conservative position. I realize there’s a subtle dig in there, but I take the compliment nonetheless. So I hope my musings can be of service to those who wrestle through these issues like I do.

To begin with, I am certainly not a hawk and would probably consider myself a dove; given the ravages of war, you have to be a pretty hard person to relish warfare, and I’m not. I also understand the financial cost war imposes on societies, and that there is an opportunity cost involved, for a dollar spent on warfare is a dollar that can’t be spent on something else of societal benefit, like public education or health care or hunger eradication. I also understand the emotional cost war imposes on societies, in the form of traumatized soldiers and widows and orphans and shattered communities, and I don’t wish those costs be borne by any country or any generation.

But I also worry when I hear certain anti-war statements being uttered. Liberal movie stars wonder why we all just can’t get along. Peace-loving Christians condemn military might as an arrogant way to reconciliation. Poor people lament all the money spent on weapons when so much good could be done with that money in our own neighborhoods.

Maybe I’m being jaded or haughty or callous, but I find these sentiments somewhat naïve and potentially dangerous. It is incorrect to say that “we” are the “good guys” and “they” are the “bad guys,” but it is also incorrect to look past the intolerance and brutality that is being incubated by global terrorist networks against America. It is true that the Bible shows us a way to peace that does not involve weapons and force, but it is also true that the Bible records many instances of God’s people using weapons and force en route to peace. Certainly, a dollar spent in Iraq is one less dollar that can be spent here in the US, but to question why we should spend overseas when there are so many problems domestically is to be oblivious to the fact that our world is increasingly interconnected and that it is impossible to shut out the world outside our borders.

Ultimately, I seek to look at war from a Christian standpoint, and in doing so, here’s what I’ve come up with. One, war is a cruel inevitability of this side of glory, and one of the things that will make heaven so great is that there will be no more of it. Death is the same way, and Christians that glorify either war or death are wrong.

Two, God is God of all people and places, and so to say that we should or shouldn’t go to war because it is the Christian thing to do reflects a false Americentrism that we Americans are quite good at. No wonder the world finds us arrogant. The US is not the center of God’s perspective and universe; God is the center of God’s perspective and universe. If we want to be Christian in our view of war, we should balance our perspective with His and with that of others.

And three, while it is proper to have a less US-centric understanding of God’s perspective on war, ultimately we have to form opinions and make decisions from a particular perspective. As Christians, we can wish all we want that nations didn’t need militaries because we shouldn’t have wars and we should be able to find more peaceful ways to resolve our conflicts. But as Americans, we should respect that some of our taxes support a military whose job is to defend us here and promote peace abroad, for such are tasks that need to be performed and for which our government ensures that they are performed. Safeguarding national security and punishing violent terrorists are, like enforcing laws and locking up criminals, tasks that just governments ought to do justly, tasks of which Christian citizens ought to appreciate the importance.

Today, we celebrate those who served our country, particularly those who currently endure hardships and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in their line of duty. Memorial Day is not a Christian holiday, it is an American holiday. Many of those whom we honor and many of us who are doing the honoring are Christian, though, and we have a Christian perspective on war. Today, as a Christian and an American, I choose to celebrate Memorial Day – I choose to honor the living and the dead who have served in the US military – by acknowledging their role as necessary, thanking God for those who conducted themselves with honor and integrity, and appreciating their sacrifices in the name of protecting our country and promoting world peace.