I just saw an ad for a bumper sticker proclaiming: “Atheists don’t start wars.”  In our local newspaper, a recent letter to the editor stated: “Nonbelievers are the most politically defiled people in America, yet we neither create nor fight wars and kill people.”  And do you remember John Lennon’s song, “Imagine”?

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…

If we were all rational atheists, the common argument seems to run, violence would come to an end, and the world would finally be at peace. History, however, shows us otherwise. Here are just a few examples from the twentieth century:

• Stalin, a fanatical atheist, was responsible for the deaths of many millions of people: a common estimate is 20 million, although some have thought the number of victims to be as high as 60 million.

• Hitler knew how to use religious language when expedient, recasting Jesus in the image of an anti-Semitic Aryan fighter. Far from being a Christian, Hitler is quoted in Konrad Heiden’s A History of National Socialism as saying, “We do not want any other god than Germany itself. It is essential to have fanatical faith and hope and love in and for Germany.” And according to William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, what Hitler’s government envisioned was that eventually “the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals and chapels … and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.”

• Later in the twentieth century, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge (Cambodia) banned religion. The victims of his genocidal and anti-religious reign of terror are estimated to be around 1,700,000.

Sadly, though, too many people have indeed turned to violence in the name of God in whom there is no violence. (See “Who Would Jesus Torture?”)  Some of these sincerely believe that war is a righteous undertaking. (Even conceding the very rare situations when war may have been necessary or unavoidable, we must not forget that it remains an evil.)  Other makers of war may find in religion a convenient excuse for the violence already in their hearts and justification for the violent acts that they would do anyhow, with or without religion. (If this sounds farfetched, we might look into our own hearts, for I believe most of us carry, like a virus, the potential for violence, no matter how hidden.)

But despite the scandal of wars undertaken for “religious” reasons, to claim that belief in God causes war, or that without belief in God humanity would be peaceful, is to neglect the overwhelming evidence of human history.

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus said, “for they shall be called the children of God.” May all of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, be peacemakers for our troubled world.

May the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of Emmanuel, God-with-us, be yours during this holy season.

For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named
Wonderful Counsellor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)

Negative Witness

The results of the survey have been widely disseminated online, and have hardly offered an appealing image of the followers of the Prince of Peace.  Non-believers have highlighted this survey and pointed out the violence in the Old Testament stories as justification for their negative view of religion.

Some Christians, it is true, believe that every word of Scripture is to have equal weight.  They are unaware of the remarkable development in the Bible, as human beings, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, learn more and more about who God truly is.  The primitive stories of tribal violence give way to the prophetic voices of love and justice for all peoples, leading finally to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

“At the resurrection, what the apostolic group began to understand was that there is no violence in God, no wrath, no desire for retribution, no need for vengeance or satisfaction”

James Alison, “Befriending a Vengeful God,”
Encounter, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 24, 2004.

Let us pray

…that each of us as individuals and all of us as the mystical Body of Christ may take on the mind and heart of the merciful and loving God.

‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you

‘If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt

‘Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

‘Do to others as you would have them do to you.’  (Luke 6:27-31)

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father, who loved us
and through grace gave us
eternal comfort and good hope,
comfort your hearts and strengthen them
in every good work and word.
(2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

Let us pray for those who grieve, as well as for those who are suffering physically, psychologically, or spiritually from the attack on September 11, 2001.

Let us work for peace, so that violence may disappear from the earth.

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; …You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
(Matthew 5:38-39;43-45)

The closest Jesus comes to a violent action is chasing the moneychangers out of the temple, which can hardly be compared to dropping bombs on them. When Jesus is arrested, though, one of his companions, who had misunderstood the sword image Jesus had used (see Luke 22:36 ), cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Far from being pleased, Jesus says, “No more of this!” – and heals the ear (Luke 22:49-51).

In fact, the war imagery used in the New Testament has been flipped upside down so that it no longer points toward violence but toward faith and love.

“Put on the whole armor of God,” we read in Ephesians 6.

Yes, get ready to battle evil. But what is this armor? What are the weapons? Not something you could buy from a gun dealer or a military supply store.

Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
(Ephesians 6:14-17)

What we have here is a verbal beating of swords into plowshares. The earliest Christians understood this transformation and generally refused to serve in the army. What a long way we have come from our origins.

“It’s something you’d have to live with the rest of your life,” he said.

At the time, I was annoyed with him for casting doubt on my maturity and good sense, but today as I reflect on the war, this conversation comes back to me.

So I ask: Does the same hold true in a communal sense? Are the deaths that happen in war a burden which all of us and each of us will have to live with the rest of our lives?

A mass killer, a serial killer — and the terrorists are both of these — must be stopped. But no matter how just the cause, any violent act tends to defile the person who performs it. This is one reason among many why violence must be the last resort in any situation. Not only does it hurt the one on the receiving end, but it is almost inevitable that when we strike out with violence, we are ourselves diminished.

The U.S. bishops have said, “For resort to war to be justified, all peaceful alternatives must have been exhausted” (The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response, 1983). I don’t know for sure whether or not the bombing and ground invasion of Afghanistan are indeed the only viable alternatives, whether there is no other way to stop the murderers (though few others seem to have been tried). However, I do know that my heart is not at ease. When I ponder the probability of starvation and disease among the Afghan population this winter, I feel myself and our nation diminished. I believe it is true that we and the world will have to live with the consequences of this war for the rest of our lives, and I want our leaders to be very certain that it is the only means to peace with justice.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. . . . If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:27-28, 32)

The refrain goes like this:

Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

(Words and music: Kelso Carter, 1886)

For centuries, God’s people had been holding to the promise of the longed-for Messiah. Simeon, for one, was “looking forward to the consolation of Israel,” as Luke tells us (2:25). His consolation, and ours, comes with the birth of Jesus. Though his birth, life, death, and resurrection we claim the promises of God as firm, never to be broken. God’s promises can be relied upon even when we can’t rely on ourselves or on the strength of our own virtue or faith.

What are these promises? Obviously, God never promised us that all would be sweetness and light in this life. I asked Sister Elizabeth what she saw as the promises of God, and together we came up with the following list:

Mercy: tender mercy, restful mercy, challenging mercy

Peace: “not as the world gives,” says Jesus, but a more sturdy peace even in the midst of strife, a peace which takes root in our hearts and the world through mutual compassion and reconciliation

Love: a love that is creative, unending, unfailing, unconditional

Presence: God-with-us (Emmanuel) both when we are aware of it and when we are not, both when everything is going well and when life is so dark that the very existence of God seems unlikely

Fidelity: in Sister Elizabeth’s words, the promise of God is “to see us through to the other side of suffering and death” — a promise grounded in the Resurrection of the crucified Jesus Christ from the dead.

Here is verse 2 of “Standing on the Promises”:

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

__________

For in [Jesus] every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)