Church has no pacifist tradition

by Letters Editor · November 6, 2014

Fr Bonaventure Hinwood OFM, Pretoria

Due to the postal strike I have only recently seen Tony Magliano�s article �Can war ever be justified?� (September 10).�Certainly the �massive death and destruction� made possible by modern technology demands a rethink of the armed conflict issue.

"I did not come to bring peace but the sword." Matthew 10:34. Its clear that Jesus came to bring peace, but that peace is between man and God, not to mankind.

“I did not come to bring peace but the sword.” Matthew 10:34. Jesus did bring peace between man and God but his sword was the sword of division among mankind.

But the fact is that much of the Bible does not present God as a mild pacifist. Just a few of the points to consider:

� Israel�s military occupation of Palestine after the exodus from Egypt is sometimes presented as God�s success story.

� In places God is portrayed as David�s military ally in his expansionist wars to extend the size of his kingdom. This is even the hidden agenda behind some of the psalms.

� In the second book of Maccabees it is taken for granted that God is fighting with the Jews in their battles, some of which were blatant aggression, carried out with violence and cruelty to ordinary citizens.

� In the psalms used in the divine office, which priests and religious brothers and sisters are obliged to pray daily, God is frequently presented as a God who takes sides in conflict situations.

Are we Christians to repudiate all this and even cut out some of the psalms entirely as well as large pieces of others? Are we to reject those of the Church�s liturgical texts which we personally do not like?

The peace sayings of Jesus quoted in the article refer to personal relations and individual morality. Can they without more ado be applied to international politics?

Jesus also said other things which are not so peaceable: �It is not peace I have come to bring but the sword� (Mt 10:34); or in St Luke�s version, �Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division� (12:51).

The Church has no pacifist tradition. The attitude of the Christians of the first three centuries, mentioned in the article, is not a helpful argument, because, not being in a position of political power, they did not have to decide about a nation or even a large grouping of people going to war as a community.

The Church celebrates the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7 in memory of a Christian victory in a naval battle against the Muslims in what could be considered a just war of self-defence.

Some of the saints celebrated in the liturgy, for instance, St Lawrence of Brindisi and St John of Capistrano, are praised for rallying the Christian armies to drive the Muslims back out of eastern Europe.

I am not advocating aggression or armed conflict, but merely trying to point out that the issue is not as simple as north Atlantic pacifists like Mr Magliano would like to make out.