How are people of faith to understand and to act in this time of war? As we stand in the abyss of war, we need to mourn for the tragedy in which we are complicit. We need to publicly process our feelings of grief. And we need to move beyond these feelings to positive action.
First, we should not provide religious justification for this war. Now is the time to meditate, pray and seek to align our will with the will of divine justice and love. We are also people of hope. We hope the war will be short. We hope that those who serve in the military will come home safely. We hope that after the war our leaders will provide new statesmanship and recommit to diplomacy and the world community of nations.
We can also act. We can imagine, educate, study, listen, write and talk. We can keep vigorous debate, critical thinking and dialogue alive on our campuses. We can join with others to work actively to create a just peace. Where appropriate, we can join with others in ways of nonviolent dissent. We can maintain a decent humility and acknowledge we do not know it all. We can try to avoid getting trapped in negativity. There is much positive work to do, now more than ever. There are resources in our non-violent spiritual traditions and in our true democracies that can help us envision and create a different future.
We all agree that Saddam should be stopped. But the way we got into this war is problematic.
The president, following the advice of a small group of hawks, chose a unilateral approach, abrogated international treaties and undermined the United Nations. The administration acted arrogantly toward our allies and other countries, ignored related issues such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, further jeopardized our national security by risking a wider war and now risks creating even more terrorists. Even when we "win" we will lose because violence always creates more violence.
President George W. Bush dismissed - refused even to meet with - leaders of the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches urging continuing diplomacy. He ignored the anti-war rallies attended by millions of people across the globe. Now, we have violated our own deepest national and religious values by starting a pre-emptive or preventative war. Indeed, our leaders have dismissed our tradition of a "just war" and simultaneously rejected the pacifist witness that is one honorable part of our religious heritage.
We cannot know the consequences of the war we have unleashed, but we can imagine.
Truth will be probably among the first casualties, just as it has been all along. But people of faith need to be truth tellers in a world full of lies. Civil liberties will also be curtailed as citizens' rights are sure to be further disregarded. Those of us who dissent out of love for our country may be labeled traitors. Patriotism will be further confused with true religion. The cross and the flag will be waved together, thus subverting the real integrity of each. Innocent people - civilians, women and children - will be killed in violation of a just war. We will spend billions on war while we cannot afford to school our children or provide health care for many of our own citizens. At the same time, Bush will continue to push a tax cut to benefit the richest among us. We will not enact a realistic plan for a post-war Iraq because we won't design one. Commercial interests will benefit from others' misery.
Now our focus must be on ending the war and helping to create a different future.
We can forgive our enemies, even in a time of war, as asked by the Prince of Peace. We can look and listen for the compassionate, healing, humanity-building, justice and peace-making presence of God somehow still in the midst of everything and try to join our best efforts to that activity. We can disavow all talk of "holy war" and labeling others as "evil." We can try to be honest about the darker feelings of violence within our own hearts. We can provide safe spaces and prayer settings for people to come together for mutual support. We can support policies more likely to lead to non-violent solutions and to provide creative alternatives to war. We can affirm that God blesses all peoples and nations.
Mark Rutledge is campus pastor for the United Church of Christ and a member of the religious life staff at Duke University Chapel.
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