Where have all the real pacifists gone?
As a pacifist I find that I don't feel at home with much of what passes as the 'peace movement'. Why, you may ask? Because I don't believe they really beieve in non-violence. There are a couple of reasons I say this. One has been illustrated in the furor over David Ray Griffin's book Christian faith and the truth behind 9/11. People who claim to be for peace seemingly have to come up with these irrational conspiracy theories to prop up their opposition to war. Sure, there are inconsistencies in the 9/11 report and I am sure that there was a good bit of ass-covering sins of comission and omission. At the same time, however, when the allegations of what happened that Griffin and others allege are held up to rigorous scientific scrutiny. they don't really stand up(the experts cited in this Popular Mecahnics article here are a bit more impressive than Griffins).
I am against the war in Iraq, but that is because I am against war, not because I think George W. Bush is the anti-Christ. Which brings me to my other complaint. I have found more angry, bitter people in the 'peace movement' than just about anywhere else. They complain about the Right demonizing Islamic militants or communists, but the thihngs I hear them say about Bush, Republicans, conservative Christians, etc. is demonizing at its best. I see little of what is supposed to be the backbone of pacifism, passages like "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;" (Matthew 5:44-45a); "But if your enemy is hungry, feed them, and is they are thirsty, give them a drink...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:20-21). First of all, even though I am against the war I do not see Bush as my enemy, but even if I did, much of what comes out of the mouths or pens or keyboards of today's 'pacifists' doesn't even come close to the model that the scriptures present us with.
This will date me, but in high school I read a book by Alan Watts (does anyone read Alan Watts anymore?) who was an American convert to Budhissm who srote a number of popular books in the 60's. I liked his writing, but disagreed with a lor of what he said, but I was struck by one observations of his, (which is echoed in the Bible) that you can't bring peace to a situation, either as an indiviual or a nation, if you do not have peace yourself. I do not claim have achieved perfect peace myself by any means, and so I think all of us who say we are for peace should see if we have peace within oursleves, more specifically the peace that only comes from Christ living in us through His Spirit. If our words and attitudes do not reflect the peace that Christ calls us to, maybe we should just shut-up until we really have some peace to share. And if we really believe that what the scriptures say is true, that is all we need. It shouldn't require a huge, world-wide conspiracy for us to stand for peace.
As a pacifist I find that I don't feel at home with much of what passes as the 'peace movement'. Why, you may ask? Because I don't believe they really beieve in non-violence. There are a couple of reasons I say this. One has been illustrated in the furor over David Ray Griffin's book Christian faith and the truth behind 9/11. People who claim to be for peace seemingly have to come up with these irrational conspiracy theories to prop up their opposition to war. Sure, there are inconsistencies in the 9/11 report and I am sure that there was a good bit of ass-covering sins of comission and omission. At the same time, however, when the allegations of what happened that Griffin and others allege are held up to rigorous scientific scrutiny. they don't really stand up(the experts cited in this Popular Mecahnics article here are a bit more impressive than Griffins).
I am against the war in Iraq, but that is because I am against war, not because I think George W. Bush is the anti-Christ. Which brings me to my other complaint. I have found more angry, bitter people in the 'peace movement' than just about anywhere else. They complain about the Right demonizing Islamic militants or communists, but the thihngs I hear them say about Bush, Republicans, conservative Christians, etc. is demonizing at its best. I see little of what is supposed to be the backbone of pacifism, passages like "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;" (Matthew 5:44-45a); "But if your enemy is hungry, feed them, and is they are thirsty, give them a drink...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:20-21). First of all, even though I am against the war I do not see Bush as my enemy, but even if I did, much of what comes out of the mouths or pens or keyboards of today's 'pacifists' doesn't even come close to the model that the scriptures present us with.
This will date me, but in high school I read a book by Alan Watts (does anyone read Alan Watts anymore?) who was an American convert to Budhissm who srote a number of popular books in the 60's. I liked his writing, but disagreed with a lor of what he said, but I was struck by one observations of his, (which is echoed in the Bible) that you can't bring peace to a situation, either as an indiviual or a nation, if you do not have peace yourself. I do not claim have achieved perfect peace myself by any means, and so I think all of us who say we are for peace should see if we have peace within oursleves, more specifically the peace that only comes from Christ living in us through His Spirit. If our words and attitudes do not reflect the peace that Christ calls us to, maybe we should just shut-up until we really have some peace to share. And if we really believe that what the scriptures say is true, that is all we need. It shouldn't require a huge, world-wide conspiracy for us to stand for peace.
posted by Pastorjeff | 7:48 PM
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