Table of Contents | Just as I concluded my musings on the issue of war as an avenue to meaning, I picked up Martin Marty's recent volume of Context and began to thumb through it absent-mindedly (in my case an effortless exercise!). Mirabile dictu! He wanted me to "get real about war." According to Adam Gopnick (in his article in The New Yorker for August 23, 2004), "wars are always, in Lincoln's perfectly chosen word, astounding. They produce results that we can hardly imagine when they start. It is not that wars are always wrong. It is that wars are always wars, good for destroying things that must be destroyed...but useless for doing anything more and no good at all for doing cultural work: saving the national honor, proving that we're not a second-rate power, avenging old humiliations, demonstrating resolve or any of the rest of the empty vocabulary of self-improvement through mutual slaughter...." In his article for The Progressive Christian (May/June 2007) Peter Laarman describes what he sees as "crimes against Iraqi civilians committed by our troops, the abuse and neglect of those same troops by those who repeatedly deployed them, the wholesale looting of 'reconstruction' funds, the disgraceful treatment of wounded veterans, the refusal of the United States to grant asylum to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives to help our forces there, and the horrific region-wide blowback generated by our invasion and occupation of a country we still know nothing about: all these awful truths about Iraq far surpass the normal costs and consequences of war." That's a description of empire gone awry and something else is needed. But our leaders must set aside that "empty vocabulary" before the new can be envisioned. I set those jarring words aside and began to realize that another part of the equation is more than a condemnation of war. Violence may be completely profane and completely distant from my notions for resolving global misunderstandings. Yet, that's not enough. I am utterly convinced that the U.S. needs a new vision for peace and security based on preventing conflict and seeking alternatives to war. That new vision requires "international cooperation, the elimination of weapons proliferation, the promotion of human rights and addressing root causes of terrorism." I have come to this conclusion because I am troubled by terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the rumors of violence that sweep the globe. Thus, it is bewildering as well as exceedingly difficult to determine what faith demands. When this need to be secure and safe overwhelms one because of the constant bombardment of troubling and negative news reports, it is tempting to give uncritical allegiance to our government and to trust our government for safety. This temptation becomes even more plausible when governmental views are given articulate and passionate expression by George W. Bush, Dick Chaney and Donald Rumsfield. Surely, they wouldn't mislead! Yet, they have. I can't ignore what the One I seek to follow said, as I understand his words, namely, that I must give "to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar." How am I to know what "belongs to Caesar" or my country? Does this mean that I must follow, without criticism, decisions that seem to conflict with our vocation to which Jesus referred when he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers?" I have major reservations about "a pre-emptive strike" as a policy of government. And, in view of the inability to find "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq, a claim that justified and triggered the war, that same reluctance has been intensified. My reservations remain. And my struggle to be faithful to gospel and loyal to country continues unabated. I am grateful for this country and for those who see that I am free and safe. But the yearning for security must not negate the dream or vision of peace and justice. In fact, that longing should serve to intensify our commitment to keep on seeking that new vision wherein alternatives to war and deadly conflict occupy our every effort. Peace isn't just the absence of war. It involves careful atttention to each other and the mutual respect of peoples and nations. Peace and justice and human rights are inter-related. "A new vision" is essential. These perilous times demand it. One view or "new vision" is described by Barack Obama in The Audacity of Hope. He articulates his perspective in that book by describing what he sees when he visits the Lincoln Memorial at night. The great shrine is lit and he says he stands between marble columns and, then, imagines "the crowd stilled by Dr. Martin Luther King's mighty cadence, and then beyond that, to the floodlit obelisk and shining Capitol dome. And in that place," he muses, "I think about America and those who built it....and those who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation...." In a time when this country is divided over Iraq, domestic issues and the "vision" of the present administration, his thought soars. That book is filled with Senator Obama's elegant vision of the country he loves. It is obvious to him that something new is essential. His vision of a new day is one possibility. That's what I yearn to see. Since writing this brief word about Senator Obama the Christian Century for May 29, 2007, has published a review of his book The Audacity of Hope as well as an insightful story of a visit to the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where Barack Obama is a member. The review begins by noting, "The Obama phenomenon is hurtling past the best analogies that we have for it. Three years ago Barack Obama shot onto the national political scene with a sensational speech at the Democratic National Convention." The review is written by Gary Dorrien, a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. It is so thorough that you may be tempted to ignore reading the book! A grievous mistake you don't want to make! So if you wish to purchase it you can do so through the advertisement on this page of my web site. |