The Bishop of Wolverhampton has used a pastoral letter published in parish magazines across the Diocese of Lichfield to call into question the notion of a “just war”. He tells parishioners in Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire and much of the Black Country that “a ‘just’ war or conflict should be almost a contradiction in Christian terms. WWII being, for many of us, a compelling reason for the ‘almost.’”
He said: “History has a habit of judging the motives for warrior behaviour unkindly. That is as it should be from the perspective of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and from the thrust of the Judaeo-Christian tradition.”
He said: “Conviction of rightness inspires warrior behaviour. Tony Blair was unquestionably convinced of the rightness of going to war in Iraq on account of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and the need to effect regime change. But there were no weapons of mass destruction and the price of regime change has been the destruction of a country, and millions left either dead, maimed, orphaned or widowed.
“The new regime shares some features with the old. Amnesty International has drawn attention to the widespread use of torture in Iraq and both judicial and extra judicial killings. It is illegal to be a member of a trade union, just as it was under Saddam.”
But the Bishop doesn’t single out the Iraq War for criticism in his letter; which also cites the Church’s own violent past in the conflict between Protestants and Roman Catholics following the Reformation. But he says much has changed:
“This month Pope Benedict visits our country as an honoured guest and revered spiritual leader. He will pray with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The very real differences in order and practice between our churches will be subordinate to the greater unity in faith. We have come a long way in these three hundred years.
He adds: “Current issues within the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion inevitably inspire warrior behaviour on the part of those, on all sides of the arguments, convinced of their rightness. In these coming months and years we will have to remind ourselves, time and again, of the need to question convictions which we may believe to be absolute and be open to understanding others’ points of view. For, as David had to be reminded, it is not warrior hands that are fit for building God’s temple.”
His reference to David is from the Old Testament account in 1 Chronicles where God informs King David that because he is a warrior he is disqualified from building the great Temple he has envisioned. That privilege must pass to the un-bloodied hands of his son, Solomon.
ENDS
NOTE: The full text of the Bishop’s letter follows:
Warrior Hands can’t build God’s Temple
Near the beginning of Joseph Conrad’s famous novel, ‘Heart of Darkness’, the narrator reminds his listeners that Britain too has been ‘one of the dark places of the earth’ and he goes on to cite as evidence the atrocities committed during the Roman conquest.
He might equally have mentioned the religious persecutions of the 16th and 17th centuries which cast a terrifying shadow over this country. I was reflecting on these recently while on retreat in the idyllic setting of Llantarnam Abbey in Gwent. Now inhabited by the Sisters of St Joseph, Llantarnam is a haven of prayerful tranquillity and a place of ecumenical hospitality. Relations with the local Church of Wales congregation at St. Michael’s are very good, only recently members attended a quiet day at the Abbey.
But just a few life times ago it was all so different. In the late 17th century legislation against Catholicism was very severe and any Catholic priest in active ministry did so at risk of his life. So it was that Fr David Lewis, having carried out a clandestine ministry in the area for 30 years, was finally captured (just outside the Abbey grounds), interrogated and then executed for his faith. While I was at Llantarnam a Mass was being advertised to commemorate the 331st anniversary of the martyr’s death. I was only sorry it did not coincide with my visit.
I did however attend the Wednesday Eucharist at the pre-Reformation church of St Michael, and the Old Testament lesson was from 1 Chronicles where God informs King David that because he is a warrior he is disqualified from building the great Temple he has envisioned. That privilege must pass to the un-bloodied hands of his son, Solomon. That reading must have been heard in that very church at just the time when blood was being shed by religious ‘warriors’, convinced that their interpretation of Christian faith and practice was exclusively right.
Conviction of rightness inspires warrior behaviour. Tony Blair was unquestionably convinced of the rightness of going to war in Iraq on account of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction and the need to effect regime change. But there were no weapons of mass destruction and the price of regime change has been the destruction of a country, and millions left either dead, maimed, orphaned or widowed. The new regime shares some features with the old. Amnesty International has drawn attention to the widespread use of torture in Iraq and both judicial and extra judicial killings. It is illegal to be a member of a trade union, just as it was under Saddam.
History has a habit of judging the motives for warrior behaviour unkindly. That is as it should be from the perspective of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and from the thrust of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. A ‘just’ war or conflict should be almost a contradiction in Christian terms. WWII being, for many of us, a compelling reason for the ‘almost’.
Llantarnam offered a window on the past which was sobering, but also reason for celebration and instruction. This month Pope Benedict visits our country as an honoured guest and revered spiritual leader. He will pray with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The very real differences in order and practice between our churches will be subordinate to the greater unity in faith. We have come a long way in these three hundred years.
Current issues within the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion inevitably inspire warrior behaviour on the part of those, on all sides of the arguments, convinced of their rightness. In these coming months and years we will have to remind ourselves, time and again, of the need to question convictions which we may believe to be absolute and be open to understanding others’ points of view. For, as David had to be reminded, it is not warrior hands that are fit for building God’s temple.