Mary Lord on the Friends Peace Testimony -- 4
War Does Not Work
This is, of course, the way of war. Once started, wars are almost impossible to control. They tend to spread. There are always unintended consequences. We cannot know where the path we are now on will lead. What we do know is that hatred and greed always breed violence, and that violence always begets violence.
Pacifism has been called naïve and unpatriotic. But I ask you, which is the greater naiveté—to believe that the frustrating but productive path of using and strengthening international law is the path of safety, or to believe that a never-ending worldwide war against loosely defined terrorism fought with weapons of mass destruction will make us safe and secure in our gated communities?
The path of war is always, as history proves, the more naïve. War almost never works. Even when it seems to, for a short time, or after a long struggle, it is with a horrific cost of life, and property, and treasure, and the fouling of the earth, and the killing if its creatures. Almost always, similar ends could have been achieved through negotiation or international law and peacekeeping, with far less cost.
In the end, even when war seems to work, as in World War II for the Allies, it is because of the quality of the peace that followed. In WWI, the soldiers were just as brave, but the peace was an excuse for revenge, and it led in a generation to Hitler and another greater war.
For some months as I have been preparing my talk, I have been drawn to the prophet Habakkuk. It is a very small book—only three chapters. In the first chapter Habakkuk complains to God, as only Hebrew prophets can, that injustice and violence are everywhere. How long, the prophet asks God, before you will act? I thought I was supposed to use that chapter as my text tonight, and I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t working. But I discovered I was supposed to use Chapter 2, God’s response to the prophet’s complaint. I want to read part of it to you.
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves, and collect all peoples as their own.
Habakuk 2:1-8 (NRSV)
I think the message is very clear. Those who live by greed and violence, and that characterizes us more than we want to admit, will find our own violence turned against us. The path of war will be disastrous for the US as well as for the many peoples who live in lands labeled "terrorist".
I have a close friend who has served in the White House and National Security Council in two previous Administrations. She told me she was frightened of the whirlwind this country is sowing. If you travel in Europe, or the Middle East, or Asia, or Africa, or almost anywhere outside the US, you will find many experienced statesmen frightened about the forces this war is unleashing.
It is a frightening time—and I have said nothing about the damage already done at home—not just in New York and Washington, but also to our psyches, to our democracy with the shocking attack on civil liberties and democracy, to the immigrants and refugees among us, to our economy as we transfer more tens of billions to the Pentagon and the wealthy.