Religion, World Order, And Peace - Christian

8/7/2019 Religion, World Order, And Peace - Christian

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RELIGION, WORLD ORDER, AND PEACE

Christianity, War, and Peacemaking

James Heft1

All religions need to examine how they contribute to the common

good, which includes more people than those who follow a particu-

lar religion. The United Nations Secretary Generals recent invitation

to all religious and spiritual leaders to examine how they contribute to

creating a culture of justice and peace for the world community provides

an ideal opportunity for that examination. A central part of that culture

for Christians is their attitudes toward war and peacemaking. Those atti-

tudes have evolved dramatically over time, especially in the last century.

Christianity has gone through many changes with regard to war and

peacemaking, beginning with the first few centuries when Christians

refused to join Romes Imperial Army, to the first elaborations of the Just

War doctrines beginning in the third century, to the Crusades in the

medieval period, and to the present day when the largest single group ofChristians, Roman Catholics, officially have made the criteria for a just

war more difficult to meet than ever and have begun to elaborate the

requirements for peacemaking. Among themselves, however, the worlds

over two billion Christians continue to disagree on these matters, with

some groups supporting preemptive military actions and others paci-

fism.

Historically speaking, the position of Christians in the world has nodoubt affected their understanding of the morality of war and peacemak-


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a small minority tucked into the seams of the huge Roman Empire,

could adopt (without much notice) a pacifist position. But with the pas-

sage of time, however, Christians entered the military, and religiousleaders were forced to reflect more systematically on the morality of

armed conflict. Once Christianity had become the official religion of the

Roman Empire, Augustine (354430) elaborated a theory about when

war could be justified morally: namely as a response of love to a

neighbor who has been threatened by force.

Thomas Aquinas (12251274) developed the idea of the just war

further by legitimating self-defense as a reason for war. Throughout the

Middle Ages, however, popes themselves not only called for the Crusades

to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims, but also did not hesitate to

use force to protect their interests and to enforce their policies. It was

not until the papacy was forcibly stripped of the papal states by Italian

nationalists in 1870 that the popes exercise of power shifted dramati-

cally to the moral and spiritual dimensions of leadership. Pope Benedict

XV (19141922) tried unsuccessfully to end World War I and to create an

international alliance among the nations of the world. In 1944, a yearbefore President Truman approved the use of the atomic bomb over

Japan, an influential Jesuit moral theologian published an article that

condemned saturation bombing.

Pope John XXIII (19581963) initiated a richer and broader vision of

war and peacemaking when he reiterated in a fresh and compelling way

the need for an international body with responsibility for defining and

defending human rights. Just two years after Pope Johns death, his suc-

cessor, Pope Paul VI (19631978) spoke before the United Nations and

cried out, No more war, war never again! One of the documents of

Vatican II (19621965) flatly condemned total war and called for political

leaders, indeed all people of good will, to approach war with a totally

new attitude; that text (Gaudium et spes) also endorsed non-violent resis-

tance. In later encyclicals, Pope Paul identified the work for justice as

the basis for a lasting peace. From 1870 to 1978, therefore, a profound

shift had begun to take place in the Catholic teaching about war and

peacemaking.

J A M E S H E F T


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based his rethinking of Just War on his understanding of the freedom

and dignity of the human person, the centrality of human rights, and

the promotion of non-violent methods to bring about political and socialchange. For this pope, the centrality of the human person led him to

focus on the person of Jesus, especially as he suffered on the cross. He

believed that anyone who entered deeply into the sufferings of Jesus

would be in a better position than someone standing in the Realpolitik

school to discern the often narrow path between the cowardice which

gives in to evil and the violence which, under the illusion of fighting

evil, only makes it worse. More and more, after the Gulf War of 1991,

the pope spoke of the importance of non-violent means and the

demands of peacemaking. While never a pacifist, this pope, toward

the end of his papacy, promoted a theology of peacemaking of which

the theory of the just war is only a part. Increasingly after the genocide

in Rwanda, he spoke in favor of the use of force for humanitarian inter-

ventions. Perhaps the clearest expression of John Paul IIs transformation

of the traditional just war doctrine is his 2002 World Day of Peace Mes-

sage, No Peace without Justice, No Justice without Forgiveness. Inpreparation for the Year 2000, he repeatedly confessed the sins of the

Church over the centuries, including the use of violence in the service

of truth.

It is most likely that John Paul IIs own acute awareness of the devas-

tating consequences of war made him even more cautious to endorse

the traditional just war theory. Instead, he began to emphasize what a

number of ethicists have recently drawn attention to: not just to the jus

ad bellum (legitimate reasons for the use of force) and to the jus in bello

(how to conduct a war morally), but also to the jus post bellum (the obliga-

tion to forgive and rebuild after a war).

Benedict XVI (2005) has repeatedly insisted on religious freedom.

He has also defended the separation of Church and State, but not of

religion from society. In other words, religion should be free to influ-

ence, not control, public policy. Despite mistakenly quoting in a 2006

address a medieval ruler who denigrated Mohammad, Benedict

strongly argued that religion and violence should have nothing to do

C H R I S T I A N I T Y, W A R A N D P E A C E M A K I N G


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Finally, in accord with papal teaching, the American bishops have

consistently called for universal health care coverage (including undocu-

mented immigrants), the reform of insurance companies that deny cov-erage to people with preexisting illnesses, and an end to abortion.

Many mainline Protestant churches have supported the direction

taken by John Paul II. In contrast, fundamentalist and some evangelical

Christians have backed much less restrictive limits on the traditional

just war theory, especially when it comes to a military defense of Israel

and, in general, opposition to Muslims, whom many conservative Chris-

tians believe follow a false religion. The small but increasingly influen-

tial pacifist Christians (for example, Church of the Brethren, the

Mennonites and, after the example of pacifist Dorothy Day, Catholics)

continue to oppose all use of force. For their inspiration, pacifists from

the beginning drew upon the example of Jesus; on the other hand,

Roman Catholics thinkers, especially John Paul II, returned to the exam-

ple of Jesus, especially once they grasped the devastating consequences

of modern warfare. Roman Catholics, then, especially when they follow

the leadership of John Paul II, have moved more and more to empha-sizes not the use for force, but rather the need for non-violent methods,

peacemaking and justice, the only lasting basis for peace.

I have great hope now that much of Christianity can contribute, as it

always should have, to creating a culture of justice and peace for the

world.

Note

1. James L. Heft, S.M. is Alton Brooks Professor of Religion at the University of Southern

California and President of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies.

J A M E S H E F T


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Religion, World Order, And Peace - Christian