Christians and War

Sermon Preached at 5.00 pm at St Edward’s Cambridge on 9th July 2006 by Fraser Watts

One of the most of difficult and important political decisions any nation has to take is whether or not to go to war. The decision to invade Iraq was deeply controversial, and exposed how ill-prepared we were to make such a decision. This evening I want to share some of the thinking of Christians on the difficult subject of whether war is justified.

For some reason that It is an aspect of Christian teaching that is often neglected . In my 30 years of sitting in the pews listening to sermons, I can't remember even one sermon that educated me about this aspect of Christian thinking. That seems rather shameful, because it is clearly an important matter.

The first thing to be said is that Christian teaching in favour of peace is very strong. Christians dream of peace, hope for peace, and work for peace. They believe that God's kingdom is being ushered in, and that it will be a kingdom in which peace prevails.

There are some Christians who say that we should already live in a way that is fitting to that kingdom, already behave as people of peace, and simply refuse to wage war. There are others who say that Christ's kingdom of peace is still being ushered in, but that we live now in a kind of between time in which war may unfortunately still be necessary. Most Christians have reluctantly accepted that war is sometimes unavoidable, and I am among them.

However, even for those of us who think that we cannot always avoid war, it is important to realise how strong are the claims of the Christian peace movement. No Christian should imagine that it is a light or easy thing to reconcile themselves to war. There is nothing in the life or teaching of Jesus that gives any support to waging war.

One story that serves as a touchstone for those who press the case for peace is the story of what happened on that fateful Thursday night when Jesus was arrested. The chief priests and their armed men came out to arrest Jesus. Peter took out his sword and attacked the high priests servant. If ever there was a situation when armed action might be justifiable, surely it was in defence of Jesus himself.

However, Jesus would have none of it. As you know, he told Peter to put away his sword and he healed the year of the chief priests servant who Peter had attacked. It would be in line with that example for Christians to refuse to wage war .

If, reluctantly, we think that war may be necessary, there is a rich tradition of Christian thinking about the circumstances under which it is defensible. As the country considers action against Iraq, we all need to know or understand this aspect of our Christian inheritance better.

The first point is that, if war is to be waged at all, it must be to protect the interests of others. Most politicians talk as though self-defence is an adequate justification for war. That is not the traditional Christian position. The tradition that we have inherited says that it is for the defence of others, not for our own self-defence, that war is justifiable. I suspect that many politicians who advance the self-defence justification for war are simply unaware that they are flying in the face of the Christian tradition on this matter.

Christians have also always emphasised that if there is to be war, it should be done under legitimate authority. As circumstances change, so do views about what constitutes legitimate authority. However, in international affairs, the United Nations is the best way we have of legitimising war. The Church of England bishops were very strong in emphasising the importance of United Nations authorisation if there is to be war against Iraq. Our own Prime Minister also seemed to understand the importance of this and, more than the American President, went out of his way to build the consensus that would be necessary for United Nations support.

There are other important principles too. Obviously, the cause in which the war is fought must be a good one. It must be a response to a real evil or injustice. There must be a constructive purpose to the war, and a real basis for believing that rather things will be better after war than before. Another important principle is that war must be used only as a last resort. All other methods must be fully tried before war is launched. All these principles are well established and the Christian tradition, and go back many hundreds of years.

During the last century, there has also been much thought among Christians about who is the aggressor, and many Christians have argued that it is never right to initiate armed conflict. We can respond to war when others have started it, but never start it ourselves. We can respond to an aggressor, but never become the aggressor.

This is a time when political decisions about war are still open to influence by public opinion, it is a time when all citizens need to be coming to a responsible view about whether war is justified, and finding ways of making their opinions felt. For Christians to do that means understanding better the teaching we have inherited about the circumstances under which war is defensible.

Speaking very broadly, there are perhaps two sets of considerations. One is whether there is a moral case for waging a particular war. The other is whether it is wise to do so, given the likely outcome. To express a personal opinion, I can see that there is a moral case for war against against Iraq. However, I am much more doubtful about the wisdom of it, and fear that it may leave things even worse than they are now. However, I express this personal view only to encourage you all to think things through for yourselves, not because I think you ought to agree with me.

Whatever conclusions become to about war, it is important for us never to lose sight of the Christian vision of peace. War must never be more than a reluctant necessity, engaged in as a last resort., and in the hope that peace will eventually prevail.

The way in which we talk about war "breaking out" is rather strange, given that the world is never free of war. At any time, there are usually countless armed conflicts going on. Peace would be more of a change than war. Christians long for the time when peace will breakout. That is the Christian dream, and it is the duty of all followers of Jesus to try to bring it about.