War as liberation, Christ as collateral damage

Catholic New Times, Feb 8, 2004 by Leonard Desroches

I don't generally watch television. But tonight God has something in store for me: watching something momentous that cannot be missed. I have taken the VIA train to London, Ontario to give a presentation on gospel nonviolence for a new course on Catholic approaches to social justice at King's College.

After the presentation I am dropped off at the train station. London's VIA waiting room has ten television sets. Every visual angle in the large space is covered. I would think that VIA and CBC Television go well together. But no, all the TV sets are locked into America's CNN. It is mid-March, 2003. The second invasion of Iraq by the second Bush regime has begun. CNN blares out its "live coverage" for all the good VIA passengers. Out of disgust ,I refuse to watch. During the first Bush administration's invasion of Iraq I went on a three-week TV fast ,rather than subject myself to the grotesque media propaganda. I won't give in here, though encircled by blaring TV screens.

But God is not deterred by my stance. The stationmaster announces: "The train to Toronto has been delayed." Fine, I'll read; I'll write; but I won't watch. God persists: VIA now reports that the train is delayed by many more hours. I cannot escape CNN's "live coverage" of the invading army's advance into Iraq. Has God abandoned me? Quite the opposite, I slowly realize, as CNN's relentless mantra finally blasts through my useless defence: war is liberation! Over and over and over:

War is liberation. Not just this war, but war Itself is the only liberation when we are faced with terrorism. It is a strident, confident declaration of the perfection of the institution of war.

As I start to pray, surrounded by CNN propaganda, God's stunning message explodes in me: if war is liberation, then Christ is merely collateral damage along with the terrified child, forgotten elder and abused earth creature. I begin to understand why God insisted I watch television today. Not only do I hear it, but thanks to CNN, I am able to see it 'live' and in colour: war is liberation, Christ is collateral damage.

Christ as Collateral Damage

Did Christ say that there are limits to God's love, limits to the Spirit's capacity to be helper, advocate? Is the command to love one's enemy is only a personal ideal, not a call to social transformation? Isn't it true that in times of crisis revenge is necessary? Even the violence of war is justified, sanctified. Therefore, can one now proclaim the institution of war as the only instrument capable of resolving the really big violences like terrorism?

This caricature of Christ's teaching would be funny if it didn't so precisely reflect the official teaching of the mainline churches. Why do so many intelligent, well-educated Christians, bishops and chaplains, preachers and teachers proclaim the "regrettable inevitability" of war? Why do so few join the late Bishop Adolphe Proulx's cry of faith, "Can we conceive of being forever condemned to make war?"

One central reason is that for centuries the Just War teaching has been not only legitimated but sanctified. Its academic theology is seductively logical. But it is false. Why false? Because all of its refined logic is based on false premises: that the physical force of war is more adept at dealing with terrorism than the soul force of gospel non-violence; that we can simultaneously do the works of war and the works of mercy; that ultimately, liberation--freedom--comes not from Christ, but from war.

God may be useful in good times. But for bad times, when enemies appear out of nowhere, God is not enough; Christ can no longer offer liberation. Avenge unsanctioned terrorism with sanctioned terrorism. Bring out the latest weapons of mass destruction, with parts built in Canada. Bring out the cruise missiles designed by Christian university graduates, built by Christian workers and subsidized by churchgoers' taxes.

Liberation: War or Christ?

When we accept war as liberation we make a choice. When we accept war as liberation we choose Mars, the god of war and his "creation of democracy" through bombing, instead of God's ongoing creation through real freedom and love; we choose the warrior as liberator instead of Christ; we choose the military-industrial-educational complex instead of the advocate. When we choose war as liberation we choose the community of warriors instead of the church community; we choose the institution of war instead of organized gospel non-violence, such as expressed in Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Finally, when we choose war as liberation we see confrontation with an enemy as the "acquisition of a target," in the language of the military, and not as the opportunity for a "unique relationship with God," as Martin Luther King described it. When we agree to reduce the enemy (Iraqi, next door neighbour, parent, lover, ...) to a target of our weapons or of our words, we choose empty victory. Christ's call to love our enemies is a call to a truly unique relationship with God. It is a call to the indestructible freedom of reconciliation, which no weapons of mass destruction can touch.