“What I am saying… I am saying not with

the Lord’s authority, but as a fool…” (2 Corinthians 11:17)

Dear Saints,

As I opened my Bible to say Morning Prayer on Thursday, March 20, the first full day of war in Iraq, these words from Jeremiah the prophet rose from the page:

My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent;

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

The alarm of war. (Jeremiah 4:19)

“What does God think of the war?” asks one of the young theologians in my family. God’s heart is once again broken, as the prophet’s words express. War is not God’s will. It is the consequence of our failure, the human race’s failure, to obey God’s law.

Statecraft is not my realm of expertise, so I have every reason to be modest about my opinions; and by the time the April Words from the Well arrives in your mail, things that I write here might already have been proved wrong— foolish, in fact— by events unfolding in the real world. I owe it to those of you who might be interested, not to be some sort of chameleon or fifth columnist, concealing my true colors while you are candid about yours. Please do not refrain from challenging me, if you have a mind to.

In forming my opinions, I’ve tried to draw on the Christian doctrine of just war. The expression “just war” doesn’t mean there is such a thing as a good war. The starting point for just war doctrine is a bias against war. The case for a just war acknowledges that all war is the result of human sin, but that in rare instances war is necessary to oppose or limit sin. For a war to be “just,” certain criteria must be met: (1) The cause is just. (2) War is undertaken as a last resort, after all attempts at peaceful resolution have failed. (3) The decision to go to war is made by competent authority. (4) The means of waging war is just. (5) There is a probability that the good accomplished by going to war will justify the costs of the war in human suffering and devastation.

· The cause is just. Saddam Hussein is a disaster for the people of his own country and a menace to neighboring countries. He has already used chemical weapons, and prior to the 1991 Gulf War he was well on his way to acquiring nuclear weapons. The United Nations was right twelve years ago to order him to disarm. He has been building up his military capabilities while his own citizens starved. He is publicly known to have given financial incentives for Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel. It is hard to imagine any good could come from giving him more time to develop terrible weapons to use or export.

· Peaceful efforts at resolution have failed. There is no negotiating with Saddam Hussein. Continued diplomatic efforts only buy him more time.

· The U.S. is acting in the absence of other competent authority. The United Nations, which has in the past done much to promote international cooperation and order, does not have the means or the will to enforce the Security Resolution requiring Iraq to disarm. The opposition to military action by some influential member nations of the Security Council have as much to do with their lucrative trading relationships with Iraq (arms sales and oil deals), and with their concerns about potentially volatile Muslim immigrant communities within their borders, as with their love of peace.

· Is the means of waging war just? It might take decades of hindsight and debate to answer this question. If the cause is just (according to just war theory) then going to war is not only permissible, it is a moral obligation. But at what point does the violence of the means outweigh the merits of the cause? Military “smart” technology makes it possible to select targets with some precision; but even when trying to spare non-combatants (as the US military is trying to do), it is impossible to avoid harming and killing some. There is no easy way to say how many lives, or how much destruction, is an acceptable price for attaining some worthy goal or desirable outcome.

· Will the world be better off after the war is over? At least some Iraqi-Americans and voices from Iraq itself, barely heard over the anti-war protests, are saying that blessings of a liberated Iraq will be worth the suffering it will cost to achieve. It remains to be seen how much damage Iraq will endure in order to be liberated. It remains to be seen what sort of a reaction the invasion will provoke in the Arab world. I am concerned that opportunistic nations will appeal to this pre-emptive strike as a precedent for invading their neighbors, based on what they might do– invading other sovereign countries in order to oust their rulers. I am concerned about a future where the US is increasingly isolated from other nations, or where the US single-handedly assumes more and more of the burden of policing the world.

The months of anticipation have taken a heavier toll on our spirits than we realize. The high emotional pitch has made clear thinking and rational discourse nearly impossible. A magazine article reports that many people find themselves choosing either to keep their opinions entirely to themselves, or to sever valued friendships and alienate family members by speaking their minds. Part of our Christian witness is to stay in fellowship with each other even when we passionately disagree.

We must never tire of praying for peace and for the safe return of our military personnel, for God’s mercy on the non-combatants, and for the healing of the bitterness that has been let loose in the world. In my view, praying for peace now means praying specifically for a decisive US victory over Iraq. But we must never construe this war as a case of the armies of Christ marching against the armies of Satan. It is right that the Presiding Bishop should remind us that God’s love extends to all humanity, and that as Anglican Christians we belong to a worldwide family of believers (some of whom might at this moment be fighting in Iraq’s army). It is important that all of us exercise fully our rights of political speech, that we should make our views known to our elected representatives and other government officials, who have a very lonely job. Above all, we must not overlook the children, who need to be assured of our love for them, our determination to keep them safe, and our hopes that they will have the character and skills to take part in building a more peaceful world.

We approach Holy Week and Easter under the shadow of war. Easter faith is not escapism. If it were, there would be no robust Christianity in countries where sharing the Gospel is outlawed, or where people live with grinding poverty and oppression. War reminds us how urgently the world needs the healing medicine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe and hope because we are beneficiaries of the Lord’s great mercy. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for us while we were his enemies. We have known the risen Lord’s presence and have been transformed by the power of his love.

Faithfully,

Chuck Bradshaw +