Pete Hegseth, Secretary of War in the US government, has publicly labeled pacifism “naive and dangerous” and declared that pacifists do not deserve to be defended.
Of course, as a Mennonite, I take umbrage at that and ask for support from my fellow Christians, including those who are not pacifists.
There is a large contingent of “peace churches” in America and always has been. It includes Friends (Quakers), all Anabaptists (Mennonites, Amish, many Brethren churches), Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many more. Little known is that most Pentecostal/Full Gospel churches were officially pacifist until the late 1950s/early 1960s. Some still may be. My friend Jay Beaman has written the definitive book about Pentecostal pacifism.
Yes, I know, you do not have to be Christian or even religious to be a pacifist.
Even just war believer Reinhold Niebuhr expressed appreciation for peace church Christians. He disagreed with pacifism, especially in its liberal theological expressions (viz., so-called “mainline Protestant” Christians who did not want America to go to war against German in the 1940s). But he explicitly said that peace church Christians remind all Christians of Jesus’s teachings about peace (which he considered unrealistic in today’s world).
Where is Hegseth’s condemnation of pacifism leading? What is the goal? I assume, wrongly, I hope, the goal is to deny pacifists status as conscientious objectors, even if they volunteer to do “alternative service.”
Again, my call is for other Christians who are not pacifists to rally to our defense. We are not cowards, as Hegseth implied. Many of us have gone to prison for conscience’s sake. Many have served as medics, ambulance drivers and other non-combatants in times of war.
Was Jesus a pacifist? That’s difficult to say, but it certainly is open to belief that he was. That is, his Sermon on the Mount indicates that he was. We know that early Christians were pacifists before Constantine took over the empire and dominated the churches.
*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In