In 1998 the General Assembly approved a statement that provided solid Christian guidelines for doing peace in today’s complex and violent world. Recognizing that peacemaking often demands concrete actions, even military missions to protect the lives of those being oppressed, “Just Peacemaking and the Call For International Intervention for Humanitarian Rescue” goes beyond the traditional plea for the standards of a just war to those for just peacemaking. If we learned that armed intervention is sometimes necessary to save lives in Somalia, Rwanda, Haiti and Bosnia, we also discovered that military action is a last resort and should only be engaged with the strictest attention to humanitarian concerns.
What is more, if we take our own advice, we realize that there is a great deal to be done before the world turns to armed intervention and widespread bombing. Just Peacemaking sets us on the right path as it calls for preventative diplomacy, actions to help parties involved in conflicts to achieve settlements, military presence to separate groups deeply divided and the peace building necessary to create stability after conflict has ceased.
Throughout the past few years the Presbyterian Church has consistently highlighted the need for peacemaking before military action:
• using nonviolent means for conflict resolution and social change;
• emphasizing human rights, religious liberty and the centrality of democracy for a just peace;
• encouraging the environment for sustainable economic development in the countries involved;
• supporting the abolition of nuclear weapons (as well as the rejection of their use in first-strike actions); and
• recognizing the critical nature of international cooperation through the United Nations and other organizations.
Just Peacemaking calls us to new ways of thinking and acting. Instead of encouraging nations to go it alone or ignore the advice of thoughtful allies, it reminds us that there are circumstances which “hinder rather than promote the pursuit of justice and peace in the world. . . . The idea of just peacemaking will involve a shift from all the traditional views that have developed about the morality of armed conflict. To propose criteria for creating conditions of justice and mutual trust between international groups is an even more challenging task than dealing with the dilemmas posed for a Christian ethic of love by the presence of armed conflict between sovereign nations. . . . [A] just peace ethic will not be a simple recasting of a just war theory, but a new kind of thinking that draws its inspiration from all the serous moral thinking that has been present in a diverse Christian heritage.”
As the Confession of 1967 points out, it is not even enough for us to argue that we are justified to go to war to protect our own national self-interest. As members of the ecumenical body of Christ and as citizens of the world, broader issues of human and civil rights, the preservation of life in Iraq, and our primary obligation to the love of God in Jesus Christ must also be considered. The search for reconciliation “requires that the nations pursue fresh and responsible relations across every line of conflict, even at risk to national security, to reduce areas of strife and to broaden international understanding. Reconciliation among nations becomes particularly urgent as countries develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, diverting their manpower and resources from constructive uses and risking annihilation of mankind. Although nations may serve God’s purposes in history, the church which identifies the sovereignty of any one nation or any one way of life with the cause of God denies the Lordship of Christ and betrays its calling” (C-9.45).
Our own statements of belief and action direct us to a way of thinking that urges us to challenge the positions recently taken by our own government. Perhaps it is time to dust off our own proclamations and take actions as local church leaders that clearly indicate that we Presbyterians believe what we say:
Peacekeeping may involve more than a military presence. Peace building and peace enforcement involve an exercise of pressure but still something different from the conduct of warfare aimed at coercing recalcitrant groups into submission against their will.
All these engagements seek to eliminate violence as much as possible, not to maximize violence in order to win victories. Thus, while they share with both the ethic of the just war and agonized participation a willingness to accept the use of military means, they also incorporate a thrust to minimize (ideally, to avoid) the use of violence as a means of solving international disputes . . . . They are efforts of an organized world community to respond collectively to crises rather than efforts of individual states to deter potential enemies or serve national interests by the use of force. They at least permit, and perhaps even encourage, searches for alternative solutions to conflict even after they are undertaken.**
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* For a review of Presbyterian peacemaking statements and actions see Ch. 8, “He Is Our Peace,” of Earl Johnson’s new book, Witness Without Parallel: Eight Biblical Texts That Make Us Presbyterian (Geneva, 2003, pp. 106-116.
** “Just Peacemaking” is found in General Assembly Minutes 1998, pp. 445-472 and in Selected Theological Statements of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assemblies (1956-1998), Office of Theology and Worship, PC(USA), pp. 324-352. It may also be ordered by calling the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in Louisville, 888/728-7228, ext. 5784.
Posted March 18, 2003
Earl S. Johnson Jr. is the pastor of First church, Johnstown, N.Y.
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