| Bishop's Corner
Alternative To War
By Bishop Timothy W. Whitaker
 One of the
most thoughtful reflections on the human problem of war that I know is
Roger Shinn’s “Wars & Rumors of War” (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1972).
Shinn, who was the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of
Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, wrote about his own
experience as a soldier and prisoner of war during World War II and
his reflections on war. He said that war has both an “instrumental
meaning” and an “expressive meaning.” Its “instrumental
meaning” is that war is “effective for some purposes.”
Debate about whether to wage war, such as the
debate over the wisdom of invading rather than containing Iraq, occurs
because we have different judgments about whether the proposed
function of a war will achieve its purposes or destroy the possibility
of achieving other purposes. Some of us fear that invasion and
occupation of Iraq will make the world less secure from the threat of
terrorism because of the passions such a war will unleash in the
Muslim world. These disputes result from different judgments about a
war’s “instrumental meaning.”
Quite fascinating is Shinn’s discussion of the
“expressive meaning” of war. Shinn asserts that humans “may wage
war because fighting expresses something in themselves.” War may be
an expression of human aggression, identity, comradeship or heroism.
It is a fact of human history that war is often attractive because it
enables us to express our freedom to assert ourselves, to create our
identity as a nation, to experience social solidarity and to be
heroic. Shinn’s observations about the “expressive meaning” of
war is highly suggestive that the future challenge of the human race
is to find peaceful means and alternatives to war for expressing the
human desires fulfilled in war. Unless this occurs, we shall always
seek war for reasons other than accomplishing some function.
The biblical vision of God’s purpose for
humanity is the kingdom of God. This vision embraces tasks of creating
conditions of justice, serving the poor and vulnerable, and creating
community in which all can enjoy the good gifts of God. These tasks
require the same kind of assertion, working together and courage that
too often are expressed only in making war. As a vision for all
humanity, the kingdom of God is God’s call for us to be faithful not
only in our community, but also in international affairs.
More than ever, Christians need to pray with
understanding, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it
is in heaven.”
|
