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Is it possible to be a pacifist absolutely?
Dear Friends,
Dr Andrew Kania today begins a provocative trilogy of commentaries looking at Fifth Commandment morality — Thou Shalt Not Kill! I have to confess I continue to find this perhaps the single most difficult are of morality. Some do argue that taking the life of another is never justified and that as Christians we are called to some form of absolute pacifism. While I hope never to meet the eventuality face-to-face I continue to believe there are rare instances where we are called to defend our own lives, or the lives of others, who are beyond reason and who are intent on trying to kill. Dr Kania's commentary today is broadly arguing the case I support. I do remain open to being convinced of the case that killing is never morally justified and that violence and evil in the world can be overcome by passive resistance and non-violent protest.
Perhaps in our discussion flowing from Dr Kania's commentary we might again re-visit the Iraq War. Initially I did support that war but not on the Weapons of Mass Destruction premise. If that war was ever justifiable I believed it might be justifiable on the grounds of bringing stability to the Middle East. Self-evidently it has not brought stability — either to the Middle East nor, from current developments, to the world energy equation. I don't know what is happening at the moment with petrol prices but I do worry that if prices continue to rise as they are we will end up in exceedingly unstable territory both domestically and internationally. Both at the individual level of what we personally believe, and at the level of what we collectively urge on our governments, what is the moral pathway to bringing peace to the world and particularly in the Middle East? Do you morally support the position of the Rudd government in engaging in war with the Taliban in Afghanistan? If you do how do you justify that position morally and differentiate it from, say, the commitment in Iraq? Would you believe, for example, that the world is coming close to the point of having to intervene in the situation in Zimbabwe or even Myanmar (Burma)? <Read Andrew's commentary and share your opinions with our community>
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