Is there a time for peace and a time for war? That was the question at the Interfaith Alliance forum on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006. It was held in the Fellowship Hall at Druid Hills United Methodist Church in Ocala.
The Interfaith Alliance of Marion County, Florida holds forums to address social issues through a faith perspective.Four panel members speak to different sides of a subject and then the audience asks questions.
It is embarrassing, actually, that we haven’t done this subject sooner. I’m the TIA forum chair, or used to be, work projects are calling me away. If I’d been braver, we would have tackled this subject sooner. But then, I have to ask myself, would anyone have showed up to listen? Only now, as the subject of getting out of Iraq and how we got into Iraq is finally on the table, can discussion take place.
What is really special about these forums is the diversity of opinion expressed by panelists, all done in an atmosphere of civility. We live in a time where any opinion contrary to the ruling party line will produce cries of “traitor”. So it is refreshing to be part of a TIA forum, even with regrets we didn’t do this topic sooner.
“I get up early every morning and watch the stars, I see them move over time,” said Delphine Herbert, founder of Marions for Peace and the first panelist speaker.
Think about that. All over the world, people are up, looking at the stars moving in the heavens, and they’ve been doing this for thousands of years. People like you and me, with hopes and dreams. When it comes to looking at the stars, we are not so different after all.
“I look up to the heavens and acknowledge my tie to eternity,” Herbert said. “I am very mindful that I see the same stars that the preacher/poet saw doing the long nights when he sought out all that is known under the heavens.”
Early mankind was pretty intent on survival, making it through the day without getting eaten by a saber-toothed cat. Home was a cave and a good roaring fire. Over time, agriculture arrived, and a chance to give up nomadic life for security. Crops were harvested, stored. Houses were built.
Herbert said agriculture gave us the ability to be gentle, to take seriously the concept to love your neighbor as yourself.
Martin Luther King knew that non-violence was a powerful force that could effect social transformation. But the Internet and travel has made us an international community. It is not enough to transform where we live. Now we know, and see pictures, of people left homeless in Pakistan because of earthquakes, and winter is here.
“We see our brothers and sisters as the experience the wars, the famines, the destructiveness of nature,” Herbert said. “We cannot turn aside.”
Being close to what is happening doesn’t mean we know what is really going on, and why. Herbert said Big Brother, the current administration, shields the truth.
“911 was a godsend to this administration,” Herbert said. “It made them masters of the universe.”
In 2003 the National Council of Churches asked Bush to act as though Jesus was his savior and not rush to war. Obviously, that didn’t work.
“Theocracy, not democracy looms,” Herbert said and then she gave perspective that many Americans may be shocked to hear.
“The rest of the world is fully aware we are the only ones who have used weapons of mass destruction,” Herbert said. “How can we expect others to concede to us sole capacity to have such power, especially since we are now a rogue nation, repudiating international agreements at will?”
Problems are just that without solutions. Herbert has a number of suggestions. Exit Iraq to begin rebuilding our nation. We can start with investing in the education system, currently in serious disrepair.
Get involved locally to get out of this war. Ask ministers why they are not speaking against the war. Make decisions that take into account the repercussions for the next seven generations. Ask our politicians to investigate the fraud used to get into the war. Come to weekly peace vigils on Saturday nights at State Road 200 and SR 27. Don’t be afraid of your neighbors, talk to them about these issues.
Peace is not a static thing. It is truth and love in action.
“The stars in the heavens are not static, neither should our thinking be,” Herbert said. “We should continue to reach toward the heavens with our higher selves for ways to demonstrate on all levels the love which is the fundamental principle of all the earth’s great religions.”
We all look up at the same stars. Our similarities surely outweigh our differences, if only we’d take the time to listen and learn and make connections.
Darrell Riley, an adjunct history professor at Central Florida Community College and a page designer at the Star Banner newspaper, spoke on the conditions necessary for a just war.
“Is there such a thing as a just war? There is such a thing, and there is a deep literature on the subject, going back to the Greeks and Romans,” Riley said,
The literature is deep both on the issue of a just war, and on war ethics.
For starters, war is bad. Period. Bad things happen in war. People are killed. It is fundamentally wrong. Having said that, Riley went on “But there may be times when we need to do the lesser of two evils or the lesser of several bad courses.”
Riley laid out six conditions for a just war.
1. The war must be for a just cause. Usually, war is started to put right something that is wrong. For the Iraq war, the reason was used that war had to be done to prevent a wrong from happening. Other reasons include self-defense, murder of a political leader (World War I), attack on national honor (War of 1812), attack on a state’s religion, economic defense, assisting a friendly nation, stopping aggression.
2. A just war must be lawfully declared by a lawful authority. In the United States, the President is the commander in chief. He must get Congress to declare war.
3. The intention behind a war must be good – such as a just peace, righting a wrong including enslaving people, genocide, and refugees.
4. All ways of resolving peacefully have been tried first. War is a last resort; emphasis is on the word “last”.
5. There must be a reasonable chance of success. Riley noted that a small country probably shouldn’t consider going to war with a large country because of the slight chance of success.
6. The means used in a war must be in proportion to the ends war seeks to achieve. There has to be a benefit to cost ratio. The war must prevent more human suffering.
Once a war is started, how should it be fought? This is the ethics of war, questions that we need to ask, and answer now.
Riley urged the audience to challenge our leaders to define a ‘just war”.
“We haven’t asked the questions. We haven’t asked out leaders and we haven’t told them what we want,” said Riley.
Rev. Mac White, a retired Methodist minister, started off by noting that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
He gave a personal witness. During World War II, he was a 15-year old eager beaver.
“I was patriotic, I did paper drives. I couldn’t wait to get into the service,” Mac said. “I turned 17 and joined. It was the same day that Roosevelt died.”
He went off to boot camp. One of the exercises was crawling along on your belly with a rifle, then jumping up and hitting a dummy (the enemy) and knocking it down, shouting loudly of course,
as you killed the guy.
“This wasn’t what Christianity is all about,” White said. “You have to face up to the fact you have to be trained to be evil. You have to be like your enemy to win. Something happens to us.”
After the service, White went off to seminary. It was there that he met anti-war protestors. He didn’t even know they existed before.
For 50 years, White served as a minister.
“The world’s religions are not doing its job,” White said. “They are not giving a vision. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, the religions didn’t want to kill someone. If we not giving another vision of a new world order, we are not doing our job.”
Jeffery Askew is the director of Veterans affairs for Marion County.
“When I came here tonight someone asked me if I was the janitor,” Askew said smiling.
The audience gasped. Askew was only black person in a room full of white people.
“You don’t even think who cleans up these cups you used for coffee (he reaches over and picks up a cup), who carries out the trash,” Askew said.
Askew, who spent 22 years in the U.S. Navy, said he was not for war and not for peace.
“I’m for freedom,” Askew declared. “Maybe you have not been denied education or a place to live but to have freedom you must do something. You can’t sit in a chair.”
He returned to the janitor idea.
“The only way to affect peace is to realize that peace is not free. Somebody has got to be the janitor. Our young men and women are serving all over the world. What can we do for them? They are there fighting for our rights.”
Including, he noted, the right of a woman to be a pastor. Rev. June Edwards is pastor of Druid Hills United Methodist Church.
“I’m the janitor,” Askew declared, using the image that was given to him unbidden before the forum. “I’m going to take care of these service men and women.”
In the question and answer period, Askew was asked how we could help service personnel. He suggested writing letters. Tell about yourself and your family. Take it to a local military post. It will be sent to someone who doesn’t get any mail.
“You have no idea how important mail is, what a difference getting a letter can make,” Askew said.
After the forum, as food and fellowship took place, Askew said he’d been to a number of meetings like this one and no one ever brought up the subject of elected officials. It is elected officials who are making the decisions.
Good point. Coffee is on. Come and get it and let’s talk about these subjects. Is there a time for peace, a time for war? What about our elected officials? Do we even dialogue with them? And will the lion and the lamb ever lie down together in peace?
I’ll be along shortly to join you. Right now I’ve got a letter to write to a service man or women. Maybe they’d like a picture of Suzi. She is still pleased with herself that she did better than me in a recent 5K walk.
Lucy Tobias is a freelance writer living in Ocala. She is working on a book “50 Great Walks in Florida”.