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Finding My Place in a Country at War
A Sermon Given
by Rev. Roger Fritts
on March 23, 2003
at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Bethesda, Maryland
I turned on the television last Wednesday evening about 9:30. A special
news report was already in progress. The announcer said, "we have heard air
raid sirens and explosions over Baghdad." The war had started.
I had decided sometime ago that there probably would be a war. Still I felt
sad and depressed by the news. The thought of the victims, of the destruction,
of the suffering this war brings weighs me down.
This week many people have been trying to decide what to do, now that we
are at war. The college basketball association decided to go ahead with their
annual games. The Oscars will be held this evening. Officials cancelled the
Washington, D.C. Marathon, scheduled for today. And of course for a time, many
regular television programs have been replaced with war coverage.
In the same way, all of us are trying to find our place. It feels some how
strange to continue with our regular activities, while we are at war. Yet if
it were not for the news reports along with the increased security, we would
not even know that things have changed. Life today is very much like life last
Tuesday, before the war started. Teachers, business people, lawyers,
scientists, students and clergy, we are all seeking our place in a nation at
war.
In the months leading up to war I added my small voice to that of other
clergy advising against this war. Catholic Church leaders under the leadership
of the Pope spoke out against the war. The National Council of Churches
opposed the war. The United Methodist Church, of which President Bush is a
member, took a stand against the war. The Unitarian Universalist Association
Board of Trustees opposed going to war. Many Jewish leaders and Islamic
religious leaders have opposed the war. I believe that this religious
opposition was a factor in slowing the preparations. I also believe it is one
reason the military is working so hard to keep down the number of Iraqi
casualties. Still, it was not enough to stop the war. Now religious leaders
like myself are faced with a new role. The role of serving our congregations
and our communities while our nation engages in war.
To find direction in my life I find it helpful to look at history. How have
other Unitarian Universalists responded when our nation has been at war? In
1917 William Howard Taft, former President of the United States, was the
moderator of the General Conference of Unitarians. At a meeting in September
of 1917, President Taft told his fellow Unitarians: "It is the duty of our
church to preach the righteousness of the war and the necessity for our
winning it in the interest of the peace in the world."
Rev. John Haynes Homes was the minister of Community Church in New York
City. Rev. Homes replied to President Taft: "I hate this war; so long as I
live and breathe I will have nothing to do with this war or any war, so help
me God." Rev. Homes withdrew his church from the American Unitarian
Association, as a protest of the Association’s support of the First World War.
During the Second World War Unitarians generally supported the war effort.
In 1942 the Board of Directors of the American Unitarian Association sent a
message to all churches. The Board urged that "the immediate duty of every
church should be to make the utmost possible contribution to the defeat of the
Axis powers." Many ministers entered the military to serve as chaplains.
Unitarians also widely supported the Korean War. At the slow beginning of
the Vietnam War most Unitarian Universalists supported the United States
Government efforts to stop the spread of communism. The Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee even had a contract with the United States government to do
work in Vietnam.
All of this started to shift in the mid 1960s. People in our churches began
to question the wisdom of our nation’s involvement in Vietnam. Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s successful efforts to cause revolutionary changes using non
violence deeply impressed many people. His work caused many Unitarian
Universalists to question the violent methods of the Vietnam War.
Gradually ministers turned against the war. I still have a copy of a sermon
my Unitarian Universalist minister gave in March of 1966. The Rev. Manker
said:
I have been trying diligently to view the Vietnam conflict as objectively
as possible. I have given the benefit of the doubt to those who were trying
through military measures to secure the independence and respect of the
people of Vietnam. But one evening, in a discussion of the tremendously
difficult issues involved, I was brought up short by a woman who had lived
through one of the recent wars. She was a child when her country was
engulfed in war. . . . Families were trying to escape the war zone and in
the confusion she was separated from her family. A living nightmare! Alone,
a child, separated from family, in the midst of modern warfare. Today, she
does not want to think back on what she had lived through. She does not want
her children to know the terror she experienced. But when she picks up the
daily newspaper and is confronted by a picture from the war zone in Vietnam
showing a crying child clutching the body of a dead mother, or another of a
wounded child crying in pain, bewilderment and terror, she feels something
the rest of us cannot feel. This was her preface to saying that she did not
presume to know the political importance of Vietnam, but the war must stop.
Sermons like this have a strong impact on me. Because of the preaching of a
Unitarian Universalist minister, I decided I was opposed to participation in
war.
The 1960s were a difficult time. Churches were split apart as members
argued about the morality of the Vietnam war. Membership declined as members
who supported the war resigned from congregations. People felt anger and hurt.
By 1968 a majority in most of our congregations opposed the Vietnam war.
The first war with Iraq occurred in 1991. Clearly remembering the tragedy
of Vietnam, many Unitarian Universalists strongly opposed the Gulf War.
Still, we have never been a pacifist church. In the 1990s two Unitarian
Universalists served as Secretary of Defense, William Perry and William Cohen.
Dr. Perry spoke here in January of 1996.
The attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon have challenged those of
us who are advocates of non violence. After the attacks on the world trade
center and the Pentagon I went back to study again the writings of Gandhi and
Martin Luther King. Both men felt that police are necessary, and that police
might on occasion need to use force. I believe that the international police
investigation is the appropriate moral response to the attacks on America. It
is also the most effective way to reduce the likelihood of such attacks in the
future.
The Taliban’s horrible treatment of women in Afghanistan also challenged my
belief in non violence. Most of the people of Afghanistan seem better off
because of our invasion. Saddam’s appalling treatment of people in Iraq also
seems to justify the invasion of Iraq.
I wonder some days if it is time for me to abandon my belief in non
violence. Somewhere Gandhi wrote that resisting injustice violently is
better then not resisting injustice at all. However, resisting injustice non
violently is better then to resist it with violence. Gandhi might agree
that, helping the people of Afghanistan and now Iraq by overthrowing their
brutal repressive governments is better then doing nothing. But helping the
people of these countries non violently would be far better. A number of
clergy proposed non violent alternatives to this current war.
We have seen regime change occur without invasion by the United States. The
nearly peaceful revolution that occurred in 1989 in eastern Europe is one
example. The regime change in South Africa is another example. The Taliban
would have eventually changed without the war in Afghanistan. The Government
of Iraq would eventually have changed without this war. I believe the United
States can encourage the move toward freedom and democracy around the world,
without these terrible wars.
And the wars are terrible. One NPR radio report I heard yesterday, was
about a four year old child who was near one of our bombs when it exploded. He
is burned over 70 percent of his body and doctors do not expect him to live.
The reporter said that the child lay in the hospital bed crying.
We hope that this war will decrease the likelihood that others will attack
us again. But I fear the opposite may happen. In making war we are suggesting
that blowing things up is a solution to human problems. We are modeling this
behavior for all the people of the world.
The Oklahoma City bomber and the sniper of last fall were both vets of the
Gulf War. When our government models violence as a solution to a problem, some
deeply troubled people follow the government’s example. Nations like India and
Pakistan may also follow our example.
Wars do give us opportunities to show courage and self-sacrifice. But
nature brings on enough tragedies to provide young men and women opportunities
to show their courage and self—sacrifice. During his state of the Union
address the President proposed spending billions of dollars to help the people
of Africa deal with the AIDS epidemic. This is a wonderful idea. Instead of
invading Iraq, we could train an army of 250,000 health care workers to invade
the areas of Africa affected by the AIDS epidemic. We could help stop the
spread of the virus and we could provide medical treatment for those who are
HIV positive. Geraldo Riviera who is now reporting for MSNBC from Afghanistan,
could report from the front lines of the AIDS epidemic.
A terrible famine is again occurring on the horn of Africa. We could feed
the millions of people who are starving in Ethiopia, and explore ways to
increase food production. The FOX news channel could do live broadcast with
Oliver North reporting from a starving camp in Africa. They could show
children before and after they have eaten food brought to them by courageous
young Americans. We could decrease the likelihood of terrorism by modeling non
violent solutions to problems.
What is my place in a country at war? Gandhi wrote that resisting injustice
violently is better then not to resist it at all. In this spirit I do not
condemn the President or our military. They have chosen to violently resisting
the injustice of the Iraqi government. But Gandhi went on to say "resisting an
injustice non violently is better then resisting it with violence." Following
this high standard, I continue to believe in non violent alternatives to war.
What is my place in a country at war? I am tempted to be self-righteous—to
infer that I am better than those who support the war. It feels good to be
morally self-righteous. However, such arrogance is blind to my own faults and
does not win people over to non violence.
I an tempted to engage in name calling. It feels good to call the President
and other leaders in the administration insane or stupid or bullies or oil
hungry. However insulting those who support the war will not win them over to
non violence.
I am tempted to sink into despair and depression. Hopelessness frees me
from the responsibility of trying to do something to make the world a better
place. However, such melancholy will help no one.
Besides, I do see hope for the future. The President did go to the United
Nations for support, and he does continue to justify his actions by reference
to UN resolutions. Other countries did have the courage to disagree with the
world’s only superpower. This is a small step toward world peace through world
law. The President has said that after this war he will work for a peace
settlement between Israel and Palestine. The Palestinians have empowered a new
prime minister and this may lead to a new start. The President did say in his
State of the Union that he wants to increase assistance to those suffering
from AIDS in Africa. Perhaps in the same way that he has surpassed his father
in Iraq, he will also want to surpass his father in helping Africans. I also
see hope in the fact that millions of people who have been demonstrating for
peace around the world.
What is my place in a country at war? I was against this war starting. Now
that it has started, my role is to continue to encourage non violent
alternatives to war. I pray that we will win quickly. I pray that the loss of
life will be small. I pray that when the war is over we will not be blind to
the terrible destruction of this war. Seeing this appalling destruction, I
pray that we will be motivated to find ways to live together in peace.
Amen.
Office@CedarLane.org
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