I don’t believe God was involved in killing Jesus, I think we humans are solely responsible, but that God redeemed the worst act of murder through resurrection. Like I said before I believe the temple cleansing was a great nonviolent action. Jesus is utterly clear – don’t take an eye for an eye, don’t hate your enemy, _love_ your enemies. I don’t know how we can get around that – I’d like to, but I can’t. Even the OT wars don’t give any warrant for modern day ones (particularly in light of Jesus)

unless you’re claiming to have divine guidance in the order of Moses and Joshua. And John Yoder believes that Jesus asking for the cup to be taken from him is Jesus actually asking to forake nonviolence and use violence to get himself out of the situation. I think it’s at least plausible….

Have our Defence members in their actions sinned? That’s not for me to judge. I do believe with Gandhi and King that noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good. It’s not enough to believe that something isn’t right, nor is it enough to just do the good. Even Nuremburg proved that “acting under orders” is not a sufficient excuse. There are record numbers of US troops AWOL now, tens of thousands who have deserted or sought conscientious objector status, or a discharge. These are all options available to them – and I’m aware of how much courage it would take (far more than remaining in the army in some cases). My community has talked about offering to support (in every way – financially, emotionally, etc)

any person who wants to leave the ADF but is afraid due to losing an income or being branded cowardly. I think this is a great role that faith communities can play. I say this not to say “how great are we?” but to say that we’re prepared to put our money where our mouth is….

What proof is there that modern day terrorism came out of Afghanistan? There are holes in the official story big enough to drive a truck through. Most of the 9/11 bombers were Saudis – none were Afghani or Iraqi. The Taliban is there, but the Taliban is not Al Qaeda, and there are plenty of oppressive regimes we haven’t touched with a ten foot barge pole, so why this one? Most of the resistance is from Afghanis who don’t like their country being invaded by foreign forces, or their friends and relatives killed. Neither would I. As a result this war has done far more to foster terrorism than it has to lessen it. No foreign based invasion has ever beaten a home grown insurgency in history. What makes this one winnable by military means? Why aren’t more questions being asked about this?

Why is so much heroin coming out of Afghanistan? At least in part it’s because much of the infrastructure has been destroyed, along with the economy, to the point where now a farmer cannot make a living wage by growing food, but can if they grow opium poppies. What would you do? Without the war, would the problem be this bad?

Simon

November 2008