For me it comes down to an issue of faith – literally the question of what (or who!) we trust in to save us. Is is the economy, or the government, or the military (the ‘big bullies’), or is it the nonviolent way of God revealed in Jesus? I believe this is not merely a moral issue, or one of legalism, it’s a question of where you place your trust.

I’m not interested in being a peace activist or any other kind of activist. I’m only interested in being a disciple of Jesus, and in being obedient to his commands (whether that looks effective or not). I don’t do this because I think it makes me special, for the same reason Dorothy Day said, “Don’t call me a saint – I won’t be dismissed that easily.” I do it because I think it should be the norm for Christians. Imagine every church around the world was prepared to stand in front of tanks and bullets as do Christian Peacemaker Teams, prepared to actively resist the wanton destruction of our brothers and sisters in other countries! What a witness for love and self-sacrifice that would be. What an example of Christ. What a transformed world would result.

That’s why I’m not interested in mere pacifism either. I’m interested in the active, even militant nonviolence that so threatened the powers of Jesus’ day that it got him crucified, and Dr. King, Dorothy Stang, and just this week Fr. Larry Rosebaugh shot. There’s a world of difference between the two.

I too have no desire to die but I do not believe that I have the right to live at the expense of the Afghani people, or the Iraqi people or any other people, even those who would consider themselves my enemy. And if one way I can show my enemies love is to oppose their being killed, then so be it.

Incidentally (or perhaps not) the evidence suggests that nonviolence works far better and more effectively than violence. As Gandhi said, “People try nonviolence and when it doesn’t work they go back to violence which hasn’t worked for centuries.” We put our faith in violence because we are one of the richest, most powerful nations on earth allied with the richest, most powerful nation on earth, and because most of us don’t need to fight the battles, we mostly farm it out to technology and a handful of young men and women. What if we were on the underside of history, without such technology or wealth? I wonder if that would change our tune as to the efficacy of war. Regardless, I think that the underside of history where the call of Jesus takes us.

And finally, I’m not going to suggest in any sense that I am pure in any of this. When I take action, it is as much as an act of repentance as resistance. The seeds of war that lie inside us all I can only show by my behaviour, by my life, what I put my faith and trust in. Some days are better than others.

May the peace of Christ continue to disturb us all,

Simon Moyle

May 2009