Red Letter Christians

Confusing Our Kids

by Shane Claiborne Sunday, February 6th, 2011

I catch up on my news in the airport.  Yesterday I watched this obscure story about a second grader in Rhode Island who wore a baseball cap to school with soldiers carrying guns on the front.  The school authorities ruled that his hat violated dress code, which did not allow for weapons, a code established with the kids best interest in mind, for their safety and protection.  Today the school authorities are working to reverse the rule so as to allow this kid and others to wear things that have soldiers with guns fighting on it, in the interest of promoting “patriotism and democracy.”

It occurred to me that this is the message that confuses our kids.  We teach them that sometimes guns are wrong and some times they are right, even noble.  We teach kids that killing is wrong, sometimes. It is confusing.  The early Christians saw this contradiction and rejected violence in all its forms.  Cyprian put it plainly, “Murder, considered a crime when people commit it singly, is transformed into a virtue when they do it en masse.”

I am excited today because there is a new harmony of diverse voices crying out consistently against violence, in all its forms and guises.  This week we hosted a group of folks blazing a trail of reconciliation across this country.  The project called “The People’s Journey” is a group of unlikely friends — two Iraq vets, one Iraqi engineer, two women from Gaza, and a bunch of kids in Afghanistan (who call in by Skype) — with a passion for nonviolence and reconciliation.  They travel together and tell their stories — stories of how they came to see “enemies” as friends and to renounce violence, even to the point of risking their lives for the sake of peace.  Some of them are the same age as the second grader in Rhode Island.  (By they way, check them out if they come to your town).

I am reminded of the hope of Iraq war vet Josh Stieber who stayed here at the house with his Iraqi friend Salam.  We laughed as they said, “What would happen if the next time they throw a war, no one showed up.”  And I am reminded of these words of another war vet gone conscientious objector who began to cry out against violence in all forms.

You, my church, told me it was wrong to kill … except in war.
You, my teachers, told me it was wrong to kill … except in war.
You, my father and mother, told me it was wrong to kill … except in war.
You, my friends, told me it was wrong to kill … except in war.
You, my government, told me it was wrong to kill … except in war.
But now I know, you were wrong, and now I will tell you, my church, my teachers, my father and mother, my friends, my government, it is not wrong to kill except in war. It is wrong to kill.  (by  George Mizo)

May we continue to insist with Jesus, with courage and imagination, that it is wrong to kill — period.

–
Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker and activist.  He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.

The blog post is provided through our partnership with Sojourners

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  • Wayne

    Have you seen the bumper sticker, peace through superior firepower? Also, on the anniversary of JFK’s inaugural speech I discovered that towards the end of that speech he said,”…only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.” Justified violence has been practiced for a very long time and is still in use today by everyone from the armed forces, including the police, and the also armed kids in the school yard. It’s what we believe deeply. Everything must change, and I believe that this, denying violence as a tool for peace, is the turning point.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1388514701 Greg Dill

    As a military war veteran, I absolutely, unabashedly, support peace at all times. No war, no guns, and no violence. Sadly, there are many Christians who fight in our military who kill people in the name of “defending freedom”. Some of these people who are killed are also our brothers in Christ.

    “The divine banner and the human banner do not go together, nor the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil. Only without the sword can the Christian wage war: for the Lord has abolished the sword.” (Tertullian)

  • Mike

    It was war that rescued the Jews from the concenrtation camps. It is the threat of war that deters some other governments.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1388514701 Greg Dill

    There are rare circumstances at which war benefits the good of mankind. Most wars are instigated at the behest of two opposing powers vying for control over a people or land. Although many Jews were certainly freed from the Nazi holocaust as a result of war, there were just as many innocent civilians (many of them Christian) killed during the process.

  • Wayne

    And it is war that created those camps.

  • Mike

    The persecution of the Jews started before Hitler invaded Poland. Maybe if war had been an option, the millions of Ukrainian people starved to death under Stalins forced collectivization to say nothing of Mao millions who were killed, could have survived. In this imperfect world sometimes war is the best answer that we have. If Israel turned the other cheek she would ceased to exists.

  • mike

    Maybe if German Christians could have stopped Hitler before he came to power Germany and the surrounding nations could have been spared the trials and turmoil of war.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1388514701 Greg Dill

    Agreed.

  • JJ

    The Jews had no state and no army to wage war prior to 1948, and yet did not cease to exist. How can you be so sure then that it is Israel’s eye for an eye ethic that has kept them around since 1948?

  • Wayne

    Ok, so I have to wade back in. It’s not violence or whimpism folks! It’s not tanks or turn the cheek. The alternative to WAR is love. Love God with all your heart, which probably means loving all of his creation, not killing it, or them. If we loved our neighbors, half of Egypt wouldn’t be poor and oppressed, while Mubarak amasses a personal fortune that is protected by an army that is provided for by the JUST WAR folks. War is never the answer. You can’t be right (just) doing something that is clearly wrong, simply because what the other side is doing is worse. If we did more love and justice (non-violent resistance against all that is wrong) all the time… Imagine if we invested 1 billion dollars in education and healthcare in egypt every year for the past 30 years, instead of tanks and bullets. War is never the answer, it just isn’t. Love God by loving your neighbor, all of them, all of the time.

  • Anonymous

    I agree as do many. The difficulty is less about whether killing is right or wrong and more about what one is willing to risk losing when committed to doing right. Huckleberry Finn decided to go to hell in order to help free Jim. There may be some in the military that choose to do the same for us, whether we wanted them to or not.

  • mike

    Yes the Jews did have an army it was an underground army. Also, love would not have stopped the tanks. It was war that freed the slaves in America and war that kept S. Korea free. I never said the Jews would cease to exists but Israel. How can one say if Israel would have turned the other cheek it would not have been another holocaust.

  • mike

    Look at the billions we have poured into our educational system. Look at the schools dropout rate, crime, literacy rate, etc. etc. Yet one look at our inner cities schools still looks like a third world. Egypt should adopt captailism. Egypt is not poor because our lack of love but there lack of captailism.

  • Wayne

    Wow! We sure are off topic. I think the point of Shane’s blog was that we send our kids a very confusing message about the use of violence to solve problems. How did we end up arguing capitalism vs. whatever? Is capitalism the answer? Oh and if Egypt needs to adopt capitalism, what is that you think they are doing now? How do you explain the stock exchange in Cairo? Ooops sorry I just got back into it.

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  • Jennifer A. Nolan

    D–ed right!! What WERE the Nazis doing, if not waging WAR on those German and Polish Jews?? If not for this Nazi warmaking, nobody else would have had to ramp up their war machines!!

  • Jennifer A. Nolan

    Yeah, yeah, yeah! Capitalism as a panacea for the oppressed?? Give us a break!!

  • Jennifer A. Nolan

    In answer to those last two comments by Greg Dill and Wayne: Hear, hear!!

  • Jennifer A. Nolan

    In answer to those last two comments by Greg Dill and Wayne: Hear, hear!!

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