Pacifism

Speaking Love to Power: The Prophecy and Policy of Bishop Curry
Speaking Love to Power: The Prophecy and Policy of Bishop Curry

Missing from Bp. Curry’s message during the royal wedding is an appreciation of sin, its persistence and its power to corrupt human relationships. His is a prophecy filled with hope, but lacking humility. And in this, he bears false witness to our fallen world.

Yoder
Yoder, Sex Abuse, and War

Recently, the legacy of John Howard Yoder has come under scrutiny in light of his prolific sexual misconduct. Mark Tooley argues that these revelations further demonstrate that Yoder twisted his theology to suit his lifestyle.

Part 1: Protestant Roots of US Foreign Policy Divisions Michael Doran Mark Tooley FDR Teddy
Part 1: Protestant Roots of US Foreign Policy Divisions

The foreign policies of Teddy Roosevelt and his distant cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt represent an intersection between two different Protestant worldviews.

Blessed Are the Peacemakers - Sermon on the Mount - War
Blessed are the Peacemakers

Force is always only the form love takes against terrible evil in the last resort when nothing else will protect the innocent, restore justice, and bring about the conditions for peace. The old Chestertonian nugget remains: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

Can Evil Always Be Overcome With Good?
Can Evil Always Be Overcome With Good?

Foretelling a time of cultivation, Isaiah prophesies, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” One cannot plow a field with a sword, nor prune a tree with a spear. In this article, originally published in Christianity and Crisis on March 8, 1943, John Knox contrasts the promotion of good with the destruction of evil, particularly in conflict. Promoting good is insufficient; the conduct of war and the creation of peace are distinct phenomena to be pursued with discrete tools.

The Just War of Unjust Nations
The Just War of Unjust Nations

In nearly every war both sides point to the offenses and wickedness of their enemies, hoping to solidify that they are on the side of morality and godliness and to justify their decision to fight. The Axis Powers of World War II undoubtedly had perverse and wicked aims, but in this article Eduard Heimann argues that the democracies, and particularly the Christians living within them, deserve blame for the war as well.

Was Jesus a Pacifist?
Was Jesus a Pacifist?

Against the seemingly gentle assertions of pacifism, those who truly want to love in our world must understand there remains a need of coercion to maintain a minimum of justice and to preserve those innocents whom the unjust would ravage.

Serving God or Caesar: Sergeant Alvin York and the Morality of War
Serving God or Caesar: Sergeant York and the Morality of War

Surrounded by the reality of war and death during WWI in France, Sergeant Alvin York finally made up his mind about Christianity and the morality of war.

The Christian and the War: Fighting for Justice, not from Necessity
The Christian and the War: Fighting for Justice, not from Necessity

Reinhold Niebuhr refutes the argument that Christians are only allowed to pursue war for the purpose of self-defense. He asserts that a Christian’s willingness to fight should stem from a desire to seek and promote justice.