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SUNDAY SPECTATOR
January 6, 2002
Christian pacifism
"Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or no?" This question asked and answered in all three of the synoptic Gospels is among the keys to Western civilization. The separation of "church" and "state" starts here. Jesus is asked this question by agents of the priests and scribes. They are trying to trick him to get Jesus into trouble with the Roman state. He is not naive however and begins by answering the question with a question Why tempt ye me? He asks them to show him a penny. He asks whose name and face is on it. "They answered and said Caesar's." And so Jesus said Render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's. Caesar is the state. We have had good Caesars and bad Caesars over the years. In modern times beginning in Britain and the United States we have had that seeming paradox a democratic Caesar. But he is earthly power even when he is elected. The people may decide whom to elect but the citizen must bow to this elected authority. The sense of this earthly authority with its power over life and death is conveyed elsewhere when Jesus is approached by a Roman centurion. This officer believes Jesus can heal and begs him to heal his servant. He considers himself unworthy; certainly no better than his own servant: "For I also am a man set under authority having under me soldiers." Jesus "marvels" at him takes hold of him and "turns him about" saying I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Christ accepts duty he accepts earthly obligations. And he hears the resignation in the voice of this good man who follows orders and gives orders; this faithful soldier. It would be ridiculous to say that here Christ is giving his endorsement to militarism. Nowhere in the Gospels nor in the rest of the New Testament will you find any consideration at all of the great issues of war and peace; of what constitutes a legitimate authority; even of what are the limits of the state (except by inference). Christ did not come to give us civics lessons. He came to be crucified and resurrected; to show us "the other side of the coin" -- the love we owe to God and to our neighbour. I am raising this sermon topic today because a lot of people are discussing it and in a very shallow way. An American friend who teaches in a university asked his students the provocative question on an exam whether Jesus would be in favour or against the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and why? He admitted to me it was a silly question but the results were nevertheless alarming. Fourteen out of fifteen students took it for granted that Jesus would be against; only one acknowledged that there could be any argument on the other side. "This my professor friend explained, despite a national emergency with thousands of innocents murdered and more to come if we do nothing." And none of the students seemed to realize the question was silly. He adds This experience underscored how deeply ingrained is the opinion that a consistent, sincere Christian must be a pacifist. What my friend discovered is what I have discovered in communicating with the young with "post-Christians" and generally with "modern" Christians including especially our "liberal" clergy. They think war and peace is a "no brainer" that there can be no such thing as a just war. Not even against Al Qaeda which is the most easily justifiable war I can think of and which is being fought by the U.S. according to the most rigorous standards the scholastics ever devised in "just war theory". It is almost universally held that "Christ was a pacifist" when he was no such thing; that his more memorable remarks about "turning the other cheek" etc. must apply automatically to states if they apply to individuals. That Christ was no warmonger either should go without saying. Once again he left no record of any view at all on war and peace unless one plays dishonestly with passages of metaphor and prophecy such as I bring not peace but the sword. He addresses the individual soul consistently. Even St. Paul writing to leaders of the early Oriental churches speaks directly to their individual souls. Likewise the Fathers Doctors and Saints of the Church down the centuries have been very shy about addressing the abstract Caesar. In Christendom and in Christendom alone so far as I can see was this principle established to "render unto Caesar". There can be no such thing as a "holy war" in Christian doctrine though truth to tell fallen Christians have tried to start some in such as the Crusades. (The idea for which was imported it was an attempt to Christianize the Islamic notion of "Jihad" which finally collapsed because it was unChristian.) The Church itself the "church militant" is in the business of saving souls -- never ever by violent means because souls can't be saved by coercion. We inherit today in our post-Christian Western civilization this notion of the separation of church and state. We inherit it from Christianity though clearly most of us do not know this and think it was a secular idea. It was instead a religious idea and a very important one for it was the idea that made secular politics and thus the toleration of religious and other minorities possible. (Not even the Romans could tolerate those who refused worship to the Roman gods; and the Athenians killed Socrates on a charge of blasphemy.) Christ and the Christians consciously surrendered the power of life and death to secular authorities. In Christ's resurrection the Christian acknowledges the limits of that secular power -- that our bodies may be killed but not our souls. Countless Christian martyrs stand by that distinction. "Must a Christian be a pacifist?" I am not trying to answer this question because it cannot be answered. It is as fatuous as the question Must a Christian be a warmonger? Instead I am writing for the one purpose to my readers both Christian and not of exposing nonsense. For to say that because we are Christian Caesar must never fight wars is to present Caesar's coin to Christ. He does not want it. David Warren
© Ottawa Citizen
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