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European Christian pacifists face truth: Peace requires strength
European Christian pacifists face truth: Peace requires strength
For centuries, many European Christians have proudly declared that following Jesus means rejecting violence. But as Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine drags into its fourth year, even lifelong pacifists are beginning to ask whether peace can s...
For centuries, many European Christians have proudly declared that following Jesus means rejecting violence. But as Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine drags into its fourth year, even lifelong pacifists are beginning to ask whether peace can survive without the means to defend it.
Christianity Today reports on a moral and theological shift taking place among Europe’s faithful.
Alexander Maßmann, a Christian ethicist who used to oppose to military buildup, now admits, “We are simply faced with naked aggression. There must be some sort of deterrence. To keep the peace, we need security guarantees — and rearmament is helpful in that sense.”
Such a statement would have been unthinkable among Germany’s Protestant leaders a decade ago, when Margot Käßmann, then head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, pushed nonviolence and diplomacy. Käßmann recently repeated her call for a cease-fire in Ukraine and an end to weapons deliveries, reminding believers that “God is not a party to war.”
But not everyone agrees. What has changed the thinking? Russian missiles destroying apartments.
Pacifism risks becoming an ally to the violent when it leaves one side disarmed. Maßmann’s reluctant conclusion echoes the logic of the just war theory: peace may require defending the innocent, even if it means killing other human beings.
This isn’t just a European debate. American churches are divided over whether supporting Ukraine’s defense or Israel’s right to exist contradicts the Gospel of peace.
~Snip~
Even Christianity Today’s pacifist sources acknowledge the point. The German Evangelical Alliance’s political commissioner, Johann Matthies, says he personally leans pacifist but adds that failing to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense is “not only politically shortsighted” but also “cynical.” Every Christian, he said, must ask whether they will “carry a sword — either by serving the military or by voting for political platforms that promote rearmament.”
What Europe’s pacifists are discovering is something many in the West forgot after the Cold War: peace is not the natural state of the world. It is held in place by courage, vigilance and, yes, sometimes arms.
The church must still pray for peace, but it must also remember that sometimes, as Ecclesiastes notes, “there is a time for war.”
Commentary:
Islam will be their downfall, not Russia. They've already reached 10% in areas of Europe and the U.K.
Sanctimony eventually yields to reality. As Orwell said, “Pacifists are people who rely on other people to do their fighting for them.”
One of the bedrock principles of Biblical interpretation is that verses cannot contradict each other, and all of them must be interpreted in light of all others. You’re not allowed to ignore anything from Genesis to Revelation if it has any bearing on the subject you’re studying.
