July 05
Toward an evangelical peace movement
By Aaron D. TaylorPage:
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Billy Sunday was the most famous evangelist in America during the first two decades of the 20th century. Without the aid of loudspeakers, TV or radio, Sunday preached to over 100 million people the classic evangelical gospel that remains familiar to many people today. Repent and believe in Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins, and be saved from eternal damnation. The simplicity of Sunday’s message prompted millions of early 20th century Americans to examine the state of their souls and consider their eternal fates. Yet when it came to conscientious objectors during World War I, Sunday spared no mercy:
The man who breaks all the rules but at last dies fighting in the trenches is better than you God-forsaken mutts who won’t enlist.
Throughout our nation’s history, it’s been an axiom that Presidents lead us into wars, while Christians provide the flags and the crosses. Barring a few notable exceptions — Anabaptists, Quakers, and early Pentecostals — evangelical fervor has often promoted an uncritical nationalism that baptizes American military adventures with religious legitimacy. It’s no coincidence that the setting of Mark Twain’s famous War Prayer — in which Twain delivers a devastating critique of the use of religion to justify imperialism — is a Protestant Christian church. Given the historical record, it may seem the deck is stacked against American evangelicals organizing into a comprehensive peace movement—yet that’s exactly what’s happening.
Enter: Evangelicals for Peace.
On September 14th, a group of Evangelical scholars, pastors, journalists, and activists are gathering together for a summit at Georgetown University to discuss how evangelicals can work together to reduce violence and prevent war. Titled Evangelicals for Peace: A Summit on Christian Moral Responsibility in the 21st Century, the stated goals of the summit are:
— To build and birth a network of evangelical scholars and activists committed to the pursuit of a biblical, comprehensive, and proactive peace
— To reduce violence, work toward human flourishing, and prevent war
— To mobilize and educate a new generation of evangelicals committed to the pursuit of peace
— To convene a gathering of non-profit and pastoral leaders who are actively working for peace with justice throughout the world
— To give a special focus on peace as it relates to U.S. foreign policy
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Comments
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If you want peace, embrace war.
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With tongue in cheek, I'll say the hippies did rather well in influencing political policy with their make love not war slogan. Seriously though don't love and peace tend to go hand in hand. And isn't love a reoccuring Biblical theme. If love your neighbor as yourself is secular humanism then religion has not a hole but a huge chasm to dig itself out of. It's hard to go to war i.e. kill someone you love, divorce notwithstanding. The problem will be reducing your objective to our bumpersticker, 10 second soundbite mentality. I remember growing up mennonite and having some reservations about being a pacifist and my mother gave a story to read about soldier who had just killed an enemy soldier and as was customary he searched the dead mans pockets to find nothing but a picture of the dead soldiers wife and two small children in the shirt pocket next to his heart. Our soldier realized no matter how much he thought the enemy was wrong he had just killed another human being. Obviously that story stayed with me as I can still remember it lo these 50 years later. Didn't Jesus in essence teach that in having souls we are all Gods children and that love and peace toward one another is not just to be the fad philosophy of the day, but how we conduct ourselves every day. I sincerely hope the Mennonite religion hasn't devolved to such a politically correct organization that preaching love and peace is not allowed. If it has, the church and its members should lose their standing as legal pacifists. I really fail to see the religious or theological conundrum here with your objectives. Maybe peace and love should start in your hometown community and I guess in this day and age I'll also add your facebook friends. Always be mindful of what the bible says about those who are lukewarm and go for it by God I mean for God. Actually I guess by God through God and for God would all be appropiate. I don't really like politics especially church politics, but if you have a position open for someone to spearhead such a worthwhile Godly movement, I would consider it.
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I have searched for evidence that Billy Sunday made the statement Taylor attributes to Sunday and was unable to find it. All this is to accuse Billy Sunday that he does not measure up to the New Age Anabaptist measuring stick. Billy Sunday turned his back on a successful professional baseball career and answered God’s call for him to go into full time Christian ministry as a traveling evangelist. If Taylor and MWR want to measure themselves to Billy Sunday, they would be less than a gnat in comparison.
Lastly, Jesus was not a pacifist nor is pacifism taught in the Bible. — I
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