Violence/Nonviolence

JOE MAYER

Frequently one comes across words so powerful that attempting to relay the message in any way but the original is self-defeating. So today's "Ponderings" comes right from "the horses mouths." All are taken from Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's book Saving Christianity from Empire although he credits others as indicated.

An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana. For America's hard right -- a curious farrago (hodgepodge) of Armageddon-seeking southern protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israel's right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex -- the Bush administration's aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness.... But for those Americans whose primary loyalty is to their country, rather than to religious cultism, foreign nations, or financial profit, the rapid emergence of the U. S. as an imperial power waging two hugely expensive colonial wars in Asia was a disaster, both for American's democratic system and for the rest of the world.

Eric Margolis (contributing foreign editor), "America: The Real Danger Lies Within", The Toronto Sun, January 4, 2004.

The American rhetoric about an "evil empire," an "axis of evil," or any other earthly manifestations of the devil's handiwork is so grossly inept that one has to smile and shake one's head or else scream in outrage depending on the moment and one's personal temperament. However, it ought to be taken seriously in its decoded form. The rhetoric truthfully expresses an American obsession with evil that is identified accusingly as emanating from outside the country when in fact it originates from inside the United States. The menace of evil in the United States is truly everywhere if one thinks of the renunciation of the principle of equality, the rise of an irresponsible plutocracy, the overdrawn credit card existence of millions of consumers and the country as a whole, the increasing use of the death penalty, and the return with a vengeance of obsession about race.... God has certainly not been blessing America lately. The country is steaming mad about the evil it sees everywhere, no doubt in part because the kettle cannot see how black it has become."

Emmanuel Todd, After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order, New York, Columbia U. press, 2002, p.120

With the support of Christians the United States has been an empire for a long time. In recent years it has moved to a rather extreme point on an imperial continuum that has pushed beyond the economically driven grand strategy of the Clinton years. The Bush administration has sought global domination through permanent war, control of the world oil supplies, expansion of U.S. military bases in strategic areas throughout the world, and military superiority, including the militarization of space. It has justified its policies with rhetoric, including references to God and divine mission. U.S. empire hurts people at home and throughout the world. U.S. citizens must choose between republic and empire. Christians must also choose, not only between republic and empire, but between violent and nonviolent streams of Christianity."

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Saving Christianity from Empire, New York, Continuum, 2005, p. 158

I identified what it would mean for Christians to take the nonviolence of Jesus seriously in Jesus against Christianity: Reclaiming the Missing Jesus. This includes the refusal to kill other human beings or participate in any military or police force expected to use lethal violence; support for nonviolent defense efforts and international nonviolent peace and conflict resolution teams; support for multilateral institutions that work for social justice and alternatives to war and violence; support for systematic changes that seek to break the spirals of violence, including work to address the causes of hunger, poverty, indebtedness, inequality, and women's oppression; replacement of military training programs, such as ROTC, with peace studies and conflict resolution programs and centers; rejection of just-war theory; work to dramatically reduce U.S. military spending; modeling and putting nonviolent social change theory into practice; and affirming and developing the relationship between inner and outer peace.

Ibid. p. 161