By Valerie Elverton Dixon
founder JustPeaceTheory.com
March 19, 2010
When is it justice for a member of the military to refuse orders? Is
selective conscientious objection -the objection to a particular war
and not to all war--acceptable in the military? What is the role of
faith in shaping the moral values of military service members that
crystallize into an act or a declaration of conscientious objection?
A group of activists, clergy and scholars will hear testimony at a
Truth Commission on Conscience in War at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 21, at
the Riverside Church in New York City. I am one of the commissioners.
Killing another human being is not an automatic or easy thing.
Warriors are nor mindless, heartless, soulless, cogs in a military
machines. While they are trained to kill, many encounter a moment
that causes them to question the righteousness of their involvement
in war and the morality of war itself. The 2007 documentary Soldiers
of Conscience tells the story of eight soldiers, four of whom became
conscientious objectors.
Joshua Casteel, a veteran of the Iraq war, was profiled in the
documentary and will testify before the commission. An evangelical
Christian, and a young Republican, he was an interrogator at Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq. He interviewed ordinary people - school boys,
young fathers, and Imams. He also interviewed a jihadist who asked
him if he was at peace with his faith and his role in the war. He was
not. He became a conscientious objector.
Another soldier profiled in the movie, Camilo Mejia, will testify.
The confusion of war, the reality of not knowing for certain if he
was responsible for the death of a young Iraqi man, a noncombatant,
changed him. His experiences in the war led him to the conclusion
that the war in Iraq was not a just war. He considers his
conscientious objection an assertion of his freedom.
What is the proper balance between freedom of conscience and the duty
to keep a contract to obey orders? What is the psychological toll on
warriors and their families? Is there a philosophy, a theory of war
and peace that can get us to some understanding of what we ought to
expect from the human beings we ask to kill and to die for the sake
of the nation? A reporter, psychiatrist, philosopher, and Gold Star
Mother are among those who will testify before the commission as we
seek answers to these questions.
The commissioners are an interreligious group of some 80 people who
represent pacifist, just peace and just war traditions. Each of these
traditions grows from theological and moral reflection on the
obligations of faith. Faith is a force that can help us to see beyond
the moment, that helps us to see beyond the categories of identity
that divide us, and , if we are not careful, trap us in a cul-de-sac
of zero- sum self preservation. My group wins. Your group loses.
Faith as in-group identity can cause us to see the Other as a
dangerous enemy who is outside the arc of God's beneficence. Faith
can also help us to see the Other as a brother or sister, a child of
the same Creator God.
Faith can become the tie that binds us to God and country, and faith
can be the tie that binds us to all of humanity and to a moral
universe that requires us to do unto others as we would have them do
to us, a moral universe that says that what is good for all of
humanity is what is good for us. Faith can give us the determination
to overcome evil with good.
Nation states exist through the use of coercive power. They keep
their own citizens in check and enemies at bay through the threat of
violence. The state can take away one's property, liberty or life.
This is why the rule of law is so important. International law is
important because it governs relationships between and among nations
to regulate the use of violence. Warriors volunteer to put their
lives on the line, to kill or to be killed when their civilian and
military leaders command it. The state needs a reliable police force
and military.
At the same time, service members think and feel. With a volunteer
army, wars do not affect everyone. They have a disproportionate
impact upon military personnel and their families. In the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, service members have been deployed over and over
and over again. They suffer physical and psychological injury. Family
relations are strained and some suffer financially. When is it right,
just, acceptable, even noble for a service member to refuse orders,
to object to a particular command, a particular war, or to war itself?
These are not easy questions. I do not know what the testimony will
be, and I have not reached any conclusions. We will wrestle with
these questions in public on Sunday at Riverside and in closed
session on Monday at Union Theological Seminary. The Truth Commission
plans to issue a written report this November.
--
Valerie Elverton Dixon is founder JustPeaceTheory.com. She taught
Christian Ethics at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, MA
and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
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