LDS Perspectives on War and Peace
I have begun a project to analyze LDS Perspectives on Peace and War. It should provoke some interesting debates, as I intend to challenge our common beliefs about conscientious objection, the justice of war, and our so-called-duty to support the President whenever he decides to lead the nation to war.
For starters, I submit the following two quotations from prominent LDS Church leaders.
"Thus we in America are now deliberately searching out and developing the most savage, murderous means of exterminating peoples that Satan can plant in our minds. We do it not only shamelessly, but with a boast. God will not forgive us of this. If we are to avoid extermination, if the world is not to be wiped out, we must find some way to curb the fiendish ingenuity of men who have apparently no fear of God, man or the devil, and who are willing to plot and plan and invent instrumentalities that will wipe out all the flesh of the earth . . . [We] Americans wiped out hundreds of thousands of civilian populations with the atom bomb in Japan . . . [Not] only did the people of the United States not rise up in protest against this savagery, not only did it not shock us to read of this wholesale destruction of men, women, and children, and cripples, . . . it actually drew from the nation at large a general approval of this fiendish butchery." - J. Reuben Clark, in General Conference, 5 October, 1946 (Conference Report, 46).
For starters, I submit the following two quotations from prominent LDS Church leaders.
"Thus we in America are now deliberately searching out and developing the most savage, murderous means of exterminating peoples that Satan can plant in our minds. We do it not only shamelessly, but with a boast. God will not forgive us of this. If we are to avoid extermination, if the world is not to be wiped out, we must find some way to curb the fiendish ingenuity of men who have apparently no fear of God, man or the devil, and who are willing to plot and plan and invent instrumentalities that will wipe out all the flesh of the earth . . . [We] Americans wiped out hundreds of thousands of civilian populations with the atom bomb in Japan . . . [Not] only did the people of the United States not rise up in protest against this savagery, not only did it not shock us to read of this wholesale destruction of men, women, and children, and cripples, . . . it actually drew from the nation at large a general approval of this fiendish butchery." - J. Reuben Clark, in General Conference, 5 October, 1946 (Conference Report, 46).
"We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel - ships, planes, missiles, fortifications - and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan's counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Lord's teaching." - Spencer W. Kimball, "The False Gods We Worship," Ensign Magazine June 1976, p. 6.
posted by talk hard, be heard at 5:22 PM
5 Comments:
This is the second blog I have ever posted on, inspired by these amazing quotes. I am going to tell my LDS friends and relatives to take a look at this. It is so interesting to me to find myself moved by words from a religious tradition I do not share. THANKS JOE, Prof. Matsuda
Joe--I received your e-mail invitation to your site today, and put off going to the garden to rearrange the bean poles in preparation for planting to take a quick look at it. A half-hour later, I had read all the entries, and found myself with tears in my eyes, from the two beautiful quotes by the leaders of your church, and from my thankfulness to you for putting your considerable skill to use in providing this unique forum. Just this week, my meditations were ranging over peace-making; the situation in our city, our nation, and the world at large; and how I as an individual fit into that. This site felt like a way forward and an important part of my personal puzzle. I look forward to reading and commenting more--for now, spring is here, and the beans won't wait. Warmly, Katie
Peacemaking, a Daily Task
"Blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." In the sublime sermon on the Mount and in a similar sermon to the Nephites, Jesus declared this great truth. How can we be peacemakers in a world torn by strife, selfishness, and greed? Here are some actions that I offer as examples of peacemaking.
* A mother helps her children to decide whose piece of string it really is and maybe figures out how to get them to take turns or share the string.
* A child in school goes out of his or her way to stick up for the new kid who is being picked on.
* A teacher opens the world of knowledge to students by teaching then how to read.
* A father helps a son learn to tie flies, giving the boy an outlet for a lifetime to vent his boundless energies.
* A friend who listens when someone feels depressed and needs to talk.
* A farmer hires the neighborhood kids to move pipe and weed the fields so the kids can make some spending money or save to go to school and gain experience that will help them find work in the future.
* A waitress at a restaurant goes out of her way to make an evening out for a harried couple a pleasant experience.
* An electric company's lineman does his job and ensures that customers have power and that safety hazards are removed.
* A bank teller smiles as she enters the data into the computer, brightening the day of the customer who is depositing the month's checks.
* A composer writes music, an agent books performances, and a musician performs the music, bringing joy to many who attend concerts.
* An employee at a company that is "downsizing" volunteers to quit or restrict his hours because he knows that he can more easily get another job than others at his company.
* Rather than competing with other employees at his company, an employee helps a fellow employee avoid mistakes and do better at what he does.
* A person who forgives a debt is a peacemaker to the one whose debt is forgiven.
These few examples serve to illustrate the idea that people doing their jobs well increases peace. Helping people improve their skills increases peace. Improving how people feel about themselves increases peace. An atmosphere of care for others increases peace.
Peacemaking does not mean avoiding all conflict or disagreement. Peaceful people can disagree on nearly everything, from the right way to raise a child, how much tax citizens ought to pay, whether the government should pay us when we retire, to whether we should go to war against a tyrant leader. Peacemakers will listen to all sides. A peacemaker will allow that he could be wrong sometimes. A peacemaker will look for solutions that will achieve at least some benefit for all parties involved.
What to do about tyrants committing genocide
I live in a peaceful land. I am a peacemaker at work and at home. Peacemakers surround me and life is peaceful. We are happy living peaceful lives, resolving differences peacefully, sometimes to our gain and sometimes not. I read in a newspaper that a people are being exterminated by tyrants who are in power in a certain country. My peaceful world is wrecked. My mind dwells hopelessly on the plight of these people who are mercilessly being killed. In my idyllic minds eye, a bunch (large bunch) of my like-minded friends and I get our guns from our basements and take a plane to the faraway country. We walk the last 500 miles to the government headquarters and shoot the whole lot of them and leave, letting the country breathe a sigh of relief and smother us in admiration, and they live happily ever after.
What is wrong with this picture? For starters, I would not make peace for my family that I leave behind, especially if I am killed in the endeavor. Secondly, when we arrived at the scene, tired after walking 500 miles, we found that the enemy was not wearing the specially marked costumes that we had imagined and we did not know who to shoot. There seemed to be good guys and bad guys all intermixed. The bad guys had good families and the good guys had some hoodlum relatives and they all looked the same to us. We didn't know their language nor did we have any appreciation for the cultural differences we encountered. We had no appreciation for the history that brought events to the present situation. Even had we succeeded, we would have found that sooner or later, probably sooner than later, another tyrant would arise and the whole scandalous process would be repeated.
Yet, I simply cannot just do nothing. That just doesn't seem right. What about the United States Government. What can it do? We have trained military troops with a large arsenal of equipment and munitions which could go into the country and maybe scare the tyrant and his cronies. Unfortunately, the locals have the upper hand because they know their country and we don't. The problems they would face are similar to the vigilante scenario first described. The government certainly has more resources, so the military could certainly get there faster and wouldn't have to walk the 500 miles to the battle field. In spite of their strength, history is littered with failures of efforts of this kind .
At this point I am not willing to take up arms to shoot the tyrant, nor am I willing to send my children to do the deed, nor am I willing to support our government doing this for me. In the near term, this means that the genocide will probably continue and hundreds of thousands of innocent children, women, and men will die sometimes horrible deaths.
So what am I willing to do? First, continue the daily peacemaking tasks described above. Lift all those around me in my normal daily tasks. Build where I stand today. Encourage others to do the same. Each person on the planet can promote peace at home, at work, and wherever he or she interacts with others.
Second, apply this same principle to the United States Government in relation to other countries. Our government can encourage us to participate in cultural exchange. We can learn languages. We can live for one or two years in another country and participate in their way of life. We can offer our services, provide man power, share our experiences, our resources, and what wisdom we have gained in our lives. We can do this with the intent only of learning more of other countries and ways of their people. We can become friends and gain trust in this manner. This can only work if we do it for unselfish reasons, not for gain for the United States. Perhaps we can begin to understand those who live in other countries.
One of the most fertile grounds for the rise of tyranny is poverty; not simply lack of material and things, but more especially lack of hope of anything better. A close second to this is ignorance of the good that can be in the world and the foolishness of forcing our ways on others.
What about creating a Peacemaking Department? What if you saw this flier from the US government inviting you to serve?
WANTED: Peacemakers
Youths 19 to 25 years of age to serve for one to two years.
Couples 50 to 70 years with experience and Wisdom.
Live in another country. Learn a new culture
Find yourself by serving others.
REQUIREMENTS
Strong body
Willing heart
Quick Mind
Willingness to learn
Unselfish
The hours are long, the rewards are great.
Sign up now before it is too late.
Www.peacemakers.gov
The US government could advertise the services to other countries. Countries desiring these services could apply for them and the Peacemaking Department would match up willing applicants to the desires of the applying countries.
As we served in these countries wouldn't we begin to gain a concern for their people and an understanding for their needs independent from the aspirations of the United States? Wouldn't we then begin to care about these people personally? Wouldn't it be easy to then care enough to do something about situations that arose long before they became war-like crises? We could then diplomatically and helpfully intervene as friends if necessary with knowledge of customs and culture rather than meddle ignorantly in the politics and governments of other countries.
As I am writing this, it occurred to me that just such a program already exists. Check out www.peacecorps.gov. There are currently over 7000 people participating in this program. The annual budget is $317 million. This is about what we spend for 2 days on the war in Iraq. Before I write any more about this, I will read this site and try to answer the questions:
* Is the Peace Corps accomplishing the goals of this plan?
* What do people who have participated have to say about their experiences?
* Are there changes which could make this program more effective.
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