Thinkaloud

When is a war not a war?

THE Russian government claims that the current conflict in Ukraine is not a war, but a ‘special military operation’.

This surprising news sent me back to 1967, when the Eastern Region of Nigeria declared itself the independent Republic of Biafra. In reply the federal government promised a short ‘police action’ to restore order. The bitter conflict, in which my former students fought on both sides, was to last three years. And back in the 1920s, after Britain took over the government of Iraq, Winston Churchill described the bombing of resisting Arab villages as ‘air policing’.

So when is a war not a war? This question takes us to the heart of Christian attitudes towards violence and armed conflict.

PROGRESS OF A KIND?

Many ancient civilisations glorified war. Egyptian pharaohs were depicted as smiting their conquered foes. The Roman emperor Trajan erected a column showing his defeated enemies committing suicide. But nowadays war memorials no longer feature grovelling prisoners, and most countries have a Ministry of Defence rather than a Ministry of Attack. The claim that a war is not really a war is progress of a kind, because it implies that war is wrong and only justifiable as the lesser of two evils.

However, the weaponry deployed in armed conflict has made grim advances too. Bows and arrows have given way to guns. Poisoned wells have been replaced by poison gas. The invention of nuclear weapons has made it horribly possible to exterminate the entire human race. wrong must surely be in debt to the teaching of Jesus, who told his followers to love their enemies. ‘Whoever can reconcile ... “resist not evil” with “resist violence by force” ... may be supposed ... to have found a way to reconcile God with the Devil,’ wrote the Quaker Robert Barclay in 1678. Since then, Quakers – members of the Religious Society of Friends – have maintained a ‘peace testimony’, which means they ‘utterly deny … all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons’. Some Christians of other denominations have joined them in maintaining a pacifist position, sometimes facing jail or even death for the sake of their beliefs.

Can you imagine our Lord leading a bayonet charge? Of course not. ‘Do not resist an evildoer,’ says Jesus. ‘If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well’ (Matthew 5:39 and 40 New Revised Standard Version). But how does his revolutionary teaching apply in a world of greed and sin? What if those aggressive neighbours try to grab your shoes as well? Or attempt to kidnap or abuse you? What if a large armed group wants to conquer your country? Would it be right – or the lesser of two evils – to resist with force?

In the Middle Ages, St Thomas Aquinas developed the concept of a ‘just’ war – permitted only for a just cause, fought with limited objectives, aiming at a just peace and providing for the humane treatment of prisoners and civilians. Fast forward through the centuries and this theory has been codified into the Geneva Convention of 1949, ratified by members of the United Nations. (For a summary of international humanitarian law see the website of the International Committee of the Red Cross: icrc.org.)

A CHALLENGE TO EVERY CONSCIENCE

When I was a schoolboy, conflict was raging in Korea and French Indo-China (now Vietnam). The Cold War was at its height and the threat of the atom bomb hung over us. Those were the days of national service and I had to decide whether to accept a call-up or register as a conscientious objector. I decided that the use of force could be justified in some circumstances, and that weapons like the hydrogen bomb were so terrible that nobody would dare to use them. And so, with an uneasy conscience, I decided to sign up.

Since then, thank God, life on Earth has not been obliterated by the use of nuclear weapons. Instead, the world has suffered far too many ‘small’ wars, some in which the United Kingdom has taken part.

Did we meet the conditions required for a just war? British intervention in Sierra Leone in 2000 helped to bring frightful cruelty to an end, but can we say the same about military involvement in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan? Now the UK government is supplying weaponry to Ukraine – but what weaponry and for how long?

The rights and wrongs of warfare continue to challenge the consciences of everyone, especially those who follow the Prince of Peace.

JOHN COUTTS

Stirling