NP Hard Questions for Peacemakers

[Doug Millison]

related to a recent discussion in this forum:


http://www.sojo.net/magazine/index.cfm/action/sojourners/issue/soj0201/article/0
20112.html

Hard Questions for Peacemakers

Theologians of nonviolence wrestle with how to resist terrorism.
by Jim Wallis


[...] But many practitioners of Christian peacemaking, including me, can't
accept such a nonresponse to horrific terrorism, despite the history of U.
S. foreign policy. Gandhi said that if a lunatic is loose in the village
and threatening the people, you first deal with the lunatic, and then the
lunacy. I believe we must find a way to deal with the threat of terrorism-a
threat that must not be avoided or minimized by those committed to
nonviolence. We cannot turn away from this. But how do we confront this
crisis? [...] I AM INCREASINGLY convinced that the way forward may be found
in the wisdom gained in the practice of conflict resolution and the energy
of a faith-based commitment to peacemaking. For example, most nonviolence
advocates, even pacifists, support the role of police in protecting people
in their neighborhoods. Perhaps it is time to explore a theology for global
police forces, including ethics for the use of internationally sanctioned
enforcement-precisely as an alternative to war. [...] Walter Wink, a
biblical scholar at Auburn Theological Seminary, offers a crucial critique
of how-in the war against terrorism-the "myth of redemptive violence" is
again being used to try to prove to us how violence can save us. He remains
convinced that it cannot. Nonetheless, he admits to being glad when the
"bad guys" lose in Afghanistan and women, among others, are liberated from
Taliban tyranny. He too would greatly prefer the course of international
law and police. We simply haven't trained the churches, or anybody else for
that matter, in the crucial theology and practice of active nonviolence,
says Wink. That must now become our priority. Wink would no doubt agree
with the approach of Fuller Theological Seminary professor Glen Stassen,
who speaks convincingly of the "transforming initiatives" that can be taken
to reduce violence in any situation of conflict. Exploring what practical
nonviolent initiatives can be undertaken to open up new possibilities is
more important to Stassen than merely reiterating that one doesn't believe
in violence.

John Paul Lederach, who teaches at Notre Dame and Eastern Mennonite
University, is perhaps doing more to open up those possibilities than any
other contemporary Christian thinker or practitioner of nonviolence. In
this terrorism crisis, he has many creative insights into how a network
like bin Laden's might be de-fanged and defeated without bombing an entire
country. In particular, Lederach speaks of the need to form "new alliances"
with those closest to the "inside" of a violent situation. In this case, he
feels that Islamic fundamentalists who don't share the terrorist's
commitment to violence might be the most instrumental group in defeating
them. Undermining violence from within, Lederach feels, can often be more
effective than attacking it from without.

In this crisis, Christians must continue to defend the innocent from
military reprisal, prevent a dangerous and wider war, and oppose the
unilateralism of superpowers. But we must also help stop bin Laden, his
networks of violence, and the threat they pose to everything we love and
value. All that presents difficult questions for peacemakers, but it is a
challenge we dare not turn away from. [...]