Idea of ‘just war’ draws scrutiny

“The notion of a ‘just war’ is the greatest stumbling block to world peace,” says Penobscot peace activist Tony Aman.

“Those of us who feel no war is justified will always be considered to be on the fringe,” he says.

The idea of a just war has long guided ethicists, politicians and warriors grappling with issues of honor and morality, and is as old as warfare itself. One definition of “just war” says its principles are: having just cause, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, and the end being proportional to the means used.

Still, “no war” is what Aman says he is about, and he’s in good company.

At a recent suppertime meeting at the Peace and Justice Center in Bangor, the Hancock County resident spoke to a small group of people from across the state, many of whom had never met before.

Largely credited with being the organizational drive behind the Oct. 26 peace march in Augusta, Aman draws encouragement and strength from these committed activists. However, he says churches are key to spreading peace. As prominent social institutions with a moral commitment to nonviolence, churches are in a distinctive position to educate and mobilize their congregations, Aman says.

“The avoidance of war is in keeping with the teachings of any church in the world. Any church that doesn’t [advocate for peace] is promoting violent solutions.”

“Cheney and Bush are both Methodists,” he said. “But the course they’re pursuing is solidly, actively against the position of their own church.”

Aman himself isn’t a member of any church, although he attends Unitarian Universalist meetings in Ellsworth with his wife.

Theirs was typical of many UU churches in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, hosting regular forums on issues such as the Bush administration’s military buildup, the Patriot Act’s impact on American civil liberties and so forth. Although their church did not formally act to organize a peace agenda, Aman says, simply by hosting these discussions it defined a community concerned with the politics of war and it legitimized a dissident position.

Elaine Peresluha, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bangor, says UU ministers in Maine are opposed to war in an absolute sense. “We have a commitment to uphold the dignity and worth of all human beings,” she said. Society must “develop a commitment to nonviolence if we’re ever going to move the world past the option of using war.”

Ministers of all faiths take risks when they take a political position, she said. The greatest of those risks is the possibility of violating the loving, nurturing relationship they cultivate with their parishioners. During the Vietnam war, the tensions of the anti-war movement caused many churches to collapse, she said.

Ministers also may fear being marginalized or seen as radical nonconformists, but Peresluha believes they actually have greater societal permission than lay people to speak out for nonviolence. “The commandment says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ It doesn’t say ‘Thou shalt not kill except in a war.'”

She also takes seriously her commitment to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

“We’re given permission to ask people to challenge their faith,” she said, and she asks her congregation to reconsider complacent attitudes.

Church members can help their ministers, she said, by communicating their own feelings about the war and encouraging them to take a public position.

UUs are not Christians, but uphold the teachings of many, Jesus among them.

On Christmas, Peresluha says, she will celebrate the birth of Jesus in her sermon. “I will hold Jesus up as the light … but [human beings] are the keepers of that light. We have to carry forth the meaning of Christmas. By being peace, we create peace.”