War is not peace
We’re a year in to the proxy war between the US/NATO and Russia. At least this iteration. At the beginning of 2022 Russia, under Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine. Since that point more than 200,000 soldiers and 40,000 civilians have died as a result of the decisions to engage in bloodshed to solve long-disputed differences on land, citizenship, culture and wealth.
This war, like all others before, concurrent and after it, is full of atrocities, crimes against humanity and, to speak in my native language of religion and morality, evil.
In the same year our government spent over $100,000,000,000 to keep this war alive and well.
As I have written and spoken on my substack and podcast many times, I strongly believe the evidence that says our government is largely responsible for instigating and perpetuating this war for its own purposes. That’s honestly not a far stretch when you consider the exact same bloodthirsty fools who lied us into wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, all over South America and Africa are in charge today.
Are we really to believe that they are right on this one when they’ve been wrong every time before? Or are we to believe their own words from years ago? It is plainly obvious that, at bare minimum, our leaders in Washington have had years to see this scenario coming and did nothing to prevent it.
What is (somehow) even more disturbing than this is the fact that we are currently 90 seconds away from nuclear war on the Doomsday Clock, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Never have we been so close to driving our species to extinction than now.
The solution offered by these same scientists reads in part as follows:
There is no clear pathway for forging a just peace that discourages future aggression under the shadow of nuclear weapons. But at a minimum, the United States must keep the door open to principled engagement with Moscow that reduces the dangerous increase in nuclear risk the war has fostered. One element of risk reduction could involve sustained, high-level US military-to-military contacts with Russia to reduce the likelihood of miscalculation. The US government, its NATO allies, and Ukraine have a multitude of channels for dialogue; they all should be explored. Finding a path to serious peace negotiations could go a long way toward reducing the risk of escalation. In this time of unprecedented global danger, concerted action is required, and every second counts.
In other words, negotiated peace is the only possible solution not only to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine but to reduce the existential risk of mutually assured destruction.
This past week I got into a bit of a twitter dispute. I’ll spare the details in this post but honestly there’s some good comedy there so you can reach out to me directly and I’d be happy to share :) More to the point though, it was a Franklin Graham tweet that kicked it off. Here’s what he said:
Now, readers of this newsletter won’t be surprised when I say I truly wish Franklin Graham was a blue-collar worker. I’d love to sit down and have a beer with him after a shift and hear what goes on in his brain, mainly out of my own sense of morbid curiosity. At the same time I think it is a net loss for him to be a public figure. His opinions stink and he’s never done a day of work in his life.
However, as I have pointed out in the past, it is the height of our current tribalism and arrogance that we automatically dismiss and deride literally every word that arises from a fellow human being. Everybody has something to offer and even fools are right from time to time.
This one is not hard. The point, shared by the Atomic Scientists and Franklin Graham is the same. If there is not an immediate and concerted effort for peace not only will our fellow brothers and sisters continue to kill one another and commit atrocities but we all endanger our futures. In the short term as well as in the long term.
It may come as no surprise that this tweet was met with distain and (beyond ironically) red-baiting towards Graham. Apparently even hoping for peace makes you a lover of Putin, a hater of the Ukrainian people and a deranged conspiracy theorist.
I am a trained preacher so I feel compelled here to tell a story by way of analogy. Bear with me.
I have two daughters and they love to play together. Like all siblings the play often turns to fighting. The other day they were playing and I heard a blood-curdling scream come across the house. As a seasoned (and exhausted) parent I took my time coming to the rescue of the youngest, whose screams all too often don’t exactly match the crimes committed against her.
When I arrived to the scene of the crime, however, I was taken aback. Blood was flowing out of my little one’s cheek and running down her face. I worried for a moment that we would have to rush to the Emergency Room. Her older, much stronger, much more capable sister had wronged her, injured her and remained determined to continue the harm.
So here’s what I did. I went to the store. I maxxed out my credit cards. All of them. I purchased every whiffle ball bat, every nerf gun, every hard plastic item I could find. Then I brought them home. I laid the stockpile at my little one’s feet. We might not be able to afford dinner tonight or our next mortgage payment but I was convinced I had done the right thing.
What happened next? The youngest took the fight to the oldest. The oldest protested that I had engaged in the battle but I reminded her I had only supplied the weapons, and refused to engage in the conflict. Both daughters came to me in efforts to broker peace but I knew better. Justice, righteousness and all good things in the world demanded the ensuing battle.
Surprisingly, although much damage was inflicted on all sides, the older, stronger and more capable sister ended up winning out after all was said and done. Still I am convinced today that my decision to arm the weaker party was wholly justified.
Of course nobody on earth would be irrational enough to even for a moment consider this course of action with their children.
No. When I arrived to the scene of the crime I used my moral authority not to escalate tensions or take a side but to broker peace. I asked questions. I showed curiosity. I bandaged up the wrong. Yes, I demanded and somewhat forced restitution for wrongs being done. But I also made an effort to understand my eldest daughter’s grievances while condemning her actions in the strongest terms.
I didn’t chose this course of action because I am in the running for Father of the Year. I did this because I am a rational human being. I did this because I genuinely care about the well-being of both parties. My youngest needed defending, yes, but my oldest also needed understanding, compassion, and yes, consequences and redirection.
The truth is that peace, and those seeking it, have always been disparaged, denigrated and met with hostility. In our past hundred years during every war there have been dissidents and they have never been received well by the broad public. This goes double for the religious leaders of their time.
Today is no different. But our role as peacemakers (I think that’s what Jesus called us to anyway?) is to…well…hope for, advocate for and do everything in our power to bring about peace.
Think how irrational supporting $100 billion in service of war is for a people called to peace. Just think about that for a minute, that’s all.
Here I’ll leave a prayer for peace from my spiritual and religious tradition in the Book of Common Prayer.
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen