Perhaps you’ve
seen this new version of a “coexist” bumper sticker. If you can’t make it out
from the picture, the letters that spell out the word “coexist” are gun
manufacturers. It’s a different
“coexist” entirely, and I must say, fairly clever.
Being that I’m
a person who over-thinks things like this, when I first saw this my mind
immediately went to the apparent contradiction between gun manufacturers and
the word “coexist.” In fairness, to
those sporting the sticker, the two go hand in hand—violence is rebuffed by the
threat of violence. Or, to simplify as
NRA executive VP Wayne LaPierre (in)famously said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with
a gun is a good guy with a gun." If you’re not following, LaPierre, and
folks who align with him believe that peace is ultimately achieved through
violence—or at least the threat of it.
Coming from a Christian perspective, I find such ideology
extremely troubling, for I remember the texts from the Hebrew Scriptures which
speak of a vision of peace without violence, where weapons of war are no longer
necessary and methods of war no longer need to be taught. Consider the words of
the prophet Isaiah:
Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of
Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his
paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many
peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into
pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war
any more.
The prophet Micah also repeats this same
vision, of a day in time where people follow the ways of God, a way of peace,
not violence.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between
strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into
pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war
any more;
Say what you want, but the biblical vision of
peace is not one where we stockpile weapons or rely on the threat of force. A
biblical vision of peace is that where our weapons of war are melted down into
farming tools—specifically—where humans stop investing into things that destroy
life but rather into that which engenders life.
Consider for a moment the United States, where
more than half of
discretionary spending goes towards “national
defense.” Even considering the entire
federal budget, the US spends as much money on harming people as it does on
healing people (military
vs. Medicaid/care). So For being a “Christian nation” the
US is hardly following after the biblical vision.
America
is 12 plus years into a seemingly endless “war on terror;” a war which
President Obama has disappointingly continued on through drone strikes and
other covert military actions. The
question begs, are we any safer? Or, more specifically, are there less people
in the world who want to do harm to America?
The answer to that is clearly “NO,” as reports
have details, drone strikes and similar measures only further anger and radicalize. One U.S.
official estimated that for every “terrorist” killed by
a drone strike, 40-60 new enemies are created.
Even sixteen-year-old Pakistani women’s rights activist Malala Yousafzai told President Obama that drone strikes
are doing more harm than good for the cause of “peace.”
Any overview of American foreign policy
should reveal that America has seemingly followed after the vision of “Pax Romana” or the “Peace of
Rome” which was achieved through violent military defeat and continued subjugation
and oppression of all dissidents. Such
peace via the sword was one of the main critiques of the apocalyptic book of
Revelation in the Bible (despite what some crazy rapture “theologians” would
have you believe). The problem with an
illegitimate and unfaithful interpretation of Revelation
as “rapture theology” is that it presents God as righting the world via a giant
blood-bath. Such an interpretation lends
credence to the ideal that peace can be achieved through violence. Such an
interpretation is wholly inaccurate.
Whether it be on a national level in
regards to foreign policy, or on a personal level, I find it very hard for anyone to square a
profession of Christian faith with the belief that peace is achieved through
violence—or the threat thereof. The
biblical vision of peace is not achieved through military might or violent
divine intervention, but rather faithfully following after the ways of
God—which begins by truly loving one’s neighbor as yourself—not threatening
them with violence.
