Jeremiah 31:15-17
Psalm 124
1 Peter 4:12-19
Matthew 2:13-18

Whenever weapons are mixed with fear, the innocent pay with their lives. There is another reminder of this in the color comic section of today's Washington Post. "Pearls Before Swine" shows a story of one child killed by a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem. I am ashamed to say that I looked for the political angle as I read this strip. But an innocent child is an innocent child regardless of the politics of those who loved it. Nothing good ever comes from slaughtering the innocent.

I think most of you know where Bobbie was on Monday, almost two weeks ago, now. She was at the opening of the new Air and Space Museum annex building at Dulles, which was a celebration of American inventiveness and technological prowess in the realm of flight. The majority of the aircraft were military, and one in particular, a B-29 that the pilot had named after his mother, Enola Gay, drew a small group of Japanese atomic bomb survivors and a larger group of Americans who believed that the display of the newly-restored B-29 should include a description of the human cost of the single bomb dropped by that plane over Hiroshima. The next day, The Washington Post carried a picture of Bobbie and two others at a tearful vigil below the plane. There also was a favorable article by a columnist, Courtland Milloy.

As expected, three angry and self-righteous letters were printed in response. One branded the message of Japanese survivors, who happened to be schoolchildren in 1945, as hypocrisy. They all said essentially the same thing: Because of Pearl Harbor, anything done to the Japanese was deserved. I call this the "Billy-hit-me-first" school of ethics, which doesn't even work on the playground, much less as a justification for the slaughter of the innocent. The war crimes of the Japanese army are well publicized. As far as I know, however, neither Japan nor Germany possessed heavy bombers, so war crimes like the complete destruction of cities like Tokyo (or the 57 other cities bombed by Curtis LeMay) weren't even possible for them.

Certainly, Hitler wanted to drop a million kilos of bombs night after night on London, but he couldn't even muster 150,000. This was after England bombed Berlin four times in a week, which was after some German bombers apparently lost their way and bombed London by mistake. So both Hitler and Churchill could say, "Billy hit me first." Hitler did what he could, though, switching the Luftwaffe from military to civilian targets, thereby snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the Battle of Britain. Nothing good ever comes from slaughtering the innocent.

Germany simply lacked the technology to retaliate in kind. Instead, three weeks after a 1,000-bomber raid on Cologne in 1942, Joseph Goebbels declared in a speech that Germany's reprisal would be the mass extermination of Jews. Nothing good ever comes from slaughtering the innocent.

Lately, I've been struck with the realization that there has been little improvement in human relations over many centuries. But you would realize that there hasn't been much of a deterioration, either, if you read Thucydides. Thuycydides chronicled the wars between Sparta and Athens, which began in 431 BCE, at the close of the Age of Pericles. I'm going to talk about what Athens did to the inhabitants of the Island of Melos, which lay about halfway between Athens and Crete.

Now you may remember Athens for giving us the foundations of Western Civilization; philosophers such as Socrates and Plato, the theater, the democratic form of government and civic responsibility. But democracy doesnt guarantee good decisions, and the decision, under the leadership of Pericles, to seek military superiority over Athens' undemocratic and militaristic rival, Sparta, led to war in 431 BCE. Ronald Reagan, it is safe to say, probably never read his Thucydides, but the world was either extremely lucky, or God is very patient.

After 12 years, when the first Peloponnesian war was concluded with a 50-year treaty between Athens and Sparta, Athens pursued a cold war to build its empire by conquering neutral cities and colonies. This included the famous mission to capture Syracuse in Sicily, which turned into a disaster for the Athenians.

A year before that, however, the Athenians decided to bring into their alliance (i.e., take over) the island of Melos, which, though a colony of Sparta, attempted to remain neutral. Thucydides described the "discussions" between the Athenians and the Melians, which are a model of Realpolitik, which you might also consider to be part of the Athenian legacy to Western Civilization. The Athenian delegation, noting that they were brought to negotiate with only the magistrates and not the People, offered to debate frankly and openly. The Reader's Digest version of the debate is that first the Athenians say, the strong do what they are able and the weak suffer what they must, and don't talk to us about moral arguments and what vengeance might befall us if and when the Athenian empire falls.

Then the Melians ask, why wouldn't you consent to our being neutral and being friends instead of enemies? The Athenenians reply, your hostility cannot hurt us so much as your friendship, for that would show our weakness to our subjects, and then where would we be? And forget about the Spartans, who are just moral hypocrites when others are concerned. Or the help of the Gods. Your only interest is the expediency of giving in. Do not trust in things unseen (like your Spartan patrons or divine help), but look at the vast military might arrayed against you. Give up hope, for it deludes men and leads to their ruin.

The result was that after a siege of half a year, the grown men were killed, the rest enslaved, and the island was resettled by 500 colonists sent by Athens.

This reminds me a lot of the situation in which the peace communities in Colombia find themselves, don't you think? For example, in San José de Apartadó, a peace community which has been encouraged and supported by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, for example, the threat had been initially from all sides, but recently it has been mainly from the army and the paramilitaries, especially after president Uribe, after a botched hostage rescue, declared in retaliation that no community would be permitted to remain unoccupied militarily, and, more recently, that human rights workers actually help the insurgents. No one can be permitted to remain neutral, for that would show our weakness. At least one peace community already has been completely annihilated. But nothing good ever comes from the slaughter of the innocent.

The idea that the slaughter of innocents can be justified, for whatever purpose, never appears to lead to a good result. It is as hypothetical as a "just war," theoretically possible, but never encountered in practice. It is the prerequisite of terrorism. It is the enabler of terrorism. In the language of my early mathematics training, it is necessary and sufficient.

Palestinians cannot win freedom by killing schoolchildren any more than Ariel Sharon can pacify Palestine by assassinations using missile strikes that also kill the innocent. Al Queda cannot defeat the United States by terrorism, but, conversely, the United States cannot defeat Al Queda using similar means.

By the way, the murder of the Melians also didnt help Athens. About 12 years later the Athenians suffered an ignominious and well-deserved defeat. Fortunately for the Athenians, the Spartans had a better-developed sense of morality and spared them the utter destruction of their city because of the service of their great-grandfathers in repelling the Persian invasions. The slaughter of innocents helped in no way.

The Athenians were right in one respect, though. We cannot expect justice from the rulers of this world. The writer of 1^st Peter made it clear that we can expect persecution just for being Chistians, for simply failing to offer the pinch of incense at the altar of Caesar. So, it is not surprising that Cindy Hunter and Sam Nickels (formerly of Luther Place Church) had their house burned in Harrisonburg when they posted a sign against a stupid war and memorialized those who died in it.

King Herod was unsuccessful in destroying the infant Messiah. Generations of Roman emperors and governors were unsuccessful in destroying faith in this Messiah. In fact, "if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one."

Return to previous.

© Copyright 2003 John Stewart.
Last modified: Mon 12 Jan 2004