Duke University's (I dislike Duke basketball, not Duke altogether) Stanley Hauerwas spoke yesterday about war and worship...The Billings Gazette reports...
Christian ethicist and pacifist Stanley Hauerwas proposed a Christian alternative to war Monday night at the opening of Rocky Mountain College's symposium on religion and culture.
This is the third year that Rocky has drawn scholars to Billings to discuss a religious topic. This year's theme is "Religion in America."
Hauerwas, the Gilbert T. Rowe professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School, spoke on "Sacrificing the Sacrifices of War"...[read more]
In 2003, three weeks prior to the onset of the Iraq war, Hauerwas spoke out in a Time Magazine essay against using the "evilness" of Saddam Hussein to justify war. He argues that the language and rhetoric of war is just as big of a deal as entering into a war itself because without pseudo-theological and linguistic underpinnings, the morality of war (especially the war we presently find ourselves in) doesn't really have much of a leg to stand on. As Christians we need to be "agents of truthful speech in a world of mendacity." I have to agree.
And yet I wonder...do I speak truth that leads to peace? For example...
This morning, I was waiting for the train in a crowded indoor space at the top of some stairs (it's snowing out and it's cold). People were standing in 3 basic lines - one on the right, one in the middle, one on the left. I was in the line on the right but I kind of felt that I was in the way of the flow of traffic (some people were trying to get outside) and so, eyeing a space in the line on the left that was not so in the way, I politely said, "excuse me" and squeezed through a sizable gap between an older man reading a newspaper a woman reading a book who were standing in the middle line.
As I squeezed between these two people in an honest attempt to make life a little easier for everyone crowding at the top of the stairs and those trying to get out to the train platform, I was bumped pushed in the back rather abruptly by the man. I in turn bumped into the woman rather hard, apologized to her, and quickly made my way to the open space in the line on the left. I looked up at the man who had bumped pushed me, trusting that it had been an accident. With the smuggest look I've ever seen anyone give (and this was a man over 65) he said, "oops...excuse me."
I immediately realized that he apparently did not like the fact that I squeezed between him and the woman and so he intentionally pushed me. What is one to do?
I could have let it go, but I felt that I was not only wronged, but that the woman who I bumped into had paid the price as well (the poor woman was still recovering from my foray from behind into her personal space). I could have gone on the verbal offensive, but in a way that seemed just as violent as going to war in Iraq. So, I stayed calm (though my blood pressure was on the rise) and I tried to speak the truth without being a violent ass...here's the dialogue that occurred...
Me: "Sir, that wasn't necessary."
Man: "Well, it wasn't necessary for you to cut through the line, so too bad."
Me: "Sir, I was trying to create some space for everyone else coming up the stairs, and I said "excuse me" before I stepped through your line."
Man: "Well, I didn't hear you say anything."
Me: "Sir, it's not my fault if you have difficulty hearing. Pushing me was still not necessary."
Man: No response. He returned to reading his newspaper but after about a minute, he made his way outside in the cold to wait for the train (which didn't come for another 5 minutes).
I'm not sure if this was truthful speech that lead to peace (I think it was), but I do know the picture of me beating up a 65 year old man in a line of people just doesn't fit into my paradigm. I spent the train ride praying for this man (worship instead of warring) - obviously he was wronged at some point this morning and needed to vent his frustration.
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