The Costs this Time

Been reading Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship again, and am reminded by his prophetic critique of both church and state of the ongoing necessity to speak out at every opportunity against the war of choice we are fighting in Iraq. Although it gets very tiresome after three years to repeat the same opposition over and over, it is more important now than ever because it seems as if the public is finally itself growing weary from the war. Recent editorials in a variety of mainstream papers underscore the increasing discontent. While the infamous Downing Street memo doesn't reveal anything that antiwar activists didn't already assume, it strongly suggests that Congress and the American people were not being told the whole truth about Bush administration plans. Recent news reports suggest the same lack of candor concerning escalating air attacks on Iraq at a time when we were being told that all avenues short of war were being pursued. Although it remains difficult and often extremely unpopular to do so, part of the cost of discipleship in our time must be standing squarely in the public square to say "no" to this war. Truth deserves nothing less.

Hm ...

A wee thought for the day:
"Theology does not dictate political or military strategy, and to identify a particular policy with Christian morality pure and simple is dishonesty and opportunism." Thomas Merton wrote those words more than 40 years ago in reflecting on the Cold War and the moral challenge presented by nuclear weapons. Imagine the heartache saved the body politic if we'd listened to him.