AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Pacifism and Ethos

Margaret’s working on an end-of-term paper on Paul Griffiths’s terrific book (she says; I haven’t read it yet) Lying — An Augustinian Theology of Duplicity as a model for reasoning about pacifism. As we shared observations about the book and a review of it, we reached the point of noting how odd it is that “pacifism” has become identified as “opposition to war,” when it is much more a matter of living in a particular, nonviolent way.

The pacifist’s opposition to war becomes operative only at the extremity of human behavior — whereas the real work of pacifism takes place day by day. Margaret’s going to argue that Augustinian truthfulness provides a model of how we can envision pacifism as a way of life, inasmuch as Augustine both prohibits deception and discusses how people can live in a world where deception prevails. We noted that our family’s commitment to pacifism has affected our relations with one another, our behavior relative to neighbors and co-workers, our involvement in church and other spheres, much more than it has affected our attitude toward (for instance) the ongoing conquest of Iraq. Someone who says that pacifism is cheap when you don’t actually have to participate in war or face harsh consequences for your refusal, may not have considered sufficiently the cost of trying to live a life characterized by aiming at harmony and cooperation in a culture overwhelmingly defined by competition, rivalry, and conflict. That’s all the more true to the extent that anything we say or do risks supplying the grounds for an accusation from a hostile inquisitor (of whom I find a surprising number).

Pacifism is more than not serving in the army: it’s living as an emissary of peace in exile in a land of contentiousness. When you begin with treating your spouse and children, your neighbors and students in a way governed by the blessing of peace, of course war is unthinkable — but there’s so much more to be done before the question of war even comes up.

And I say, “Go, Sox,” and confess my flawed insensitivity here in public as a sign that I’m not hyping my own stock here. I’m emphatically not an example of pacifist perfection. Living as a pacifist in this comprehensive sense is hard work (as the President might say — and he gets very much more time off than I do).

Posted by AKMA at October 31, 2004 03:57 PM | TrackBack