Writing in the Sept. 12 issue of the Mennonite Weekly Review, Andre Gingerich Stoner observes that leaders of Christian churches from around the world are increasingly concluding that the just war theory is obsolete. Stoner is director of holistic witness and interchurch relations for Mennonite Church USA. Here is his commentary:
Just war concept obsolete
by André Gingerich Stoner
Mennonite Weekly Review
In a remarkable shift, a key World Council of Churches statement describes the concept of a just war as obsolete. It calls for a fundamental shift in ethical practice to what it calls “just peace.”
The Ecumenical Call to Just Peace repeatedly lifts up the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus as the model for Christian peacemaking.
The 13-page document is peppered with sentences like, “Jesus told us to love our enemies, pray for our persecutors, and not to use deadly weapons … Despite persecution, he remains steadfast in his active nonviolence, even to death.”
The Call to Just Peace was the primary document prepared for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, sponsored by the World Council of Churches and held in Kingston, Jamaica, in May.
The statement has been commended by the WCC Central Committee for study, reflection, collaboration and action. It will be considered for adoption by the WCC assembly in 2013.
The Kingston event was the culminating event of the Decade to Overcome Violence, a WCC initiative first proposed by German Mennonite Fernando Enns.
Peace church voices have been significantly involved throughout the decade. For example, Colombian Mennonite Peter Stucky and Church of the Brethren theologian Scott Holland served on the drafting committee for the Ecumenical Call to Just Peace. About 30 Mennonites from around the globe participated in the Kingston gathering.
While Mennonites who participated are encouraged by this new direction, some point out that the document still tends to call first for government action rather than appealing primarily to Christians to follow the way of Jesus.
For example, the use and deployment of nuclear weapons is roundly decried, but the next steps tend to involve new laws and treaties rather than urging Christians to stop building, training with or paying for these weapons.
The Ecumenical Call to Just Peace is not just a challenge to mainline Christians but also to Mennonites. We will in particular be challenged to more fully embrace God’s vision of shalom, which involves more than an absence of warfare but includes right relationships of justice and fairness.
An ongoing concern with the Decade to Overcome Violence process is that Catholics, evangelicals and Pentecostals have not been fully part of these conversations.
A key question for the Ecumenical Call to Just Peace is how it will be received by congregations and individuals. That depends in great part on whether the document is discussed and embraced in congregations, at the area conference or synod level, and among denominational leaders.
Mennonites at all levels of the church could further the process by initiating conversation in our churches and with interchurch partners.
The Ecumenical Call to Just Peace and an accompanying 124-page Just Peace Companion can be found at www.overcomingviolence.org.
André Gingerich Stoner is director of holistic witness and interchurch relations for Mennonite Church USA.