Think for a moment about the tragedy that is Gaza; Sudan; Ukraine, and also so many other places not making the headlines. Think now about Iran and the Middle East. How many have died; how many will live to benefit from a fragile peace if and when that peace comes? How many deaths do you think is a reasonable sacrifice to secure whatever you think the aims might be?

Yes, war is very, very occasionally a necessary evil but as someone said it is always an evil, and, when that evil comes to our door, we really need to know what we are doing and why we are doing it and what the outcomes we seek might be. The people who suffer the most will always be the poor and the vulnerable – occasionally the guilty, it’s true, but mostly innocent men, women and children who have no real say in the choices or indeed the crimes of their leaders. Thy suffer and die or suffer and live. But they suffer.

That is why I think Christians – controversial I know – should be pacifists.

I am a pacifist and I am so because that is where the teachings and person of Jesus lead me. Just to be clear, my political views are shaped by my faith; my faith is not formed by my political views. And I know too that claiming to be a pacifist is both a really easy thing to say and a really difficult thing to live by.

It is easy to say because as a woman in her 60s the odds are me being called up to fight any kind of war are of course non-existent! But pacifism is not just about not fighting – it is about with every breath we have arguing for and seeking to play a part in creating a world that is filled with justice and mercy for everyone; wars begin when some people are deemed of less value or, perhaps worse, collateral damage to somebody’s bigger picture. But no human being – black, white, brown, of whatever nationality or ethnic group of religion, no human being carries anything less than the full image of God. And has been said often in the context of Iran, one can oppose an horrific regime without believing the best way forward is to bomb it into compliance. It is not binary.

In the words of the Whitfield and Strong 1960s classic – war, what is it good for? And while we’re in the mood for a song, what about the words from the other sixties anti-war classic, Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ in the Wind?’:

Silly woke sentiment? Or a trenchant criticism of the absolute futility of war? The dead certainly do not benefit from the brave new world being heralded in by military hardware doing the brutal work of politicians sitting behind their plush desks. The living may or may not be set free from tyranny. But none of those school girls killed in Iran will enjoy western liberation and their mothers, now in the iron fist of grief, would rather have their children.

Pacifism is a hard position to take up – many are inclined to sneer, seeing it as cowardly at worst and misguided and naïve at best. So I take my hat off to those who were brave enough to be conscientious objectors in the two world wars. A good number were Quakers, people who lived by and still live by the Peace Testimony. I admire them so much. They have looked into the heart of God and seen that God is the God and creator of us all, even those who hate us and wish us harm.

But, you will tell me, many Christians do believe in war as a last resort. Yes. They do. Many Christians seek to follow the Just War Theory. It comes to us through great minds such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas and in short it suggests there are clear guidelines that make a war legitimate for Christians – It doesn’t satisfy me and I prefer the moral clarity of pacifism but for those who are interested, these are the conditions of a war that could be considered justified. I’ll leave you to decide if the bombing of Iran, or western support for (or indifference to) the genocide in Gaza comply.

For me, we seem to be living in an age where might is right, where the strongest and most powerful people have the last word. Their motives are both clear and unclear. They want power. They may speak vaguely about liberation, or being pro-active in defence, or regime change, But do we really believe Trump has the attention span to finish in a good way what he has started? There is no sense of legitimate authority (via Congress or international law) but his own ego and the grotesque support of far-right Christians.

That support is grotesque because it is such an obvious parody and distortion of the faith we share. To them I say this – stop misquoting bits from Revelation, it was never meant to be taken so literally. Focus instead on why we are called Christians. It is because we follow the person of Christ – the one who said anyone can love their friends, so do better – love your enemies! The one who said do good to those who hate you! Put your swords away! Turn the other cheek! We are called Christians because we follow the one who defended the weak against the powerful, who picked up the Cross and put down the sword, the one who chose the Kingdom of God over the kingdoms of men, and who lived a life of selfless love, rejecting the power the Devil offered him in the desert.

What I write I write from the heart but on the whole with respectful understanding towards those who disagree about the merits of pacifism. I have no such respect for Christian nationalism on either side of the Atlantic, or its destructive. doctrinal certainty. It is heresy. It is hateful.

I’ll finish with a quotation from G K Chesterton – it sums up the pacifist ideal which I believe is the heart of the Christian faith, and which offers still the best way forward to bring real peace to this troubled world. He said this…

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” Think about it. If only we really tried it.