The Anxieties of War
Dr Greg Moses, Nowra, NSW.
Like about three million other Australians I suffer from clinical Anxiety. This was properly diagnosed in 2016, and in mid 2017 led to a retirement from active ministry earlier than planned. It has probably been there in some form or other for most of my life.
Anything can set it off, including world events, which I have always taken seriously. The last time I was this anxious was when Donald Trump was trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The last time a war made me this anxious was the Second Gulf War, in respect of which I remember making vigil every evening, lighted candle and prayer, both leading up to the war and while it was going on.
My making this connection happened to coincide with the readings of the Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Gospel including the saying about the splinter in another's eye and the plank in one's own. Though in this case we are dealing with a dirty great plank on both sides.
For some time now, probably since I first taught Christian Social Ethics in the late 1980's if not before, I have been what I call a 98 per cent Pacifist. In this I think I am following along the lines of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis. Nowadays and with modern weaponry for some time, and going on the history of war, hardly any wars pass muster or are likely to. Even the Second World War has its problems. While it was justified on the side of the allies in terms of Jus ad Bellum, all right to go to war - like the people of Ukraine right now we didn't have much choice - it left an awful lot to be desired on all sides in terms of Jus in Bello, fighting the war in a just manner. Generally speaking, even when an objective observer would agree that we had Just Cause, we are very likely (Francis: 'probably always') to have problems with Proportionality. From Fratelli Tutti: ''We can no longer think of war as a solution, because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits... Never again war!' (Fratelli Tutti, 258). This is something demonstrated in spades this century in both Iraq and Afghanistan, an awful lot of destruction and human suffering, still continuing.
Pope Francis, in coordination with Pax Christi, has moved the tradition one step further. In the old days it used to be, Just War Theory for states and governments, Pacifism like in the Sermon on the Mount as a prophetic witness option for individuals and small groups. What Francis has done is to insert pacific non-violent activism e.g. like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, also as in the Sermon on the Mount properly understood, but including a whole constellation of involvements such as those outlined also in Fratelli Tutti, as a necessary first step in today's world also for states and governments.
Whether sanctions like right now always count as pacific non violent activism is open to debate. Once upon a time blockades used to be regarded as acts of war. They still are very much weapons of war. What if you have sanctions even more effective than e.g. a total blockade? So my argument at the moment would be, it depends on the kind of sanctions. The first lot of sanctions, targeting the decision makers, oligarchs, the political and military elite, and industries directly related to waging war, might be appropriate. This would be so whether they were non violent activism or elements within a species of humanitarian intervention semi-war. But sanctions which seem to be designed to render a whole economy non viable for everyone in that economy, that smacks of a colossal targeting of non-combatants. This is only enhanced with the cross over with cancel culture, the banning of all things and people Russian, athletes, musicians etc., irrespective of any connection with the Russian state. Either that, or something close to a species of Total War, which has been something beyond the pale for us since Gaudium et Spes (see GS 80: 3). So I think we have to watch what we are doing. That gospel text might be doubly appropriate. Just because you are on the side of right doesn't mean you can do just anything.
By way of conclusion: I feel strongly for the people in Ukraine and what is happening there, apparently alongside a large part of the rest of the world. I just wish there had been even a small part of this general feeling and consternation back in 2003.
Let us hope and pray for something to come out of the negotiations, some kind of end to this nightmare for the sake of all concerned. No more war! That is also our responsibility.
Dr. Greg Moses is a priest of the Diocese of Cairns, now in retirement from active ministry. He has spent most of his working life however as a Catholic philosopher, working out of Sydney and Brisbane. He is still engaged as the latter, albeit in a retired mode. For more, see his website: https://www.gjmoses5.site/ .