I often find myself engaged in discussions surrounding the issue of Christians and military services and like the well-worn 'you only works Sundays, Christmas and Easter must be your busy times' and the like what usually gets trotted out is the, "How can someone be a soldier and be a Christian?" This is usually supported by the words, "Doesn't the Bible say you mustn't kill>"
Well actually the Bible doesn't! What it says is, "You shall not commit murder," and that's very different for killing is the taking of life whereas murder is the felonious (i.e. unlawful) taking of life. Walk down a road and shoot a passer-by, you have committed murder but take the life of a combatant in a war and this is not murder. Shoot a civilian in the same war and you have committed murder!
Soldiers do not commit murder and in fact soldiers are given extensive training to ensure that they never unlawfully take a life, we call this rules of engagement (RoE) and RoE is a comprehensive and detailed set of rules, changing from conflict to conflict to ensure that no local conditions cause civilian life to be taken, that set out how engagement with enemy forces is to be handled.
Watch the films and you will see combatants surrendering, weapons dropped, hands held high and the oncoming troops shoot them. War Crime - this is murder and is unlawful!
Watch the films and you'll see many examples of what is wrong and this is something that our forces are taught, unlawful killing is likely to see you in the dock! Now some see this as punishing the innocent but in fact it is protecting the innocent. That said, there are times when mistakes will happen, that's a problem with war when things are happening everywhere and confusion is only ever a fingertip away, but this is a rare occurrence and should not be assumed as being the norm. When the confusion of battle comes in, the rule is to return fire to, and target ony, those who are shooting at you. Targets are identified and because of this the accidents are few and far between.
For a soldier, the best battle to have been is is one where the field of combat is left with your army victorious and not a shot has been fired. Doesn't happen that often, but this is the goal - victory with the minimum loss of life on both sides.
There is no conflict with being Christian and serving in the Armed Forces. In fact over the coming days, I hope to demonstrate the very opposite.
Pax
1 comment:
There is nothing difficult about being a Christian and a soldier. I did it for 47 years, albeit, I was agnostic for a good part of that time.
I knew exactly what my responsibilities were on deployment and we were very much aware of the limitations on what was or was not acceptable or legal. Rules of Engagement tied things up pretty tightly. This has been expanded extensively in the light of the most recent events, particularly in Iraq.
Army Chaplains of whatever denomination are a tiny but highly valued and widely respected resource for all service personnel, whether they have a faith or not. They are perhaps the only independent voice or ear for many. Being outside the chain of command, places them in a unique position and enables them to achieve much that others cannot.
I had many formative times with Army Chaplains over the years, one of whom was directly involved in bringing me to membership of the church. Now my Vicar, he continues to have that formative position as the Church and I try to discern a call to ministry.
Being a Christian in the armed forces gives I believe an additional strand to support the intellectual and philosophical considerations of what and how you do things, which might not be considered otherwise.
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