Can Lethal Resistance be Loving?

Last updated on: January 23, 2013 at 6:56 pm by Leah Libresco

Can Lethal Resistance be Loving? 2013-01-23T18:56:11-05:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I quite enjoyed reading Logan Mehl-Laituri’s Reborn on the 4th of July for the Patheos Book Club this month. Mehl-Laituri was weakly religious, but, while serving in the US Army, he became more deeply engaged with Christianity and ultimately decided that his newfound faith was incompatible with his job shooting people.

It’s obviously an emotional as well as an intellectual journey for Mehl-Laituri, but since I tend to be an unfeeling reader, wishing for a little less personality and a bit more theology in these kinds of books, I was delighted that Mehl-Laituri has helpfully included several appendices on his religious beliefs, military law, a concordance of biblical citations about soldiers, etc, so the reader is free to wonk out.

It turns out there are two types of contientious objectors under US law. The first is exactly what you think of: someone whose religious and/or philosophical beliefs mean they cannot serve in the military in good conscience. But it turns out there’s a second classification: someone who won’t carry a weapon or do any harm to the enemy, but is willing to serve in other capacities. It turns out that Mehl-Laituri sought the second, extremely uncommon classification. He wanted to be redeployed with his unit to Iraq, but could not consent to harming Iraqis.

The army did not allow him to return with his unit, and I was left wondering how and whom Mehl-Laituri intended to serve as a non-combatant. Would he be complicit with killing? Or at least, any more complicit than he is as a tax-payer? Did he intend to ship out as his comrades’ keeper, and try and protect them from the wounds they were inflicting on their souls, however unknowingly? As a Christian, how much hold do national loyalties have on him? He didn’t go into detail on this point, but my impression was that he wanted to return to Iraq because he felt a powerful communion with the individuals he had served with.

I don’t particularly want to talk about the justice of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, or whether a bad war creates an obligation to see it through to a good peace. The question I found most interesting is: What kind of resistance should Christians offer to injustice? Violence only seems useful if we’re using it against other people the way we would against a rabid dog. There’s an immediate danger, and, regretfully, we don’t have a way to heal or reason with the aggressor. And then we get to the question of martyrdom.

Ultimately, Mehl-Laituri has a duty to everyone on the field of battle, but no clear way to serve. His conflict feels a lot higher stakes than the way we deal with quotidian enemies, but there are a lot of kinds of non-lethal resistance and opposition that run the risk of being unloving. I’ve got a lot of questions and a couple interesting source texts to riff on here, so stay tuned over the next few days and browse through the posts tagged “radical forgiveness” and “sin eaters/dirty hands” for some background.

Bonus points if you can guess which Shakespearean soliloquy has been running through my head since I read Mehl-Laituri’s book and will be the topic of tomorrow’s post.

Update: There are two follow-ups on this theme, both inspired by plays: “That his heels may kick at heaven” and “A Martyr for All Seasons.”

Reviews/Recommendations

offering resistance

radical forgiveness

sin-eaters/dirty hands

Previous Post

July 6, 2012

7 Quick Takes (7/6/12)

Next Post

July 7, 2012 "That his heels may kick at heaven"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who doubted Jesus' resurrection until he saw His wounds?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Thomas Peter James Philip