“If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”

(Luke 19:42)

Martin Luther King, Jr. provided bold visionary leadership when he came out against the Vietnam War, a few years before much of the U.S. population embraced opposition to the war. As Stanford University’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute relates, “On 4 April 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. Declaring ‘my conscience leaves me no other choice,’ King described the war’s deleterious effects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means (King, “Beyond Vietnam,” 139).” 

In the late 1960s, opposition to the war was increasing. The war made little sense to many young men who considered that it was not worth dying or risking injury to go fight in it. However, the Selective Service System, known as the Draft Board, was not sympathetic to their reluctance. The System provided an alternative, known as Alternative Service, where conscientious objectors could instead serve in a non-combatant role—but only if they held the belief that they were opposed to all war in every form on religious or moral grounds. Those who opposed only a specific war, like the Vietnam War, were considered “selective objectors” and therefore would not qualify for alternative service. It was all or nothing: oppose all wars or go take up arms. The System was considered unrealistic by many who opposed unjust wars but who also recognized the need for an armed military to defend the shores of our nation if attacked. 

In the late ’60s and early ’70s, I served as a Draft Counselor in Princeton, NJ while I was in seminary. Most of the men who opposed the war in Vietnam figured they had two choices: jail or Canada. My role was to help them to learn about their choices, to guide them in thinking about the implications of their faith or moral beliefs, and to stand by them as they wrestled with very difficult choices. Should they go fight in a war whose purpose they did not support? What if they decided they could not obey a superior’s orders? Once they stepped over the line, freedom of choice was no longer theirs. A soldier’s duty is to obey orders. Should they leave their beloved country, which likely would be a lifetime-altering choice? Should they resist and accept a jail sentence? Or, could they indeed find themselves opposed to all war, based on their faith? Unless they were members of a Peace church like the Quakers, Mennonites, or Brethren, they turned to their church, their clergy, or their denomination for guidance. What did they find?

My church resided just a few miles away from Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, where King graduated to prepare for ministry. My pastors were King’s contemporaries or classmates. From the pulpit and the church school class I heard the foundational pillars of the Christian faith, such as…

• “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:31)
• “Thou shalt not kill.” (Exodus 20:13, KJV)
• “Overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)
• “Turn the other cheek.” (Matthew 5:39)

• “…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4)
• “Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Romans 12:16-18)

• “If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink…”  (Romans 12:20)

• “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
• “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

• “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”  (Matthew 26:52)
• “Love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44). The Greek word for love can be translated as to truly desire that which is in the highest and best of the other. It is hard to see how war is in the highest and best interest of others.

In my church, we sang songs of peace like…

• “God of Grace and God of Glory” with the verses “Cure your children’s warring madness; bend our pride to thy control.”
• “Down by the Riverside” with the verses “Goin’ to lay down my sword and shield, Down by the riverside, to study war no more.”
• “Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world, Red and yellow, Black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Who are we to launch war against those whom Jesus loves?
• “O Holy Night” with the verses “Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love and his gospel is peace.”
• “Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let It Begin with Me.” 

Immersed in songs and Bible verses like these over the years, how could I not champion peace and oppose war? This seemed to be the embodiment of Christ against culture. 

I struggle to understand why churches do not oppose war more strongly. I have witnessed numerous churches celebrating with great enthusiasm the national patriotic holidays like Independence Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day. They glow with pride when people in military uniforms march down the church’s aisle for the presentation of the colors, American flags competing for attention with the cross on the altar. They lift up and celebrate those who fought. But I have never witnessed a church lift up and celebrate one of their members who stood against war, with courage and against the culture. Why don’t churches stand with and advocate for those who put into practice the songs and Scriptures about peace?

The way of peace is controversial. To favor peace in practice goes against the culture, and the consequences are negative. It was for Jesus. He mentioned the good news of the gospel in his hometown community of faith, and they were filled with rage and ran him out of town (Luke 4:28-29). Likewise, those who stand against war might find themselves run out by their communities of faith.  

Perhaps churches do not stand against war because churches do not take stands, especially churches whose governance is independent of any other authority, like Baptists and Congregationalists. Churches don’t take stands, but individual members do, rising out of their faith. My church planted seeds of peace. And so, I am haunted by Jesus’ statement “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” I don’t know if he was talking to churches, but his words echo through the ages to me and they did to Martin Luther King, Jr. It is my prayer that more and more Christians come to recognize the things that make for peace and become willing to stand against culture to advocate putting into practice the songs and Scriptures our churches taught us.