On Ethics, Pacifism and Bonhoeffer

Some of the discussions around the death of bin Laden last week got me to thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian/pastor who during World War II participated in a plot to kill Hitler. Back in the early 70s when I was first introduced to Bonhoeffer's writing I was also struggling with the "practical" applications of my pacifist tendencies. At the time I was introduced to an example that a theology professor said Bonhoeffer used.

If a truck were barreling out of control down a street toward a child or group of children and the only way to stop it from its deadly mission was to kill the driver, would you?

Bonhoeffer's ethic says yes. That's the way it was explained to me in 1971 as part of a discussion of pacifism and ethics at a church camp in the midst of the Vietnam War. I don't remember if the speaker was advocating a move away from peaceful protest or not, but it was a striking moment for this 20-something pacifist.

All that came back to me quite forcefully last week as I discovered Christians debating and responding to the death of bin Laden with ambivalence and concern. Not so much about his death, but the response to it. As I reflected on it myself I said that the apparent triumph of good over evil in bin Laden's death does not call for celebration, but relief. We had no choice; we are grateful that he is no longer a threat; but we need to be cautious that our sense of victory doesn't overcome our humanity.

We are also filled with sadness over the ongoing tragedies of wars of all kinds and violence of all styles. Even justified violence is still violence and makes us less than we can truly be. I am glad for Obama and the defeat of bin Laden. But I do not rejoice at death. Not that kind of death. Even when it is necessary.

So I wanted to figure out a little bit of where Bonhoeffer was. I went Googling and found some thoughts.

First, from the BBC:

In Ethics, Bonhoeffer wrestles with the essential problem: how can a Christian, essentially a pacifist, justify murder? His argument can be summarised thus:

• Responsible action is how Christians act in accordance with the will of God.
• The demand for responsible action - that is, acting in accordance with God's will - is one that no Christian can ignore.
• Christians are, therefore, faced with a dilemma: when assaulted by evil, they must oppose it through direct action. They have no other option. Any failure to act is simply to condone evil.

What a difficult position, but one that must be addressed. Is there a time and place when the failure to act against evil would in and of itself be evil? Is there a point when pacifism may actually be wrong?

Over at the blog Ten-Minute Theology, I found this bit of insight:

[Bonhoeffer] also takes on a famous example from another German intellectual titan, Kant. Imagine someone intends to kill the friend that you are hiding in your house. One day that person barges in and demands to know if the friend is hiding there. Kant had argued that in the interest of truthfulness, the ethical act is to answer in the honest affirmative. Bonhoeffer passionately disagrees, thinking this is a monstrous distortion of what it means to act ethically. The problem with the Kantian line of thinking, he argues, is that it reduces the ethical to an unchanging list of right and wrong behaviors, instead of recognizing that

Ethical discourse cannot be conducted in a vacuum, in the abstract, but only in a concrete context. Ethical discourse, therefore, is not a system of propositions which are correct in themselves, a system which is available for anyone to apply at any time and in any place, but it is inseparably linked with particular persons, times, and places.

The key word for Bonhoeffer, which he stresses repeatedly, is concrete. An action is not ethical according to some timeless principle, but only in a specific given situation. This is because life is lived in the here and now, in the world of given circumstances, and not in the ideal world of mental reflection. Life is lived, in other words, in human society, with all the messiness that that entails.

I came away from this brief research with an uneasy feeling. Perhaps at the heart of it is the question of how do we deal with real-world situations. Conscientious objectors were often asked the hypothetical question, not unlike Bonhoeffer's- "What would you do if your family was being attacked? Would you fight, even kill, the attacker?

None of us know what we would do. But here, with the death of bin Laden we have for us in the United States a real world example. Watching President Obama on TV it was abundantly clear that he believed, beyond any shadow of doubt, that he had done the right thing. It had to be done. Even with my pacifism I have to agree. Sometime we are left no option as Bonhoeffer so clearly argued.

Yes, I feel conflicted. Yes, it is much too much of a paradox for me to deal with in any rational way. 

There was massive evil that needed to be confronted because, as Bonhoeffer would have said, we want a safer and better world to leave our children. A last-resort situation may have left us no other concrete options.

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Then as a PS to my wanderings and ramblings I came across this: The modern man of peace, the Dalai Lama was recently reported on NPR to have said:

As a human being, Bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness, the Dalai Lama said in answer to a question about the assassination of the Al Qaeda leader. But, he said, "Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened. ... If something is serious and it is necessary to take counter-measures, you have to take counter-measures."
--NPR

Two Items That Caught My Attention

With all the news coverage in the past few days, a lot can get lost. Two of these in relation to the BIG story came across Yahoo! News yesterday.

First, it appears that even terrorists can inspire. Well, at least inspire Internet terrorism (AKA- Scammers)

(AP) NEW YORK – Online thieves and spammers are using the killing of Osama bin Laden to send out malicious software and spam to unwitting Internet users.

In what's become common practice among the Internet's less savory citizens, these scammers are sending out emails and spreading Facebook posts that purport to be videos or photos of the dead bin Laden.

But more significantly is this item about the use of the code name "Geronimo"...

(AP) Jeff Houser, chairman of Geronimo's Fort Sill Apache Tribe, noted in his letter to Obama that the decision behind the code name stemmed from an ongoing cultural disconnect, not malice. But the damage is the same.

"We are quite certain that the use of the name Geronimo as a code for Osama bin Laden was based on misunderstood and misconceived historical perspectives of Geronimo and his armed struggle against the United States and Mexican governments," Houser wrote.

"However, to equate Geronimo or any other Native American figure with Osama bin Laden, a mass murderer and cowardly terrorist, is painful and offensive to our Tribe and to all Native Americans."

The White House referred questions on the matter to the U.S. Defense Department, which said no disrespect was meant to Native Americans.

Most of us, even some of the more sensitive among us, including even myself, never caught that. When I saw it pop up last night I did one of those "Doh!" actions hitting my forehead with the palm of my hand. No matter how much we of the "majority" try to sensitize ourselves, some of our historic racial training can still find its way in. I am more aware of stereotypes and inappropriate interpretations of others that I used to be. But even after over half a century of my personal journey with it, I am still amazed- and humbled- by how much further I still have to go.

A Strange and Ambivalent Day

As I went to work this morning the American flag flying by the front door seemed brighter, lighter, more free. It was not just the westerly breeze. There was a sense of relief and closure that in the end, Osama bin Laden could not escape the "justice" of his own deeds.

We were just getting into bed last evening when our daughter called to tell us that there was going to be a news statement from Obama that bin Laden was dead. We got up and sat and watched. I was impressed by his fortitude and strength of conviction. He was highly presidential as he told us and the world that bin Laden had finally met his match.

An ending in so many ways to what began on 9/11/01. The mastermind of that horrific day is gone. Good riddance. No one else will suffer as a result of his actions. There was a sense of accomplishment in that. It has not been easy. He has become an icon of evil right there with Hitler and Stalin and Idi Amin. In the end good has triumphed over evil. Again.

But again the ambivalence. The celebration of someone's death- even with the sense of relief that it brought- somehow seemed out-of-focus. Mourning may have been appropriate- first in memory of those who lost their lives 10 years ago thanks to him and second for what his actions have led us to have to do. Did we have a choice? As a nation, I don't think so. Even as a pacifist I recognize that times and situations can cause us to HAVE to go against our morals and values and do things like this.

But that doesn't mean we have to like it and celebrate it as if it was a good thing. Bin Laden is gone- yes. But again our innocence has been trapped in the vortex of violence. A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is announcing his decision to attack and kill bin Laden. No, I don't believe he had a choice. Not as President. Pacifists don't (and won't) get elected President. But I am still saddened by it, even as I am relieved that bin Laden is gone.

No, I will not celebrate. I will react with sadness over the ongoing tragedies of wars of all kinds and violence of all styles. Even justified violence is still violence and makes us less than we can truly be. I am glad for Obama and the defeat of bin Laden. But I do not rejoice at death. Not that kind of death. Even when it is necessary.

Lord have mercy on us that we do not become more violent in our reactions but learn the ways of peace as best we can. When we fail- or are forced by circumstances to react in non-peace-filled ways- forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others.

God, bless us in our humanness and failings as much as in our love and care. Show us a better way- and bring your peace.