Baptist Peace Testimony

Today I received a letter from the American Baptist Churches USA to my letter regarding the need to speak out as peace churches. (See previous responses and letters)

It was like getting hit in the head. I've got Baptists all wrong. I am humbled. Here where I would have least expected it is a peace church. So much for stereotypes.

The letter was brief, but enclosed were three documents. The first two were the American Baptist Resolution the Abolition of War, and the American Baptist Policy Statement on Peace. These one-paragraph statements echo our own Peace Testimony.

We record our conviction that war as a method of settling international disputes is barbarous, wasteful, and manifestly contrary to every Christian ideal and teaching...

Therefore, the Christian community is compelled by its understanding of the gospel to seek peaceful solutions to international crises for the sake of abundant life...We will persistently seek alternatives to war as a means of settling international disputes.

The third document was a three-page document entitled the American Baptist Policy Statement on Violence (which can be accessed here), a powerful and deeply moving discussion of violence. Violence in their definition is not limited to war: in fact, war is merely the effect of a history and culture of violence.

Modern U. S. society was born through violent ways, through the subjugation and exploitation of many of its peoples. The multiple horrors of the destruction of native peoples, the enslavement of African peoples, and the exploitation of immigrants are major strands of a web of economic, cultural, political, and societal commitments that have inevitably led to violence.

The culture of violence is manifested both in the pervasiveness of overt acts of physical force and in the more subtle dynamics by which harm is persistently done to people. This culture of violence is reflected in such ways as: the glorified role of violence in historic frontier communities; violence in the family; violence of sexual abuse, incest and rape; violence in the workplace; violence in the schools; violence in the streets; violence in the criminal justice system; violence in the use of guns, knives, and other weapons of assault; violence in the military; violence in war; violence in the marketing of weapons; violence of industries that profit by harming others; violence in the media; violence in music; violence of hate crimes; violence of the systematic destruction of the earth; and the existence of nuclear weapons, wherein we have seized the divine prerogative to determine the destiny of humanity.

Wow. That about covers it.

The paper goes on to discuss how Christians become "numbed by [violence's] frequency and enculturation in our lives." It presents a list of biblical reasons why Christians cannot support violence and must work to dismantle violence as a "witness that affirms the well-being of the creation, peacemaking, and life."

Then the paper lists the prophetic calls of American Baptists:

1. To be peacemakers, builders of God's shalom;

2. To work for the prevention of violence, the peaceful resolution of conflicts and just reconciliation;

3. To advocate for a more responsible media;

4. To challenge ideologies, structures, politics and policies that lead to violence.

The paper ends with a list of tasks:

1. To call on our churches to preach the life-transforming power of Christ, applying this message concretely to our tendency toward violence;

2. To educate ourselves on the constructive use of conflict;

3. To educate ourselves about the violence in the media and culture and to advocate for corrective measures as part of our responsibility as disciples of Christ;

4. To facilitate the development of conflict-resolution teams, violence prevention strategies and nonviolent means of political and social change;

5. To promote the inclusion of victims in the process of creating solutions to issues of violence;

6. To identify and utilize effective models of healing for those who have been victimized by violence;

7. To advocate for further regulations on the manufacturing and use of life-threatening products;

8. To join with other organizations to act locally and nationally to curtail violence.

9. To avoid investments in companies that are involved in the manufacture and/or distribution of life-threatening products.

I've read Jimmy Carter's books and listened to Bruce Cockburn's songs all my life, and I always wondered why they seemed so, well, cool despite being Baptist. But I see their compassion and devotion to Jesusian principles in these statements.

I'll never tell a Baptist joke again.