Christians and Violence

Jim Evans has a good column today at Ethics Daily. It is entitled “Onward Christian Warmongers.” It critiques some Christians who are encouraging more violence in Iraq, including the possibility of more civilian deaths. Here are a couple of highlights:

Sadly, this group of believers is not concerned that there is too much violence in the Iraqi conflict. On the contrary, they are upset that our troops are restricted from being even more violent. In the name of Jesus, they want our soldiers to be able to kill more freely.

... If counting to seven minimizes the number of innocent people killed, that’s a good thing. If a careful evaluation of each combat situation keeps us from killing women and children, that's the sort of thing Christians should appreciate. It's sort of like being militarily pro-life.

... Arguing for practices that allow our troops to engage in more killing with less measured engagement practices in densely populated areas is about as far from traditional Christian ethics as you can get.

Amen! It is sad when the followers of the Prince of Peace start advocating for more war and violence. It is time for our words to match our Scriptures.