Thought for the Day, 17 January 2007

Jonathan Bartley

Good Morning. Yesterday a new estimate emerged from the UN that over 34,000 civilians in Iraq were killed in violence last year. The news came amidst more gun and bomb attacks, and the arrival of the first US troops in the new 'surge' - a decision that Chuck Hagel has described as "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder.since Vietnam."

The President's response has been to challenge his critics to come up with a better idea. And they could do worse than take inspiration from the man to which the whole country paid tribute on Monday, the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

The youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, King believed that Jesus' injunction to 'turn the other cheek' did not mean passivity. It was a way of breaking a cycle of violence. It meant challenging the dehumanisation of the other. The dehumanisation that is necessary when oppressing a population, waging a war, or committing other acts of terror.

As theologians have pointed out, Jesus singles out the right cheek. A right handed person would have struck it with the back of the hand, implying an enemies' inferiority. With the left cheek turned, the assailant would now have to hit with an open hand, acknowledging the opponent's humanity and equality. Over Iraq, there has been little room for King's methods to squeeze in between the two alternatives of fight or flight. But as Ghandi, as those who ended the Marcos or Milosovic regimes, or as those who undermined Apartheid in South Africa all suggest, these aren't the only options. Non-violence can be a force more powerful. There are small signs of its power in Iraq. Christian Peacemakers have helped to form Muslim Peacemaker Teams, uniting Shi'a and Sunni. As in Christianity, the much neglected non-violent tradition is being rediscovered in Islam. Together they are working on projects to foster a culture of peace, with for example, Shi'as travelling to Sunni-dominated Fallujah to clean up rubble after the US assault. But if they are to have any chance of success, such ideas require a new commitment and investment from others on all sides. Theologians might call it a 'Metanoia', a fundamental change of approach. Despite the historical success of non-violent strategies, university departments are more often devoted to the study of war. Government underwrites the commercial trade in weapons, but seldom conflict resolution. We have armed peacekeepers, but never unarmed peacemakers. We have a Ministry of Defence - but no ministry of peace. 40 years ago, Martin Luther King delivered a sermon expressing his opposition to the war in Vietnam. He ended by quoting the words of an old Negro Spiritual: "I ain't gonna study war no more" he said. Perhaps it is time to honour King's memory, in a way that he would have wanted.