[The essay below is adapted from an email I originally wrote to David French, a prominent American evangelical who is also a notable Never-Trumper, NYT columnist, and co-leader of “The AfterParty,” a new movement designed to help American evangelicals engage in politics in a more healthy manner. Mr. French has not yet replied to my email, but if he does I will ask for permission to share his response here.]
Hi David,
I hope you are doing well. My name is Andrew Berg, and I work for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as an Area Director in Central Pennsylvania. I’ve been a fan of yours for a while, and recently started listening to the Good Faith podcast, including your recent AfterParty live event. There you invited listeners to email you with any thoughts or questions we may have, so I’m taking you up on that. (I’ve also been inspired to create a 12-week Bible study guide on the theme of politics, and hope to try it out later this year!)
One piece of context for you to know is that I am now a member of an Anabaptist denomination, the Brethren in Christ (BIC), after growing up in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Among other Anabaptist commitments like adult baptism, in the BIC we value nonviolence and oppose war. That leads to the following question to you as I consider how to help American evangelicals engage in politics in a more Christ-like manner.
My question is: Do you think that American evangelicals would disproportionately benefit from a thorough exposition of the biblical foundations of nonviolence and pacifism?
I know you yourself are an advocate for Just War Theory, and I listened to you share on the Good Faith podcast about that topic a couple months ago. I certainly don’t expect to argue you out of your view, which is very well thought-out and articulated. However, unlike yourself, I don’t think most evangelicals have ever considered the biblical reasons someone might choose not to pick up arms. Having access to deadly weapons feels as American as apple pie, and most evangelicals don’t feel any tension whatsoever with that. But I wonder if maybe they should, at least a little.
There’s a few ways I could see this being uniquely beneficial to American evangelicals as we think about helping them engage in civic life in a more healthy manner:
First, we have seen many Americans be quick to use weapons to defend themselves when it is absolutely unnecessary. Just this week there have been two incidents where a teenager accidentally knocked on the wrong door, and was answered by gunfire. And there have been other incidents where a gun owner’s child was sneaking back in the house after seeing friends late at night, and was shot dead for fear of a burglar. To be fair, I don’t want anyone to break into my house either, but there’s not a single possession I own that is worth killing another human being made in God’s image. Or take the case in Texas where Gov. Abbott seeks to pardon the man convicted of killing a BLM protester: when violent self-defense is assumed as a core right, it means that people may be tempted to seek out situations where they will be able to kill others in the name of “self-defense”. In contrast, Jesus says that whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and that we must take up our crosses and follow him—the exact opposite of self-defense. (I don’t think this means a total avoidance of “force”; I used to teach middle school students and forcefully broke up 22 fights in just two years of teaching. But I did so without the use of a gun, or even any physical “violence.” If Costa Rica can remain the most peaceful nation in Central America without a standing army, and if UK police officers can maintain the peace without carrying weapons beyond a stun gun, I think in 99.9% of cases Americans could also find a path to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence–and I think evangelicals would particularly benefit from more thinking in how to do that well.)
Secondly, I think American evangelicals would benefit from hearing more about passages like Romans 12-13 about submitting to authorities in its full context. Writing to a persecuted community living under the Emperor Nero, Paul tells them to not resist the authorities, to love their enemies, and to bless their persecutors! To me this is more in line with an ethic of nonviolence than it is to the standard American evangelical perspective, which assumes a right to resist and overthrow any government that they don’t like. (And that’s not even getting into the more strongly worded principles of nonviolence espoused by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.) My point is that perhaps evangelicals would feel less free to join armed antigovernment militia movements like The Three Percenters, Boogaloo Bois, Patriot Front, etc. if they understood Scripture’s clear calls to eschew violence—even at the cost of our own lives, if necessary.
And that gets to my third and final point: I think that as long as American evangelicals think that armed violence against one’s opponents can easily be justified biblically, it will inevitably lead to more division and animosity than if they remain committed to nonviolence. After all, why bother negotiating with someone that you are physically, emotionally, and spiritually prepared to kill? Nonviolence is a far harder path than violence, which is why so few choose it, but ultimately I would argue it’s more successful in the long run. You only have to look at MLK’s leadership in the Civil Rights movement, and the firm discipline of nonviolence he required of his followers. MLK did not shrink back from harsh words for his opponents, but his commitment to nonviolence means that he always held out hope for them. In contrast, to pick up arms (whether in reality or metaphorically) means that one has given up hope for change, and instead are counting on the overwhelming use of power and force to achieve one’s aims. That is certainly how the kingdoms of this world work, but it is not what Christians are called to. I suspect that as long as there are least some situations where evangelicals think violence is biblically justified, there will exist a slippery slope wherein more and more situations feel justified, until we have shootings at nightclubs, libraries, and pizza parlors because they’re “grooming children” or some other ridiculous reasons.
Or maybe I will put it another way: Is it better for a Christian to go to war and kill non-Christians, or to go to war and kill Christians? To kill a non-Christian (potentially) dooms him or her to an eternity in hell, whereas to kill a Christian is to kill a brother or sister in Christ. Either option feels unacceptable to me. But I worry that far too many evangelicals are not only fine with the idea of killing others, but excited about it! I don’t imagine that a better understanding of the Bible or a theology of nonviolence would stop every mass shooter or disrupt every Christian militia movement, but if it helps to lower our political temperature even a little bit, it feels worth it.
Granted, there will always be hard cases where violence feels necessary, like defense of the innocent, or resistance to evil regimes like Nazi Germany or Putin’s Russia. Yet as I think about 1930s Germany and 2020s Russia—in each of those countries, a majority of the population proclaimed themselves Christian. What if all of the Christians there —or even a substantial minority—had practiced nonviolence? I don’t think Hitler ever could have invaded Poland, nor Putin invaded Ukraine, if Christians in Germany and Russia had risen up and declared violence an unacceptable choice for serious followers of Jesus Christ.
What do you think? Do you think a more prominent theology and biblical understanding about nonviolence would help more American evangelicals pursue politics in a more healthy way? Or would that be a fruitless errand compared to other levers of change?
I’m curious about your thoughts—thanks and God bless!