"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."
Last week there were organized demonstrations around the world for peace and against war. Not war in the generic sense, but plans for war by the United States against Iraq.
Dozens of rallies were organized in 25 countries by the group "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism" (ANSWER). Don't you just love acronyms?
Amarillo's own Peace Farm gathered at the Civic Center, prayed, sang, held hands and condemned the president for warmongering.
In Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, the sites of the two largest peace rallies, crowds were urged on by international peace activists, religious leaders, members of Congress, actors and musicians. Thousands of people rallied on the Mall in Washington, and a similar group crowded downtown San Francisco.
Saturday afternoon, the Washington crowd marched toward the Navy Yard.
A symbolic "people's inspection team" (no doubt from the People's Republics of California and Massachusetts) demanded the right to inspect the area for weapons of mass destruction, mocking U.N. inspections in Iraq.
The Washington group followed the rally with a march through the streets of the capital. The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among the speakers. Just as no village is complete without an idiot, no demonstration is complete without the Rev. Jesse.
There always has been a pacifist strain in American culture. We recognize citizens' right to have a moral objection to war and killing by granting conscientious objector status to them. In most of our major wars, we have required pacifists to work in non-combatant roles.
Christian Americans are faced with the dilemma of war vs. peace. A bumper sticker asks, "What Would Jesus Do?" Peace and love seemed to be the center of his message. Return good for evil. Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. We absorbed this with our mother's milk.
A vocal group of the bishops of my church are generally opposed to war. Some even advised our young men to avoid the draft during Vietnam. They don't speak for me or a majority of the laity.
I still agonize. WWJD?
I have reluctantly concluded that war is necessary in the present conditions that face us. There are fanatical terrorist groups that would murder every Israeli and American, given the means and opportunity. And they have the support of a majority of the countries and citizens of the Middle East.
Where allowed, radical mullahs have seized the Islamic religion. They control the legal and education systems. Curriculum in their schools contains more hatred for Jews and Americans than the three R's.
This is the breeding ground for suicide bombers who plague Israel and the terrorists who killed 3,000-plus Americans on 9/11.
Even American medical missionaries who devote a lifetime to healing their poor have become targets.
It doesn't matter how or why we arrived at this situation. Nothing we can do by peaceful means can change this. There are no democratic traditions in the Middle East. None of the countries there is capable of self-government. The best governments there are benevolent dictatorships.
We must contain this madness with whatever it takes.
If that means control of the entire region by our military, so be it.
I haven't got a clue about what Jesus would do with this mess.
Virgil Van Camp can be contacted in care of the Amarillo Globe-News, P.O. Box 2091, Amarillo TX 79166, or firstname.lastname@example.org.