The Ethics of War

Has anyone else got hooked on Foyle's War? Thanks to Netflix we have watched several seasons of this British detective drama. Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Foyle solves crimes in Hastings on the south shore of Great Britain during WWII. Even as a war rages across the English Channel people continue to commit crimes, everything from theft and fraud, to espionage and murder.

The episodes are well constructed and the recurring characters are interesting, including Foyle, played by Michael Kitchen. Foyle is a moral man who refuses to look the other way or make concessions just because it is war-time. The law is the law and the truth is the truth, despite the temptation to moral relativism in the midst of brutal and uncertain circumstances.

We are now far enough along in the series (it has now run longer than the war itself) that we encounter a Church of England clergyman based on Bishop George Bell. Near the conclusion of the war Bell and others questioned the relentless bombing of civilian targets in Germany. Bell spoke before the House of Lords in 1944 and in his lengthy and eloquent speech he offered this:

If long-sustained and public opposition to Hitler and the Nazis since 1933 is any credential, I would humbly claim to be one of the most convinced and consistent Anti-Nazis in Great Britain. But I desire to challenge the Government on the policy which directs the bombing of enemy towns on the present scale, especially with reference to civilians, non-combatants, and non-military and non-industrial objectives. I also desire to make it plain that, in anything I say on this issue of policy, no criticism is intended of the pilots, the gunners, and the air crews who, in circumstances of tremendous danger, with supreme courage and skill, carry out the simple duty of obeying their superiors' orders.

Why is there this blindness to the psychological side? Why is there this inability to reckon with the moral and spiritual facts? Why is there this forgetfulness of the ideals by which our cause is inspired? How can the War Cabinet fail to see that this progressive devastation of cities is threatening the roots of civilization? How can they be blind to the harvest of even fiercer warring and desolation, even in this country, to which the present destruction will inevitably lead when the members of the War Cabinet have long passed to their rest? How can they fail to realize that this is not the way to curb military aggression and end war?

The Bell-like character in Foyle's War cites the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer during a clergy conference held in Hastings so that a suitable crime can be committed -- it is a drama after all!

It was yet another thoughtful episode about the ethics of war. It was good to see a "man of the cloth" portrayed as someone who stood up for his principles even though this went against the grain of war sentiment. As we come to the Remembrance Day and Sunday when we reflect on the one hundredth anniversary of World War I and seventh-fifth of WWII we might consider the ethical casualties of war. We are at war once again as Canadians, even though our involvement is limited, and Jesus still calls us to be Peace-mongers.

Have you watched the series? Have you seen the episode I mention? Any comments?