Earlier this week The Sunday Edition on CBC radio host Michael Enright interviewed a guest named Paul Rogers who has worked in the field of international security, arms control and political violence for more than 30 years and is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in Great Britain. Apparently Enright and Rogers have spoken often over the past quarter century but usually in response to conflict.
This time they deliberately addressed peace and Rogers was confident that the 21st century is a more peaceful period than much of the 20th, which is good news. The post-WWII era has been a time of relative peace, of treaties and multilateral bodies devoted to ensuring that the worst human tendencies to inflict death and destruction on a massive scale are held at least partially in check.
He did express concern that neither Trump nor Putin are peace-makers by nature. He see the American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal as a mistake but pointed out that the other nations involved have all remained in the framework.
Rogers was also confident that working toward peace rather than engaging in war has better outcomes in virtually every circumstance. War is costlier by nearly every measurement. He noted as well that even when nations are engaged in conflict they are often in conversation with the enemy to bring about resolution. Often this isn't revealed until after the conflict has ceased.
Enright wondered why nations don't pursue peace, if this is the case. War is more immediate and appears to demonstrate strength. Rogers observed that not only did World War I kill millions in the field of battle, millions of civilians died as well. And the influenza pandemic which followed killed 50 million more, world-wide, and may have been so virulent because of conditions created by the war.
As I listened I was encouraged. War is costly and destructive and it is peace that makes sense. Militarism breeds militarism. I could hear Jesus' words "blessed are the peacemakers" as the unspoken backdrop for the discussion. Even though religions have often been complicit in wars or have incited believers to violence, Jesus encouraged his followers to "wage peace."
We really should pay attention, don't you figure? Maybe listen to this episode on the Peace Sunday of Advent?
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/paul-rogers-on-what-it-takes-to-avoid-war-1.4908641
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