Lethal Force vs the Nonviolence of Jesus

Friends,

I previously shared nearly all the documents carried onto Bangor Submarine Base by those engaged in the November 2nd Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action.  There is one last document, written by Father William Bischel, that I would like to share.  It speaks to not only the heart of someone who has spent his life caring for those in need and working for justice, but also to the very heart of the violence from which we must extricate ourselves in order to build a world at peace.  This gentle man of God speaks truth far more powerful than any weapons.  Read "Lethal Force" below.

Blessed are the Peacemakers,

Leonard

P.S. - There is an entertaining bit of video from Fox News that they called "Breaking News", even though it was aired 3 days after the plowshares action.  Click here to watch 'Going to the Dark Side'.

The photo of Father Bischel was taken on October 7, 2009, in front of the U.S. District Courthouse, Tacoma, Washington.  And no, Bix was not at the courthouse for one of his many appearances before a judge; he was there to witness another trial and stood with us outside during the lunch hour, leafleting for Keep Space for Peace Week. 

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LETHAL FORCE by William J. Bichsel, S.J.

On November 2, 2009, All Souls Day, by the grace of God I choose to enter the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor Washington. I wish to walk to the idolatrous place of nuclear weapon bunkers where lethal force is authorized to guard the hiding places of the most lethal forces in the world. I wish to walk in solidarity with the poor of our world who live with lethal force constantly directed against them. My vulnerability to this lethal force is minimal compared to the lifetime vulnerability of the condemned of our world. My compelling reason for entering the Trident Submarine Base is to be present at this Auschwitz place in order to witness in faith to the transforming power of Jesus’ non-violence and Resurrection which can turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh and compassion. At this place of global death and hopelessness I wish to witness in faith to the life giving and transforming power of this presence which can expel the demon of violence from the hearts and minds of people possessed by the need for nuclear weapons. I believe the life giving power of the Resurrection can flow over the nuclear death machine and stop its destructive force. Compassion can then grow in hearts and minds of people who have been liberated from the prison of fear and violence.

Millions upon millions of people throughout our world live with lethal force being directed against them. Our brothers and sisters and children live in war ravaged places where violence reigns and starvation, disease, absence of medical resources, absence of shelter eventually bring death. One hour from our shores in Haiti, where one in twelve children do not reach the age of five, parents give children mud cakes made of earth, oil, sugar and salt to diminish the effects of hunger pains. From the Sudan to Sub Saharan Africa, mothers watch as their infants and children become emaciated with swollen stomachs and lifeless eyes then die. All of these lethal forces are authorized.

In the U.S., except for the poor, we have been protected and insulated from the death sentences under which half of the earth’s population lives. The drive for security has numbed our citizens to accept nuclear weapons as the ultimate protector of the American way of life. In effect this choice means the acceptance of the use of nuclear weapons if the United States considers itself threatened. The people of the United States accept the deaths of millions of people if a preempted strike is ordered. Thus the use of lethal force is authorized.

Across our nation there are vast numbers of U.S. citizens who face lethal forces directed against them which are not as immediate or instantaneously murderous as the lethal forces directed against the 3rd world poor. In our capitalistic system there are many who will not receive the health care, education, employment, appropriate housing and nutrition needed to live full human lives in this culture. These forces attack the body, soul and spirit of our citizens which eventually bring death of the spirit and then the body. This is especially true of one segment of our population – the mentally-ill, who live on the streets, under bridges, in door ways, jungle camps or in jails and prisons. They belong nowhere. They die. These lethal forces are also authorized.

The continued possession of nuclear weapons by the United States means that resources that could be used to divert the lethal forces that are now killing the poor of our world will continue to be used to fuel the killing machine.

Father Richard McSorley, S.J. has maintained that “the tap root of violence in our society is the acceptance of nuclear weapons.” We must bend our efforts to make known the Non Proliferation Treaty Review which will take place on May 2, 2010 at the United Nations. By our presence we must insist that the NPT Review Committee in the very near future organize a nuclear weapon global conference of these treaty nations which will set a firm date for nuclear weapon abolition.

Nuclear Plowshares - Disarming Our Hearts

Friends,

The five members of Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action (on Nov. 2, 2009) carried with them a number of documents as they made their way deep into the heart of darkness, the Strategic Weapons Facility - Pacific (SWFPAC).  Among those documents was one written by Susan Crane, 65, of Baltimore, MD.  Susan wrote Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor, and in her letter reminded us that, "There is no 'us' and 'them.'"  This reminded me of something once written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn:

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" (from The Gulag Archipelago, 1973

It was the thinking of the "us" and "them", the "evil people", in our hearts and minds that drove the arms race that drove humanity ever so close to the brink of self destruction, and ironically it is those same hearts and minds that can (and must) undergo a sea change in order to bring us back from the brink.  As Susan states in her letter, besides the blood, hammers and sunflower seeds they brought with them that cold, clear morning under a bright moon, they brought something far less tangible, and yet perhaps much more important, "disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world."

May we all hope and pray (and work) to disarm our own hearts so that we may then disarm the hearts of others.  Here is the entire, unedited text of Susan's letter.

Peace,

Leonard
 

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Some thoughts about going onto Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor

All Soul’s Day, Nov. 2, 2009

Today in the US more and more people are coming to food pantries, needing food for their families. The numbers of home foreclosures increase, leaving families homeless; unemployment increases; and many, even those with health insurance, can’t get their basic health needs met. Class size increases as teachers are laid off and dropout rates increase. Many returning vets must struggle for benefits. States are near bankruptcy, and our infrastructure is falling apart. And day by day climate change threatens us all.

As a nation, we know all this. We experience it personally, and hear it on the nightly news. But what we don’t hear is that there may be solutions to these problems. We need to look at where, as a nation, we are allocating our resources: where do our federal tax dollars go? Where do our brightest and best scientists find work? Where do our idealistic and dedicated youth end up? We know that over half of every federal tax dollar is used for warmaking. And we know that the American people never have a chance to vote on a bond issue for the next fighter plane or nuclear weapon. Every dollar that is used for warmaking, killing or planning to kill other people, is a dollar that is not used for human needs, or healing the earth.

Here in Washington state, I was thinking about the Trident submarines which have nuclear warheads on them, and are constantly roaming the oceans. There are 8 subs homeported here at Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor. And each of these subs carries 24 Trident II D-5 missiles, and each of the missiles carries multiple nuclear warheads. Some of the warheads are 32 times the explosive heat and blast of the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

The Trident subs are stealthy, and at sea their location is secret. They can launch nuclear weapons to anywhere in the world in 15 minutes, which is a constant threat to people in other nations. Here in the US we don’t live under a threat like that.

My faith tradition teaches me that we are to love our enemies, to love one another. Planning to kill others is not an act of love…Indiscriminate killing of whole cites of people, animals and plants is not an act of love.

Here in the northwest where the Trident subs are homeported, the land is beautiful; the trees are aromatic; the water is healing. And I hope that we come to our senses and experience this land we live in, and realize that we—and people all over the earth—are brothers and sisters. There is no “us” and “them”. As individuals and as a nation; we all have good in us; we all have a shadow side. We can all work together if we choose to.

With hope for peace and disarmament, the five of us, Steve Kelly, S.J, Lynne Greenwald, Anne Montgomery, RSCJ, Bill Bichsel, S.J. and myself, go to Naval Base Kitsap/Bangor on All Soul’s Day. We remember the 150 million people killed by warmaking and related consequences of war in the last 100 years. It is in solidarity with all who live in lethal force zones that we enter the lethal force zone on the naval base.

We bring our own blood to pour on the missiles, nuclear weapons, trident subs, or perhaps on the railroad tracks that carry the weapons. We pour our blood to remind us all of the consequences of warmaking. We bring hammers to enflesh the words of Isaiah to hammer swords into plowshares. We bring sunflower seeds to sow to begin to convert the base, and we bring disarmed hearts in hope of a disarmed world. I go onto the base with the support of all at Jonah House, in Baltimore, carrying their prayers in my hip pocket.

Susan Crane

Disarm Now Plowshares - In Their Own Words

Friends,

Seattle's KOMO News did a story today on the Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, interviewing Susan Crane, Lynne Greenwald and Anne Montgomery. Watch it below and hear them tell about the action - what they did, and why. What drives them? "Hope" and "Faith".

Peace,

Leonard



Click here to read the KOMO story, 'These weapons can wipe out everything'.

Plowshares and Prophets

Friends,

The Bible (Luke 4.24) tells us that no prophet is ever welcome in his (or her) hometown or country. That is as true today as it was in the time of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. Let's face it. People just don't want to hear that God is displeased with their behavior, and that they really need to change their ways (just like those crazy Israelites). So, what's a prophet to do??? Keep at it, that's what.

While it often seems that so many Christians are complicit in the violence of the world, there are those who are steadfast in following the nonviolent Jesus, and fewer still are those who are prophets - endowed with extraordinary spiritual and moral insight, and called to proclaim peace to the world. Father Bill "Bix" Bischel, who was one of the participants in yesterday's Disarm Now Trident Plowshares Action, definitely fits that description.

It is natural for people steeped in the structures of violence so deeply embedded in our society to dismiss those who engaged in yesterday's action at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor (see the previous post for details). And just like the prophets of old, Bill (and his plowshares companions) will be reviled by many who are unable or unwilling to look at not only the violence inherent in omnicidal (nuclear) weapons, but also the violence within our own hearts.

I hope that the missioning letter (below) from the provincial, Patrick J. Lee, SJ, provides an insight into Father Bischel's depth as prophet and peacemaker.

Peace,

Leonard

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Missioning Letter

October 23, 2009

William J. Bichsel S.J.
Bellarmine Jesuit Community
2300 S. Washington St.
Tacoma WA 98405

Dear Bix,

A provincial writes a lot of letters missioning Jesuits to do the work of God. This is one of the hardest I’ve written, but also one that seems clearly blessed and confirmed by God.

I have told you that I see your role in our province as a prophet – called by God to proclaim a message of peace. Prophets are never appreciated by everyone. Their message is often painful and difficult to hear. Certainly that has been your experience. You have suffered scorn, indignities, and even prison for the message you have proclaimed. Now you find what God is calling you toward may result in more of the same.

We had thought that perhaps your days of protest were over, and that you might be able to live the remainder of your life with some rest from civil disobedience. But in Nagasaki you once again heard God calling you into action. I know you have listened hard to that call, praying and discerning for over a year to make sure it truly was from God. Now there is no doubt.

And so I mission you to hear and respond to what is in that deepest part of your heart. On November 2nd, the Feast of All Souls, you will return to the Trident Submarine Base at Bangor, Washington, to take part in what will happen there. Go with my blessing and my prayers, Bill. And know that you carry with you the prayers and blessing of the Oregon Province.

I will also pray that your life as a prophet and a witness to peace will be an inspiration to younger Jesuits who may be hearing God’s still distant, disturbing call to prophecy against the violence and war.

May God bless your desires, and give you the courage, the strength and the abundant grace to fulfill them.

Patrick J. Lee S.J.
Provincial