Heading for Another Hiroshima

“Heading for Another Hiroshima?”
Rev. Bill Hofer

Yesterday marks the 76th anniversary of that “day that will live in infamy.”  The US ended that war successfully, if success is measured by 416,000 US dead compared to 60 million for the rest of the world.  An incredible 3% of the 2.3 billion alive in 1940!  In what, six years?  The end came when “little boy” incinerated 80,000 people in Hiroshima, another bomb killed 70,000 in Nagasaki three days later, with over 250,000 counting radiation aftermath.  The debate rages whether it was necessary 7 decades later.  My own position has changed over the years.  Evidently I am not alone.  See the chart below. 

Table 1. 2015 Replication of the Roper/Fortune 1945 Poll
                             Polling in the United States on the use of Atomic Bombs on Japan

Polling Question: “Which of these comes closest to                                                                               describing how you feel about our use of the atomic bomb?                                1945                 2015

“We should not have used atomic bombs at all.”                                                4.5%               14.4%

“We should have dropped one first on some unpopulated
region, to demonstrate its power to the Japanese, and                                      13.8%               31.6%
dropped the second one on a city only if they did not
surrender.”

“We should have used 2 bombs on cities just as we did.”                                  53.5%              28.5%

“We should have quickly used many more of them                                      
before Japan had a chance to surrender.”                                                          22.7%               2.9%

“Don’t know.”                                                                                                       5.5%               22.7%


Sources: “The Fortune Survey,” Fortune, Nov. 30, 1945, reprinted in “The Quarter’s Poll,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1945/46, pg. 530; and “Japan 1945 Poll Replication” (Redwood City, Calif. YouGov, July 30, 2015)
This little essay, however, is about 2017 and the near future. A recent survey by MIT contained the above chart. It measures reaction to the “bomb” over 70 years.  The support for Truman’s decision has steadily waned from 1945 until the early 2000's.  MIT also provided a scary revelation about current feelings among Americans regarding the total destruction of one’s enemies. 
  
In a slightly different format Americans have recently been polled on the use of preemptive nuclear strikes against enemies such as Iran and North Korea.  Since President (43rd) Bush’s “war on terrorism” and almost simultaneous invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan the support for aggression, even nuclear, is on the rise. In our genuine concern about martyrdom by Islamic fundamentalist murderers of Christians around the world, even scoring nations according to the number of Christian deaths, are we equally concerned about the killing of innocents by states, including our own nation?  Are we even aware of dead Christians in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon killed by American weapons and, in some cases, military?  And what of non-Christian non-combatants?  What has happened to the time tested rules of the “Just War” theory?  Those rules were established, if not always adhered to, to provide some sense of humanitarian control over the passion for blood and gold. From Augustine to the Geneva Convention the theory coalesced around most of the following in Jus ad bellum (the right to go to war):

1.      There must be a just cause and not merely revenge, materialism or imperialism
2.      There must be an attempt to right a significant wrong
3.      There must be a probability of success
4.      There must be a serious attempt to avoid harm to non-combatants
5.      There must be a legitimate effort to exhaust all other means to resolution
6.      There must be proportionality

By the above criteria it is hard to justify the decision of August, 1945.  Japan was defeated.  The fear of 1,000,000 dead in a protracted invasion of the island was fear mongering.  Invasion was not necessary.  Their war machine was in shambles.  These cities were not military targets.  These non-combatants in Hiroshima and Nagasaki posed no viable threat to the United States.  They were going through their regular morning routines until… they were no more.

By the above criteria it is hard to justify Trump’s current threats to annihilate North Korea.  If North Korea is a legitimate threat for testing bombs on missiles so are Russia and China.  We should be careful of a Secretary of Defense nicknamed “Mad Dog.”  We should also be careful of pastors and “presidential spiritual advisers” such as Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego, Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, and John Hagee of Houston, who tell Christians that Trump is perfectly justified in a preemptive nuclear strike against North Korea and/or Iran.  I have yet to hear any of these give a coherent defense of such an action based on the Just War Doctrine or the Bible.  What has North Korea done to us?  They are getting better at launching missiles and making threats of war. They can’t hold a candle to Trump.

By the above criteria it is hard to justify the scenario in MIT’s survey on bombing Iran.  What has Iran done to us?  They are harboring terrorists who want to kill Americans.  So is Hollywood.  So is Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and every other nation.  The survey by MIT revealed that the American population is increasingly favorable towards a repeat of the Hiroshima holocaust on perceived enemies such as Iran, even if it meant 100,000 deaths among non-combatants. You may be asking yourselves, “Perhaps the young don’t remember the horror of total war in 1945.”  But the survey revealed the largest groups supporting such strikes are those over 60 (70%) and Republicans in general (69.5%).
  
Since the Moral Majority days of Dr. Jerry Falwell Christians have gravitated to the GOP.  Its pro-life, traditional marriage, small government and strong defense planks appealed to many.  Criticisms of those obvious failures will have to wait and should not be blamed on Falwell. Increasingly "hawks" are Christians but what has happened to “love your enemies?” How is it that Christians have become the biggest supporters of senseless violence against people in faraway places posing no threat to us?  Let’s slow down this mad dash to war.  Let's not "tweet" ourselves into a deadly conflict. Let’s slow down, for the sake of the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ, this misplaced patriotism expressed in blood not His.  The Holy Spirit appears in Scriptures as a dove, not a hawk.       First published 12/8/17


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Hiroshima and the War Powers Act” Rev. Bill Hofer      December 7 th marks the 76 th anniversary of that “day that will live in infamy.” The US ended that war successfully, if success is measured by 416,800 US dead compared to 60 million for the rest of the world.  An incredible 3% of the 2.3 billion alive in 1940!  In what, six years?  The end came when “little boy” incinerated 80,000 people in Hiroshima, another bomb killed 70,000 three days later in Nagasaki, with over 250,000 total counting the radiation aftermath.  Seven decades later the debate still rages whether it was necessary. My own position has changed over the years.      Last week I commented on the increasing interest among Americans in general, and Republican Christians in particular, of another Hiroshima type attack on our perceived “enemies.” This essay, however, is about the little remembered date of December 8 th .  That was the day that Co...
Read more

God as Moral Monster

“Butler Rebuttal” Is God a Moral Monster? A few years ago a Mr. Butler wrote a guest column in the Siskiyou Daily News (2/20/12) that was brought to my attention from a parishioner.  He laid the blame for centuries of warfare at the feet of religion.  He saved his biggest shots for the Bible as a “manual of wanton bloodshed” and accused the God of the Bible to be monstrous. I responded with the following letter to the editor. It is unfortunate that Mr. Butler ascribes a moral equivalency to all religions illustrated in the history of warfare.  He has every right to his own opinion, but he does not have the right to his own facts.  Throughout America’s history she has fought many wars against nations but not a single war has ever been to spread Christianity.  Recent wars in Kosovo and Bosnia were actually fought to protect Muslim minorities from ethnic cleansing.    Butler tries to bolster his case with stories from the Old Testament and “sugges...
Read more
“The Sequence of Coming Events” Rev. Bill Hofer In 2 Thess. 2:1-5 Paul reminds his readers that he had already taught them much of the sequence regarding the coming of the Lord.  He in fact has mentioned Christ’s coming in almost every chapter of his letters to the Thessalonians.  Here he writes,                 “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the Day of the Lord has come.  Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposed and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying hims...
Read more