Does the World Need a New Religion?

As a convinced Christian pacifist, I feel a special sadness every Memorial Day. On the one hand, I deeply respect the courage and heroism of the thousands who have fought, suffered and died in our nation's wars, and mourn the terrible loss of life and limb associated with being a victim of bombs, bullets and other weapons of terror.

I am also disturbed by the way we use terms like duty, honor, service and sacrifice in ways that whitewash the horror, brutality and utter insanity of the practice of war itself. How can we, along with civilized nations around the globe, still defend a way of resolving conflicts that is so blatantly cruel, immoral and barbaric?

I'll never forget some of the anti-war commentary by the late Andy Rooney, who had seen the awful waste of war as a World War II correspondent. He once stated on "60 Minutes" that the world may need a "new religion," one that would prohibit people from declaring war on each other, a faith in which all forms of organized killing and destruction would be banned.

I believe such a religion already exists. Ironically, it is only Christians who fail to see that Jesus and his early followers consistently refused to take up the sword and serve as soldiers, choosing rather to die themselves than to have any part in killing others.

Why are professed atheists like Rooney often more clear in their denunciation of war than those who profess to follow the Prince of Peace? Or for that matter, millions of others around the world who profess faith in God as Yahweh or Allah?

Any religion that doesn't denounce one of the most inhumane practices on earth is, in my view--and even in the opinion of an atheist--seriously deficient.

For more of my posts on war.