The Christian must refuse to become a soldier—that is, to be ready on another’s command to kill all those one is ordered to kill. He cannot and must not take part in anything opposed to the rule of the Master. If I, finding myself in a crowd of running people run with the crowd, without knowing where it is going, it is obvious that I have given myself up to mass hysteria. But, if by chance I should push my way to the front, or be gifted with sharper sight than others, or receive information that this crowd was racing to attack other human beings and to its own corruption, should I really not stop and tell the people what might rescue them? Would I go on running and do the things which I knew to be bad and corrupt? This is the situation of every Christian called up to military service or called to support military service, if he knows what military service is—being ready on another’s command to kill all those one is ordered to kill.
-Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
How long, O Lord, how long?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_O860l8u3U&feature=youtu.be
-ECM
