“There is, indeed, no difference between war and murder apart from the fact that the one is on an immeasurably larger scale than the other, and claims an infinitely greater number of victims.That is true of all wars. And the only way to stop them is to say quite definitely that in no circumstances and upon no pretext will we allow ourselves to be dragged into war.
But that, gentlemen, is precisely what you won’t say. You can’t say it, because at heart you believe in violence. That is why, even when you make efforts to establish permanent peace, you can’t think of any means of realising your aim apart from the threat of violence.”
-Hugh Richard Sheppard (1880-1937), English Anglican priest, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, Christian pacifist.
If heaven were to do again,
And on the pasture bars,
I leaned to line the figures in
Between the dotted starts,
I should be tempted to forget,
I fear, the Crown of Rule,
The Scales of Trade, the Cross of Faith,
As hardly worth renewal.
For these have governed in our lives,
And see how men have warred.
The Cross, the Crown, the Scales may all
As well have been the Sword.
—Robert Frost
In every generation since Jesus there have been people, Christian and otherwise, who have seen clearly and denounced the Christianity of morally justified violence.
-Emmanuel Charles McCarthy
