The Reluctant Prophet Transcript – George Zabelka
Zabelka: The Reluctant Prophet Transcript
This is the transcript of the British film – The Reluctant Prophet. It is a testament that reflects a view that the heart of Christianity is living a discipleship of Christ as active non-violence. As a young priest and active duty officer in World War II, Father George Zabelka was the chaplain who offered spiritual reassurance to the crews of the bomber planes (right before the planes left the ground) that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Father Zabelka remembers that he did not object before the planes took off although he knew what the planes were ordered to do. The severity of those attacks and devastation for civilians caused by those bombs prompted Father Zabelka to question what level of killing is acceptable and to what ends. The conflict grew for him between his identity as a Catholic priest and his identity as a military chaplain who had given religious sanction and moral clearance to the bomber crews. Father Zabelka questioned if it is possible to be a Christian and also to partake in the ethos of war and militarism.
