Yeh, it would be brave to defend someone without using a weapon, but you would still need to use violence. I am curious how you are going to defend a woman against a rapist without violence or atleast the real threat of it. Are you going to try to talk them out of it? Is that the limit of your ability to defend? Are you going to call someone else so that they can use violence instead of you? I don’t see how you can call this bravery.
You could grapple with the attacker and give the victim time to get away. Some pacifists learn forms of martial arts that enable them to defend themselves and others without causing harm. And of course, sometimes just standing up to someone will make them back down. You never know until you try–it just takes incredible courage–I hope I’d have the courage if the well-being of another person was at stake. I didn’t show much courage on the one occasion when I was threatened with violence, but they only wanted my wallet so I’m not sure resisting would have been the right thing to do.
In the same neighborhood in which this happened, a young woman was raped. The attacker allegedly chased her father off by threatening to shoot him, before taking the woman away to rape her. Now that’s an example of the kind of cowardice you’re condemning. . . . Why on earth didn’t the father refuse to go? Given how terrified I was when robbed at gunpoint, I can understand the unreasoning fear that takes over at such times, but still–wouldn’t it be better to be dead than to allow your daughter (or anyone for that matter) to be abducted before your eyes?
A pacifist is someone who refuses to accept the authority that comes from the muzzle of a gun. That’s why being a pacifist requires incredible courage, because it means you have to resist violence–without using violence yourself–even if your chances of doing so successfully seem almost nonexistent.
I think the strongest case you have is that having the courage to resist evil in extreme circumstances only comes from building up a “habit” of courage. At the same time, I don’t think cultivating a “tough guy” set of habits is necessarily the best way to do that.
What is the pacifist going to do to defend someone? Bleed on them?]
Well, as Christians we believe that Jesus saved the entire world by bleeding on it. . . .
One of the basic issues here, I think, is how we relate Jesus’ sufferings and death to our own lives. Many Christians, particularly conservative Protestants (leaving out the Anabaptists and similar groups), believe that Jesus’ death was something he did for us and not something we are called to imitate. I find that to be totally contrary to Scripture and Christian tradition. I think Catholics have fewer theological excuses for taking such a position.
Pacifism is more than just a refusal to kill, it is a refusal to fight.
Not necessarily–it depends on the version of pacifism in question. I do know pacifists who are uneasy even with nonlethal violence (breaking a leg, etc.) but it’s a question debated among pacifists. And all pacifists believe that you should resist evil in any way that doesn’t involve harming the attacker.
But if it is done out of fear or paralysis it isn’t.
Agreed.
But for most of us, as residents of a relatively peaceful and prosperous Western country, the action we are primarily called upon to engage in out of fear is to support violence done by others (generally less privileged others) on our behalf against those who allegedly may harm us if this violence is not done. That’s one of the reasons I find the typical American anti-pacifist rhetoric so illogical and insulting. How on earth am I, as a frankly sedentary, flabby civilian approaching middle age, more of a coward for refusing to have people kill for me in order to keep me safe than for enthusiastically urging them on to do so? It doesn’t make sense.
The kind of immediate, personal action in defense of others you’re talking about (and wars that could genuinely be defended along those same lines, which are few and far between) is another matter. I am not convinced that the pacifists are right on this point–but I certainly don’t think they are cowards.
Edwin
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