War No More

Michael K. Duffey is associate professor emeritus and former director of the Interdisciplinary Major in Peace Studies at Marquette University. Duffey specializes in theological ethics with particular attention to issues of justice and peace, human rights, and Protestant and Catholic ethical methodologies. His most recent books are Sowing Justice, Reaping Peace: Case Studies of Racial, Religious, and Ethic Healing Around the World and Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions (coedited with Irfan A Omar).

As the title suggests, we must be committed to “war no more.” The first chapter of the book deals with seven U.S. wars of the twentieth and twenty-first century, beginning with the two World Wars, then moves on to the five wars of choice in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (twice), and Afghanistan, and asks how modern wars have failed to meet the criteria of morally justifiable war as they are articulated in the just war tradition.
In Chapter Two, the book’s treatment of nonviolence begins with Gandhi’s political insights and ascetic practices. After a detailed study of Gandhi’s nonviolence, an objection—that Gandhi could not have succeeded in overcoming the rise of the Third Reich and German aggression—is answered. The next three chapters examine eleven other nonviolent movements. (An appendix looks at nonviolent movements that have not succeeded and asks why.)
Chapter Six turns to U.S. violence in its foreign interventions and domestic culture. Despite the successes of nonviolence in other places, nonviolence is not part of the American habit of dealing with conflict (with the exception of some domestic movements—the civil rights and migrant farm workers movements, for example). To an extent, this is understandable. Powerless groups may choose nonviolence because it is their only realistic option, but recourse to nonviolence in the United States requires a choice to “go against the grain.” The end of the chapter turns to the barriers to nonviolent activism: What has prevented more activism against violence?
The first half of Chapter Seven addresses the qualities of successful movements, some illustrated by earlier cases in the book. Section Two examines social injustices to be addressed. The last chapter examines the potential of the teachings of world religions to encourage nonviolence among their adherents. (This is not a stretch for me; I coedited a book on the subject in 2015.) Whether those aspiring to nonviolent action are religious or secular, all must learn several essential virtues.