Mennonites Take on Obama's Unjust War.

Pastor Marty Troyer of the Houston Mennonite Church takes on "redemptive violence" and the Obama administration:

What is the more powerful force in our world: violence, or peace? Our President ordered the killing of more Pakistani civilians this week. This happens so frequently, and receives so little attention in the corporate media I find I need reminding of its outrage. Obama has already ordered more drone and missile attacks into Pakistan in his brief Nobel-winning Presidency than George Bush ordered in his entire second term in office. The fight with our “enemies” is said to be moving more into Pakistani territory, thus justifying these incursions. DemocracyNow news anchor Amy Goodman reported on October 28th that between 326-538 civilians have been killed since Obama took office, saying, “there is no longer any doubt that targeted killing has become official US policy.” All appearances point to an increase in drone attacks over the coming months, and thus to an increase in civilian casualites. To be clear, these drone attacks do not pass international law standards, the Christian theory of the Just War, let alone a nonviolent standard. These increased drone attacks come at the same time Obama is considering increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. War seems to be playing an ever bigger role in the toolbox of change for our President. But is it change we can believe in? Or is it just more of the culture of death we have come to be all too familiar with? Obama, like Bush before him, has bought too deeply into the myth of redemptive violence.

I find it encouraging to see the church taking on "unjust war" as an aspect of what is called the "culture of death," although I have issues with the terms because they often include women's reproductive justice, scientific advancement, and alleviation of suffering in the dying.

Yet calling out Obama and his administration for the escalation of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan is something the church and all of us must do.