Tuesday, September 26, 2006

andre trocme

For my Theology of Nonviolence class we're reading a book called "Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed," written by Philip Hallie about a French pastor named Andre Trocme. He was the pastor of a little Hugenot congregation in Le Chambon, France, during World War II, and he and his town helped save the lives of many Jews and other refugees during that time. He was committed to a theology of nonviolence, and had even started a school there based on principles of nonviolence before the war even started.

The story of Andre Trocme and the village of Le Chambon is captivating and encouraging. I would highly recommend it!

One thing that particularly stood out to me was Trocme’s story about a map-making excursion to Morocco that he volunteered for with the French Army sometime before the war. He got to Morocco and realized that they were expected to carry a gun, which he refused to do. His lieutenant “spoke to him about timing….By giving up his weapon and ammunition he had put the whole group in danger” (Hallie, 1994, p. 93). Now that he was there and the group was depending partially on him, it put his teammates in danger for him to not carry a weapon. He realized that “the ethical commandment against killing had to be obeyed as early as possible if it was to be obeyed effectively. It taught him that nonviolence could, in fact, increase violence if it was not chosen in the right way at the right time.”

This is an incredibly interesting observation, and one that has far-reaching implications for international conflict. Although I am a pacifist, it does seem that sometimes the only choice left for a nation is to use force and violence. In World War II, once Hitler had taken over and Jews and others were being exterminated, would it have been possible on a national level to choose to use nonviolent methods to combat this evil? Many point back to the end of WWI, saying that if Germany had not been treated so poorly in the aftermath of that war, perhaps WWII would not have happened as easily because the German people would not have felt they needed to prove their worth to the world. If this chance had been taken by nations around the world, if they had agreed that although they were angry with Germany for its position in the Great War, they wanted to treat it with respect and dignity, perhaps this would have spread rather than the retribution and revenge that ensued and led to WWII.

Perhaps if our government had not encouraged the reign of Saddam Hussein, knowing it was corrupt, and helped Osama bin Laden for the last 20+ years we would not be in the war in which we find ourselves now. Perhaps if we had not “helped” Viet Nam only to serve our own interests after French colonization we would not have been in that war.

This is also an important thought for individual situations. Is there ever a point of no return, where we have made so many poor choices that we have no options left but to resort to violence? In cases only involving my own life, I can say no: there is never a time where I would use violence to save my own life. That is my choice. But what if the lives of others are involved? Do I have the right to choose not to use violence that might save their lives if I’ve made poor choices before which put them into that position? Are there times when the use of violence causes less violence to happen, as Trocme’s lieutenant suggested?

Can we take biblical imperatives at face value and trust that good will ensue? Can we love our enemies and call it good? Is it best to “not repay anyone evil for evil” and “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” at all times (Rom 12:17, 21)? Is there ever a time when we've backed ourselves into a corner so much that the "best" solution is violence?

6 comments:

Gregg Koskela said...

Great reflections, Cherice! Thank you.

I'm truly amazed at how few people have heard the story of La Chambon. There are lots of people who say "Where are the stories of peace making actually working?"...and in the (supposed) absence of examples, say that implications like you are drawing about Hussein and Bin Laden and Vietnam are naive, because its never worked before.

But in truth, it has worked before. In truth, it takes people willing to implement non-violence very early in the equation, like the example of Trocme that you gave.

Good stuff!

Anonymous said...

I believe there is a trap one can fall into, of saying, "I will only be a pacifist if it is practical." I would go so far as to say, that kind of pacifism is not truly pacifism at all, but only a temporary cessation of violent behavior.

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Unknown said...

Gregg, I agree--people ask "where are the stories of peace?" and there are so many, but no one hears them, except about Gandhi and MLKJ (which are, of course, great stories!). The other book we've read so far for this class is called Waging Nonviolent Conflict by Gene Sharp, and he gives a bunch of examples of times people have effectively used nonviolent struggle to achieve their justified ends. (I haven't read those yet, but they look great!)

Marshall, I also agree with you, that it's not pacifism, only a cessation of violent behavior. Which is exactly what I'm about to write about today... =)

Chris M. said...

Cherice: Thanks for this and the following post.

Let's also remember to lift up Martin Kelley's site, Nonviolence.org as an online resource.

-- Chris M.

Anonymous said...

hi - i came across your blog as i was sarching for info on andre trocme - someone nominated him for a hero of the faith feature i write for our local church magazine, so not having heard of him before i thought i should do a "background check"... i have used your post, and linked to it, in my blog, amoungst other articles from around the net. i really liked what you had to say about andre trocme, and how you linked it to today, learning the lessons from his life...

the post i have done is here...
http://fireball.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/33295.html

blessings,
claire