Faith Meets Life: Faith in a time of war

War is religion. By that I mean that it takes a lot of faith to go to war. It takes faith to make the decision to deploy troops and it takes faith to join the military and go where you are told.

It takes faith because no one knows the outcome. The only thing concrete about going to war is that it will be messier and longer than people say it will be at the beginning. World War One was supposed to last a couple of weeks according to the Victorian authorities of the day. Who would have predicted how gruesome that war became?

And if Winston Churchill would have known how dramatically the violence was going to spiral upwards, would he have been so sure about the British fighting the Germans? Nazism was an ugly ideology and under its flag horrible things were done. But if the leaders of the west had known in 1939 and 1940 that the defeat of Germany by means of war would result in the destruction of Europe's cities, with what, 100 million dead? — would they have chosen war as the means to take care of a politically fanaticized Germany?

By the time World War II was done, the Americans committed the horrendous act of dropping two atomic bombs. The savagery of the Japanese war machine was quelled by another savagery so hideous that even the former gave up the ghost.

Should Canadian soldiers stay in Afghanistan? How can anyone “know” the answer to that question except as an act of faith?

Once all the shooting and killing stops, will the Afghan women and children, will the boys and girls, thank Canadians for engaging the Taliban -- an engagement that leaves schools and homes in rubble, and families in grief because their members are dead?

Will the western world be able to root out terrorist networks and cells? Maybe, but I doubt it. And when our armies leave the Middle East, will the world really be a safer place? Today, this hour, I have no idea. And I doubt that anyone can answer that question with much certainty, though again, with some faith, an answer can be articulated.

Canadian soldiers are dying in far away locations. That they are courageous and that they are willing to sacrifice a great deal — there is no question about that. But that they are dying for a sure and successful military operation no one can answer. Their service is an act of faith, of religion.

In the meantime, I notice that a number of churches and NGOs are at this moment putting 28 trucks with their crews in harm's way. The convoy is heading into Darfur, that war-stricken area of Sudan, which is almost without hope. I don't know if they will succeed in their mission to bring food and medical supplies to the Sudanese.

But I believe in that operation, whether or not it succeeds. None of the drivers will shoot anyone or engage in a military strike. They may all be killed. Nevertheless, it is succeeding by being what it is, an act of mercy, regardless of the outcome.

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