Friday, August 4, 2006

Have a Blessed Peace Sunday

The following was written by Gary Kohls. I'm sharing it here because this Sunday is Peace Sunday, the time we stop to recall the devastation of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to rededicate ourselves to the work of peace.

Gary is a Christian peacemaker whose writing I've read as a result of my connections to Every Church a Peace Church (www.ecapc.org). It's a timely history lesson.

Nagasaki is famous in the history of Japanese Christianity. Not only was it the site of the largest Christian church in the Orient, St. Mary’s Cathedral, but it also had the largest concentration of baptized Christians in all of Japan.

It was the city where the legendary Jesuit missionary, Francis Xavier, established a mission church in 1549, a Christian community which survived and prospered for several generations. However, soon after Xavier’s planting of Christianity in Japan, Portuguese and Spanish commercial interests began to be accurately perceived by the Japanese rulers as exploitive, and therefore the religion of the Europeans (Christianity) and their new Japanese converts became the target of brutal persecutions.

Within 60 years of the start of Xavier’s mission church, it was a capital crime to be a Christian. The Japanese Christians who refused to recant of their beliefs suffered ostracism, torture and even crucifixions similar to the Roman persecutions in the first three centuries of Christianity. After the reign of terror was over, it appeared to all observers that Japanese Christianity had been stamped out.

However, 250 years later, in the 1850s, after the coercive gunboat diplomacy of Commodore Perry forced open an offshore island for American trade purposes, it was discovered that there were thousands of baptized Christians in Nagasaki, living their faith in a catacomb existence, completely unknown to the government - which immediately started another purge. But because of international pressure, the persecutions were soon stopped, and Nagasaki Christianity came up from the underground.

And by 1917, with no help from the government, the Japanese Christian community built the massive St. Mary’s Cathedral, in the Urakami River district of Nagasaki. Now it turned out, in the mystery of good and evil, that St. Mary’s Cathedral was one of the landmarks that the Bock’s Car bombardier had been briefed on, and looking through his bomb site over Nagasaki that day, he identified the cathedral and ordered the drop.

At 11:02 am, Nagasaki Christianity was boiled, evaporated and carbonized in a scorching, radioactive fireball. The persecuted, vibrant, faithful, surviving center of Japanese Christianity had become ground zero.

And what the Japanese Imperial government could not do in over 200 years of persecution, American Christians did in 9 seconds. The entire worshipping community of Nagasaki was wiped out.

28 comments:

Eleutheros said...

Ah, so the moral of the story is that the Americans were not religiously biased when they bombed Japan.

voixdange said...

would you mind if I post this on my blog as well, Dan? Its a great post.

Michael Westmoreland-White said...

As an act of repentence and a renunciation of these nuclear idols, I recommend the tookit of Faithful Security: The National Religious Partnership Against the Nuclear Danger. See http://www.faithfulsecurity.org/html/resources.html

Dan Trabue said...

Sure, Ange. Just be sure to credit Mr. Kohls (as I'm sure you would).

Michael Westmoreland-White said...

I wrote on Hiroshima with a different twist today, but cross-referenced this piece of Gary's so that folks would come read it on your site.

Michael Westmoreland-White said...

Marty on the Homefront re-tells the moving story of Sadako and the 1,000 Cranes today which is why the paper crane has become a peace symbol and tied up with the City of Hiroshima's pain-filled dedication to seek global peace.

Marcguyver said...

Dan, are you for real? Are you in complete agreement with this posts?

So, bottomline here is not that we committed this act during war, we just up and decided a bunch of Japanese Christians, and their holy site, needed to be wiped from the earth because that was the most aggregious act we could come up with at the time???

This is some of the finest 'Anti-American' political propagandic garbage I've seen or heard about in years; what a complete twist of history and the FACTS contained therein!

Dan Trabue said...

The facts are as they are. We DID target a church. We DID wipe out a city full of Christians.

The facts are what they are.

It's not anti-American to stand up against war crimes. It's anti-American to support war crimes, I'd suggest. (And you do understand, don't you, that it is a war crime to target a civilian population?)

What's your point, Marc? I don't get it.

Dan Trabue said...

If you'd like, Marc, I'll cite what some prominent conservatives of the time had to say about Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

"[t]he use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul."

Republican President Herbert Hoover

The justifications of "military necessity" will "never erase from our minds the simple truth that we, of all civilized nations . . . did not hesitate to employ the most destructive weapon of all times indiscriminately against men, women and children."

conservative owner and editor of U.S. News, David Lawrence

The conservative magazine Human Events contended that America's atomic destruction of Hiroshima might be morally "more shameful" and "more degrading" than Japan's "indefensible and infamous act of aggression" at Pearl Harbor.

A 1947 editorial in the Chicago Tribune, at the time a leading conservative voice, claimed that President Truman and his advisers were guilty of "crimes against humanity" for "the utterly unnecessary killing of uncounted Japanese."

A 1959 National Review article matter-of-factly stated: "The indefensibility of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima is becoming a part of the national conservative creed."

My deep thanks to conservative blogger, Lone Ranger:

(http://importantstuffornot.blogspot.com/)

for this info.

Michael Westmoreland-White said...

Truman, whom I admire about other things, defended the bombing of BOTH Hiroshima and Nagasaki (after we already saw the results on Hiroshima) to his dying day. But dropping the bomb was opposed by many of the top military of the day, including Eisenhower, the Sec. of the Navy, Gen. Omar Bradley, and others. Truman was told that the Japanese were about to surrender and that we could test on a deserted atoll near Japan or (not knowing then about radiation) 3 mile up above Tokyo and out at sea so that the threat could be seen without loss of life.
Truman's later declassified diary showed that he dropped the bomb to "keep the Russians in line" after the war--but Soviet spies had already stolen the secrets.

I don't think anyone thought--Hey, let's wipe out Japanese Christians. That was irony not intention. But the people in charge didn't care one way or the other.

Since 07 Aug. 1945, the day after Hiroshima, the U.S. has been infected with a nuclear amnesia. We worry about "rogue nations" with nukes (sometimes with justification), but we continue to forget what EVERYONE else constantly remembers--we are the only nation to use these weapons in war, once on a city with little militay significanc and, 3 days later, on a city that had ZERO military targets.

Until we as a nation face up to that, it will distort our national soul--and threaten the rest of the world.

D.Daddio Al-Ozarka said...

Waaaaaugh, waaaaugh, waaaaugh!

Japan is noe one of the major economic powers in the world. Their people live in a freedom never before known or dreamed about.

I wonder if those who died--knowing the peace the bombs would bring--would have willingly sacrificed themselves for the prosperity that followed the blasts.

I wonder how many innocents would have died had the bomb not been used.

Dan Trabue said...

It's always much easier to defend terrorism when it's your side committing the war crimes, isn't it, D?

Dan Trabue said...

Further, Daddio, as one who freely advocates a bigoted stance against our gay brothers and sisters, who is glad to mock the pain and suffering of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I've decided that those of your sort going away will bring peace and prosperity to the US.

"I wonder if those who died--knowing the peace the bombs would bring--would have willingly sacrificed themselves for the prosperity that followed the blasts."

Will you willingly sacrifice yourself and your town full of men, women and children?

[and for those will an irony-deficiency, I'm not advocating violence against Daddio, I'm making a point.]

Larry Who said...

Is it possible that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were judgments ordained by God for Japan's "rape of Nanjing, China"?

If this is so, then President Truman did the will of God - right?

But of course, your argument will be that God wouldn't do that to His church? Then, I must scratch my head at how naive you really are.

Dan Trabue said...

How many examples can you think of in the Bible, Larry, where God tells God's people to attack God's people, killing every man, woman and child?

Old or New Testaments.

Let's see....my quick count would be, ummm.... None. Have I missed any?

Larry Who said...

So, where do you come up with the statement: "God tells God's people to attack God's people, killing every man, woman and child?"

Is there a shift in your logic here?

Now, if you have come to this conclusion because I wrote: "...but your argument will be that God wouldn't do that to His church..."

Maybe I should have been more clear in my writing and wrote: "But of course, your argument will be that God would not allow His church to go through a horrible judgment like this..."

So, forgive me for not making myself clear.

But I still don't understand your leap in logic. Are there some middle steps that I am missing?

Dan Trabue said...

I'm saying that I do not believe God would tell any of God's followers to kill a fellow believer. Where is there a shift in my logic?

Larry Who said...

Work! I must go but I shall reply on this later. You all behave yourselves until then.

Larry Who said...

Dan,
To answer your question about God's people killing God's people on God's command:

(Numbers 16:25-49) The rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram which resulted in almost 15,000 followers being killed.

(Numbers 25: 1-18) God ordered His people to kill the leaders of the rebellion at Peor. Phinehas was rewarded with a covenant of peace for his zeal in killing a Simeon leader.

(Joshua 7:1-27) Achan and his family were killed for their sin at Ai.

(Judges 12:1-7) Jephthah kills 42,000 Ephraimites at the fords of the Jordan.

(Judges 20 & 21) Israel fought the tribe of Benjamin, killing men, women and children.

(2 Samuel 3) The war between the House of Saul and the House of David.

2 Samuel 15, 16 & 17) The civil war between Absalom and King David.

Countless battles between Judah and Israel.

(Acts 5:1-10) The words of Peter kill Ananias and Sapphira.

(Rev. 2: 20-23) Jezebel and her children are threatened with death.

So, after all that, do you think that it is possible that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were judgments ordained by God for Japan's "rape of Nanjing, China"?

And if that is the case, then President Truman, did the will of God - right?

Dan Trabue said...

Impressive list, I'll give you that.

We come at the Bible in different ways, I'll let you know that right off the bat. My God doesn't go around killing children. When it seems God orders that in the Bible, I attribute that to someone's poor interpretation of God.

Having said that, most of your lists are of battles that happened historically in the Bible, but not necessarily with God's blessings. God's repeated command in the OT was to trust in God and not in a military, and especially not a huge military.

Once you move to the NT, you're list shortens greatly and has NO instances of God telling us to destroy our brothers and sisters. Quite the opposite. Jesus commands us to Love our enemies and the NT (and OT, as well) teaches us to overcome evil with good.

So, Larry, what it comes down to, for me, is whose teachings will I follow? As a Christian, I'm going to try to follow Jesus'. Given your response, I'm guessing you can imagine a Jesus that would drop a nuclear bomb on a city full of men, women and children. I can not square THAT Jesus with the Jesus of the Bible.

Larry Who said...

Dan,

I answered your question as you gave it to me, did I not?

Now, you have another question:

Do I think of the Prince of Peace, the Lord God of Hosts, the Man of War, the Redeemer, the Lamb of God and my Jesus as being able to drop a nuclear bomb on a city, killing men, women and children? I don't like to think about something like that. But at the same time, I know that He has the right to do that because He is the Judge.

Remember: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by something akin to a nuclear bomb. Men, women and children died there. And Jesus referred to these two cities in the gospels, and Peter said the cities were forever examples to those who live ungodly lives.

Jesus is my best friend, but I also fear Him; and know that He is the Judge.

Dan Trabue said...

"I answered your question as you gave it to me, did I not?"

Not exactly. Most of your examples are God appearing to tell some to smite those who were NOT following God. They may have been of the same tribe, but some had strayed from God's message.

And again, others are examples where there was a battle but God's not there telling them to destroy one another.

Still, you came up with a better list than I'd have thought up off the top of my head.

Dan Trabue said...

"Remember: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by something akin to a nuclear bomb...And Jesus referred to these two cities in the gospels"

Yes, Jesus said:

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

But he did not tell them to go in and wipe them out, did he?

Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord.

No, vengeance is not ours to mete out, but rather, we are to overcome evil with good, to love our enemies. THIS is the commands you and I receive from Jesus.

Larry Who said...

Yes, I agree that we are to love our enemies and overcome evil with good. These are important commandments for us to live our lives by.

But Jesus also said that we should sell our coat and buy a sword - if we did not have one.

Dan Trabue said...

Actually, he told pretty specifically his disciples to do that to "fulfill prophecy," and when they said they had one or two, he said, "That'll be enough."

Clearly Jesus was not planning an armed rebellion.

Larry Who said...

Actually, I added the statement about Jesus telling His disciples to bring a sword for a little tongue-in-cheek humor to our discussion.

I don't believe Luke 22:36 fulfills any prophecy that I know about, but rather, it is one of those scriptures (like Mark 14:51) that is just there. And we don't have enough light and revelation to understand as yet. Maybe, when we get to heaven - right?

Dan Trabue said...

According to Jesus:

He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’*; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me.

Larry Who said...

I don't believe verse 36 and verse 37 are connected to the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12.

But at the same time, I can see how you might think that it is or (God forbid) I could be wrong.