More Than Conquerors: Just War Theory and the Need for a Black Christian Antiwar Movement

Abstract

Broadly speaking, the event of President Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize takes on greater significance once we consider how utterly deafening the silence of the Black Church leadership has been on global matters of war and peace for the past decade. Simply put, the Black Church tradition has paid too little attention to the Christian attitudes toward issues of war and peace. Since the start of the twenty-first century, there have been mixed signals regarding the relationship of African Americans and US foreign policy. I will briefly outline the general terms of what is meant by the "just war" tradition. Next, the article will examine the historic circumstances surrounding Revd Dr Martin Luther King Jr's vigorous, yet aborted attempts, to foment a Black Christian antiwar stance in response to the great American military quagmire of his lifetime, the Vietnam War. Towards that end, I want to emphasize how Dr King's "Beyond Vietnam" rhetoric illustrated a helpful framework wherein the Black Church provides a prophetic witness in its quest for peace, while holding a truer, more meaningful definition of patriotism. Finally, I want to offer a brief glimpse of where we currently stand regarding the war in Iraq and why the Black Church tradition stands poised as a viable source of inspiration and correction for remaking not only this nation but also the globe.