by Fred Kammer, S.J.
Since the 2016 election, we have had demonstrations, confrontations, and calls to be “resisters” or even “disrupters.”[1] In this tumultuous time, spiritual writer Henri Nouwen has much to tell us. Discerning our nuclear-armed culture, Father Nouwen wrote of resistance as "the daily life of peacemakers." He called for, not just acts of resistance, but our whole being resisting the powers leading to injustice, war, and destruction. He highlighted three aspects of this lifestyle of resistance.[2]
Resistance means saying "No" to the forces of death. As politicians discuss increasing our nuclear arsenal, our most obvious "No" must be to the actual use of nuclear arms, an unconscionable horror.
It is obvious that all people who believe that God is a God of life, and especially we who proclaim that Jesus Christ came to live among us to overcome the powers of death, must say "No" to nuclear arms, a clear and unambiguous "No."[3]
But Christian resistance extends more deeply to saying "No" to amassing nuclear weapons because, as the Vatican clearly stated, they kill the poor by the diversion of human, scientific, and economic resources.[4] It also requires a fervent "No" to the impact upon ourselves. We are a nation which, by amassing such weapons, expresses our willingness to use them. This willingness is a horrible statement about our own fears, angers, and destructiveness. Our "No" must extend consistently to death in all other forms. This includes abortion, violent sports that maim and cripple, and the seductive violence of films and television. We also must reject the less spectacular death of everyday lives, as when we “write others off” in conversations or when our society does the same with the aged, poor, disabled, or racial minorities. It is a form of death when we even think of ourselves with self-loathing, self-rejection, and deep self-hatred reflected in, for example, our excessive consumption of alcohol, food, or drugs.