What is a U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq supposed to do when Jesus’ call to be a peacemaker drives him or her into a crisis of conscience? 

As you might imagine, when soldiers’ commitments to follow their consciences begin to seriously conflict with their commitments to serve their country in arms, they have a very difficult road ahead of them. 

On March 21-22, the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, will be held at the historic Riverside Church in New York City with the goal of sparking a six month, nation-wide conversation about the obstacles service members face in freely exercising their consciences.  The commissioners are leaders from veterans groups, religious organizations, the academy, the media, the arts, and community groups, all of whom will hear the testimonies of veterans, legal experts, war zone journalists, and authorities on just war and pacifist traditions.  I will be serving as the “student commissioner” appointed by Yale Divinity School, one of the many organizations co-sponsoring the event.  As suicide rates among service members are quickly rising (Despite Prevention Efforts, U.S. Military Suicides Rise) and as we commit ever more troops to the war in Afghanistan, the conversations and action plans that will emerge could not come at a more important time.

As in all Truth Commissions (the most well-known being the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, in South Africa, presided over by Archbishop Desmond Tutu), the starting point for our dialogue and follow-up actions will be first-hand testimonies, in our case veterans who have faced crises of conscience in their service.  Liberationist and Progressive Christian theologies call for an elevation of the voices that are most affected by a problem, especially those which often go unheard.  While many of us might not often think of combat troops as marginalized persons, service members who decide they cannot continue to fight in good conscience can quickly become targets of those with a vitriolic and unquestioning nationalism.  

So, perhaps it should not be surprising that the Religious Right, particularly Mark Tooley of the reactionary Institute on Religion & Democracy, has attacked the Truth Commission on Conscience in War and insulted the veterans who will be offering their personal stories as testifiers this March.  After all, it probably wasn’t an accident that Jesus put the peacemakers and the merciful on the same list as those who will be reviled, persecuted, and slandered.

Despite the distortions coming from the right wing, the aims of the TCCW are simple and essential.  Our first purpose is to* honor and protect freedom of conscience for service members, not to bash the United States or those who serve the country in ways they consider to be morally correct.  The second goal is to bring just war and pacifist traditions into conversation by ensuring diversity of opinion among the commissioners and testifiers, not to fill a room with people having the same ideologies to reinforce our righteousness.  The third intent of the TCCW is to address the moral and spiritual injuries of war and work for healing and recovery for those suffering from war, not to point fingers and make scapegoats out of anyone.

If my Beatitudes Society Fellowship at Glide Methodist Church in 2008 taught me anything, it was that just action must be preceded by hearing and listening to voices from the underside.  I invite all who care deeply about working for peace to join us on March 21 to hear the voices of those who have known too much of war.

--John Helmiere