The work of
Christian Peacemaking
Lesson 3: Should Christians fight in wars?

Who am I?
Can you identify any of the following people from their pictures?

Who am I?
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Who am I?
Pope Benedict XV

Who am I?
Fr George Zabelka

Who am I?
Bert Brocklesby

Who am I?
St Martin of Tours

Who am I?
The Unknown Soldier

What links these people?

All of them can help us answer this question…
Should Christians fight in wars?

Pope Benedict XV was Pope during the First World War.
St Martin of Tours was a soldier who became a Christian.

The Unknown Soldier: a soldier of the First World War
Bert Brocklesby: a Christian who refused to fight in the First
World War

St Thomas Aquinas: a priest and theologian who developed the Just
War theory
Fr George Zabelka: the priest who blessed the atomic bomb

Thinking about: the stories of these six men, the teachings of Jesus, and the example of other
Christians you know of,
Do you think Christians should ever fight in wars?

Christian work for peace today
During the two world wars when conscription was a reality and young men were compelled to join the military, Christian resistance to war was realised by conscientious objection, taking on non-combatant roles, and campaigning for peace.
How might Christians in the UK today continue to resist war?

Lesson 3: Should Christians fight in wars?
Credits
Images of St Thomas Aquinas, Bert Brocklesby, and Pope Benedicat XV are in the public domain.
Image of Fr Zabelka is from the film Zabelka: The Reluctant Prophet
(http://vimeo.com/48820359)
Images of St Martin of Tours and the Unknown Warrior are used with permission under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version
All other images and materials are by Pax Christi UK