PREACHING ABOUT POVERTY:
War is a killer, even if we don't fight

By James L. Evans, Pastor, Crosscreek Baptist Church, Pelham, Ala.

First published as a commentary in the Birmingham, Ala., Post-Herald.  Reprinted with the newspaper's and author's permission.  James Evans can be reached at pastor@crosscreekbaptist.org.

As war with Iraq becomes more and more likely, there are several critical issues people of faith need to consider.

Obviously, we must give weight to the concept of the Just War Theory, which seeks to establish acceptable cause for waging war. The criteria for war includes just cause, right intent, and competent authority for waging war. Just War Theory also insists that we exhaust every conceivable political and economic option before launching an attack against other humans. War must always be a last resort. No matter how smart our bombs may be, we know great suffering will be inflicted upon Iraq's civilian population.

But the actual act of waging war is not our only concern. According to "Bread for the World," a charitable organization committed to finding solutions to poverty and hunger, war kills even if we don't actually fight it.

For instance, the renewal of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is presently at an impasse. This extension of the Work, Opportunity, and Responsibility for Kids Act of 2002 (WORK), which passed earlier this year with bipartisan support by the Senate Finance Committee, would open doors for more education and job training and bolster support for childcare and transportation.

Passing this legislation would go a long way toward helping the hungry and poor people in the U.S. this year. Unfortunately, Congress is distracted preparing for war. As a result, this key legislation affecting the poor is neglected.

Also, the foreign operations spending bill, passed by both the House and the Senate appropriations committees, is stalled. Both the House and the Senate versions add $500 million in poverty-focused development assistance to last year's allocation. Now there is talk that these increases may be stripped from the final bill as legislators seek ways to pay for the coming war with Iraq.

This phenomenon is not new. In the second chapter of Isaiah we read, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Why does the prophet choose these particular images? Why not swords into wagon wheels or spears into door hinges? Isaiah seemed to think there was a connection between tools for waging war and the tools needed for the growing of food.

It takes money to wage war. These days, it takes big money. And when a government is already spending more than it takes in to provide the services it is already providing, the cost of war can create quite a financial crisis. Taxes can be raised, and likely will be. There may be some coalition of nations put together that will help pay for the war.

But what usually happens in times of war is that the needs of the poor get shoved aside or forgotten altogether. In a sad perversion of the prophet's vision, the plowshares we already have are beaten into swords.

And that's not the worst of it. We mistakenly believe that military might alone will make and keep us safe. We fail to understand that chronic poverty breeds unrest and anger. Sowing seeds of economic neglect, we reap the whirlwind of political instability and terrorism. Convinced they have nothing to lose, many of the world's poor allow themselves to be turned into living weapons — human flesh battered by hunger into terrible swords.

Some believe that Isaiah's words refer to a hope that will only occur at the end of history — some divinely imposed solution to our flawed existence. And that may be true. But these dramatic words also reveal a real time expectation.

For the benefit of all concerned, God would much prefer that we "learn war no more."