Unjust war is a sin that ‘cries to heaven’

GUEST COLUMN

By GEOFF KENNEDY 

I don’t hear our Catholic leaders
 pointing out that requiring Catholics to finance immoral foreign policies
violates our religious freedom. Just this century alone, we’ve been forced
 to help finance the breaking of several of God’s 10 Commandments.

Eighth Commandment: The whoppers that Iraq was responsible for 9/11
terrorism and stockpiled WMD in 2003.

Seventh Commandment: The attempted military coups in Venezuela in 2002 and
 in Honduras in 2009 that aimed to rob Latin American voters of their right
 to elect their leaders.

Sixth Commandment: Rapes on prisoners held without charges in Abu Ghraib.

Fifth Commandment: Attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq that violated Catholic
 Just War Doctrine and the Obamadrones launched from the real “death panels” 
in Nevada against innocent people in Yemen, Pakistan and God knows where
 else.

Politicians with ties to the death (weapons) industries now decide what it 
means to defend our country. There’s a built-in conflict of interest. Most
 voters have no such ties. Letting voters decide how to defend our country
 would eliminate the conflict of interest, end the monopoly enjoyed by the
 death industries and force them to compete for our tax dollars.

Former president George W. Bush said tax dollars belong to us, not to the 
government when he proposed “privatizing” social security by letting
 Americans choose to invest some of their retirement income in the stock market. I propose “privatizing” defense by letting Americans choose how to
 invest their defense “vouchers.” 

Here’s the way it would work. Add up all the real costs of our military. Joe
 Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes wrote a book estimating the Iraq war cost us $3
trillion dollars and later estimated the Afghanistan war will cost us
 another $2 trillion. Divide that sum by the number of taxpayers. Then
 allocate each taxpayer’s share as a “defense voucher.”

People could choose to spend their vouchers on continuing the status quo by building the military infrastructure; investing in the stock market; or loving our neighbors in other countries as ourselves.

Our Catholic Catechism points out that “we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them.” Among these sins are instances of social injustices, including murders that result from immoral wars. These social injustices are “sins that cry to heaven,” the catechism states.

Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of heaven. His followers should have the right to spend their vouchers on turning enemies into friends instead of creating enemies and killing innocent people. Politicians should not have a monopoly on deciding on the morality of their actions. They’re not smarter than we are.

Marine Brig. Gen. Smedley Butler’s book, “War is a Racket,” illustrates how politicians use war to transfer American taxpayers’ wealth immorally to large corporations. He advocated limiting war profits to the amount we pay the lowliest private we send to fight that war. Now, that’s real “privatizing.” Here’s my principle: If you want a war, finance it yourself and fight it yourself.

The writer is a parishioner at St. Benedict Church in Anchorage, Alaska.