Christian ethics and military practice
By Tim Blewett
Launde Abbey recently hosted a conference to discuss Christian Ethics and Military Practice. The British military, the conference heard, was there to support the policies of a democratically elected government with a ‘military covenant’ binding society and the military to each other. That ‘military covenant’, however, is essentially an unequal one with members of the armed forces facing possible death while society is only asked to give its support, treating those who serve their nation fairly with value and respect. Some have suggested that this ‘covenant’ has been undermined: due to the overstretch of the armed forces with an increasing number of operational tours, poor living conditions for military personnel and their families and a decline in support for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan fuelled by the media treating these operations as ‘spectator wars’ with expectations which cannot be met.
Against such a background the military are faced with huge moral questions in the difficult operational environments of Iraq and Afghanistan. Such situations where force is used are at the heart of the ethical dilemma faced by the military especially where the individual comes from a position of faith. They are caught between, on the one hand, having a high understanding of the value of human life as enshrined by the Geneva Conventions and if also a Christian a gospel of love which sees all people as made in the image of God (and even called to love their enemy) while on the other hand they are called to use force in certain circumstances not necessarily of their choosing.
This raises the question of potentially conflicting core values within the military itself. Two of the core values that the military espouses are moral courage and loyalty. Unfortunately, loyalty can become limited to being purely about loyalty to friends, and not to the nation state, or to humanity or even the ‘divine’. This narrowing of loyalty can then prevent people from having the moral courage to say ‘no’ to an order or to be a whistleblower bringing an abuse to light. Due to the greater demands placed upon it over the last few years the ethics and moral understanding undergirding the military are no longer robust enough. Military personnel are only given one hour of teaching on these issues each year which is compounded by the fact that many recruits are coming from positions of moral ambiguity in a world of higher expectations. Due to the more immediate accountability of the military this lack of ethical preparation by the military can be so easily revealed.
These tensions are shown up by looking at the US abuses in Abu Ghraib in 2004 which given a different set of circumstances could easily have been UK abuses. Sgt Frederick was prosecuted by the US after pictures came to light showing Iraqi prisoners being abused. He was given an eight year jail sentence, a dishonourable discharge and stripped of his pension. The judge at his trial said he knew what he had been doing and therefore needed to take the consequences of his actions. But was he exercising his freewill? Surely, this is to underestimate the effect of the environment and the stresses under which soldiers are placed – whether American or British – and to overstate the ethical teaching that they have been given prior to deploying.
Unfortunately, such transformations from hero to monster are surprisingly common: it can happen in almost any group where a group mentality takes over as shown by a study of some 25,000 social psychology studies published at Princetown University. It concludes by saying that almost anyone is capable of abuse and torture if placed in the wrong social context. Without that realisation – and robust ethical framework in place - we cannot counter that tendency as friendships and loyalty to the immediate group result in the negation of moral courage. Instead what can happen is that even chaplains serving the military can start to morally legitimise atrocities as shown by Bergen’s study The Sword and the Lord (2004).
The loyalty and obedience demanded by the military, if not counteracted by a strong sense of moral courage, can lead to a socialisation of troops which can inhibit critical moral judgement. If this situation is further exacerbated by the breakdown in the ‘military covenant’ and a weak ethical framework both in the military and in wider society then the capability of the military organisation will be undermined. This failure in the military institution along with a failure in society could then provide the lack of command and control and moral and ethical judgement in which abuses of power could happen. If, allied to a lack of moral courage, the result could be that abuses taking place are not brought to the attention of the chain of command and where they are, preventing commanders from taking the appropriate action to put an end to them.
Is this the position we as a society want to place our military in? It is our responsibility too.
Tim Blewett is currently the Warden of Launde Abbey having served as Residentiary Canon of St Asaph Cathedral with responsibility as Diocesan Officer for Ministry, Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Bishop’s Adviser for Continuing Ministerial Education. He also serves as a Territorial Army Chaplain and has been mobilised twice: Bosnia (1997 – 1998) and Iraq (2003 – 2004).
Enquiries to Rev'd Tim Blewett on 01572 717254 or email tim@launde.org.uk.
Launde Abbey is the residential Retreat House for the Diocese of Leicester, offering Christian hospitality to all people, with or without faith. It provides an oasis of calm which allows both individuals and groups time to reflect upon where they are and what they are called to be in today’s ever-changing world; a place where people can go to learn about themselves and others.
