Another excellent ‘ten propositions’ from Kim Fabricius here. Thing is, I’m still resistant to it (tho’ the resistance is crumbling, I think).

The root of my objection comes back to my notion that non-violence can become an idol, and lying behind that is my initial absorption of the idea (Tillich via a tutor) that the Ultimate cannot be named; anything that can be named and identified is not ultimate, therefore not absolute, therefore can be broken.

If non-violence is made an absolute, I just suspect that something might go wrong. Of course, the acceptance of violence has radically demonstrated ‘things going wrong’ in spades. Yet that just makes a rigorous just-war stance all the more necessary. I think that’s why – for now – I’d want to stick with the just-war tradition, despite what Kim says about it.

There’s also a thought that death itself is not an absolute evil – and so should not be made into an absolute evil within a moral system (without denying that it IS an evil).

A thought occurred to me today at Morning Prayer. If Judas hadn’t killed himself, and came back to the disciples in penitence, would he have been embraced by the risen Lord?