Worth A Listen But If Jesus Was No Pacifist, Why Should I Be?

War and peace in the moral maze

Is pacifism virtuous and admirable, or immoral and stupid?

MELANIE PHILLIPS MAR 21

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze last week, we discussed pacifism. In the Budget, the Chancellor announced an extra £11bn in defence spending over the next five years to counter threats from hostile states. The UK has also entered into a new defence pact with the US and Australia in response to Chinese military power. The war in Ukraine has seen advanced weapons rushed in by western countries to support the fight against Russia.

Yet there are voices raised against this. In Germany, protest marchers claim that sending more weapons to Ukraine merely causes more death, misery and destruction. Claiming to detect a change of mood, they point out that the latest film adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, the 1929 novel by the German pacifist Erich Maria Remarque, has just picked up four Oscars to add to its 14 Baftas.

Western leaders insist that Russia must lose the war and be seen to lose. But is this actually to commit to a war without end? Forcing Ukraine to negotiate now and inevitably cede territory could end the slaughter and start the process of rebuilding. Or is that to surrender and encourage further aggression by Russia and others? Is pacifism virtuous and admirable, or immoral and stupid?

My fellow panellists were Giles Fraser, Tim Stanley and Mona Siddiqui. Our witnesses were Emily Apple, media co-ordinator for the Campaign Against the Arms Trade; Aliona Hlivco, a former Ukrainian politician; Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship at Quakers in Britain; and Charlie Mackintosh, an undergraduate at New College, Oxford and an Army Officer Scholar.

You can listen to the show on BBC Sounds here.