What is The Christian Response to the War with Iran?
What is the Christian response to the war in Iran? That is a funny question, not because there is anything funny about the conflict, but because it assumes that there is one unified response. I can’t even tell you what the response of Canadian Baptists are to the war in Iran.
But that is not to say that there is nothing we can say on the matter just because there are different opinions.
Some of the responses I have heard include condemnation of all military action based on Christian nonviolence and rejoicing at the destruction being inflicted on Iran based on Christian nationalism. I am neither a pacifist nor a Christian nationalist. I have no desire to tell others what to believe and yet as a Christian, I do have some observations.
How We Should Not Respond
In some ways it is easier to say something about what we should not do or say in response to what is happening in Iran. Here are some things I think are inappropriate for Christians based on my reading of Jesus:
- Rejoicing at the death of Iranian innocents.
- Using this as excuse to treat all Muslims as our enemies.
- Placing these events into an eschatological equation to predict the return of Jesus.
- Rejecting all people who serve in the military.
- Seeing the conflict in purely economic terms (while not ignoring that there are economic foces at work).
How We Should Respond
I understand that there are some Christians who see all military action as wrong and there are Christians who see this either as the means to relieve oppression of the Iranian people and/or to prevent Iran from potentially using a nuclear weapon on their neighbours (probably Israel).
I am not going to weigh in on the politics of what is going on. This is far outside my lane. But I can suggest some appropriate ways to respond.
- Have compassion for and pray for the Iranian people.
- Grieve the deaths and injuries of innocent people.
- Pray for those serving in the military.
- Pray for an end to the hostilities, including praying for the leaders of the United States, Israel, and Iran.
- Check in on people you know who may have family in Iran or in the surrounding nations that are being affected.
- Adopt a posture of humility rather than a boastful patriotism.
You may have wanted something more, something like whether or not Christians can support this conflict. I have my thoughts but if we cannot do these basic things first, the rest does not matter.
