Beat the Defense Budget into a Plowshare

by Shane Claiborne 11-11-2009

Almost exactly 4 years ago, more than 100 faith leaders from around the country went to jail together as we prayed for a moral budget and lamented the current one. I think it may be time to do it again.

On Oct. 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the $680 billion 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, the largest military spending bill of its kind, increasing the military budget 24 billion from the last fiscal year.

With all the hope for an end to the recession, military spending does seem to be the open wound of America (and perhaps no coincidence that the military budget is almost the same as the bailout package). The military spending is the elephant in the room any time we speak of health care for all or reforming the broken education system; one wonders how much good we can do when nearly half of every tax dollar goes to the military. Dr. King’s words ring truer than ever: “A country that spends more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching a spiritual death.”

The U.S. is now paying over $16 billion a year just to maintain its nuclear arsenal, an arsenal so big it takes the next 50 countries combined to even get close. I did a little research recently and talked to some folks in DC just to wrap my hands around the numbers. Using the Hiroshima bomb as a measuring unit (and remembering that this bomb killed 140,000 people in one blast, and 90 of these bombs could blow up all of Russia), the U.S. now has the equivalent of more than 122,000 Hiroshimas. How many times do we need to be able to blow up the world? It must break God’s heart. As Jesus wept over Jerusalem because it did not know the things that lead to peace, Jesus must be weeping over America today.

It is my prayer that we would have the courage and imagination to beat these “swords into plows” — to turn the things that have brought death into things that bring life. As the rate of soldiers dying by suicide has now outnumbered those dying in combat, it is time for us to say “enough” to the sword which we have picked up and died by over and over. It is time to choose another future than wars and rumors of wars. And perhaps it is time once again to pray on the steps of Congress for a moral budget… and to go to jail as we pray.

Shane Claiborne is a Red Letter Christian and a founding partner of The Simple Way community, a radical faith community that lives among and serves the homeless in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. He is the co-author, with Chris Haw, of Jesus for President.

Categories: War & Peace

Tags: bailout, bailout package, bomb, budget, casualties, death, health care, hiroshima bomb, jail, Military, military budget, Military spending, money, national defense authorization, nuclear arsenal, spiritual death, Suicide

hollysavage

Sorry people, but Shane's wrong. Justice will never "roll down" if it doesn't exist in the first place. That is why we need police and the military and those institutions cannot function without monetary support. If we want to save money and get out of this recession, the government needs to cut, cut, cut jobs and programs in worthless branches like the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of the Interior (among others). I say "worthless" because government proves daily that it should not be in charge of those aspects of society at the federal level because of how incompetent and politically correct the decisions (especially for spending) are. By letting we the people take care of those aspects of society through local/state governments and the private sector. We need to take responsibility for oursevles.
Besides, the social gospel is not biblical and Shane uses the "plowshare" thing so much it's become a cliche. Decreasing our defense spending is exactly what the terrorists would like us to do and I would rather not have another September 11. How soon we forget. Defense spending is meant to help save the lives of Americans and support our soldiers (the governments real job), which it does, and the idea that such spending supports mass killing all over the world is extremely ignorant and sad. Freedom is not free and our soldiers are heroes for protecting that which we take for granted, including the freedom to call them murderers/killers. God is loving and just. If we fail to be both, we will self-destruct and help no one.

xfree9

That's what I said... hence the words "the other way around."

PastorShawn

Oh, and I think you have the "heaven" and "hell" stats approximately reversed. Jesus spoke consistently more about heaven than hell. I think the heaven citations outnumber hell citations 10 to 1.

willhouk

I hate to be disagreeable with you bassjones but I think you are misquoting the constitution. The preamble states that the purpose of our government is to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." So it's a bit unfair to say health care for all is "unconstitutional." It seems like the health care bill could easily fit into promoting the general welfare.

As far as the church goes you are right that we are failing miserably at taking care of the poor. I wish that we as the church could all work together and provide for the needs of the poor in all of our communities. That would be the best solution that we could find.

xfree9

I've never heard those stats before... do you have some links or sources? I don't doubt you; I'm reminded of the old cliché, "Jesus talked more about hell than heaven," yet it's like a 20:1 ration the other way around.

Just asking for sources cuz I'm truly interested.

bassjones

I would certainly agree that our military budget is obese and mainly spent on the wrong things - fancy new bombs instead of taking care of our soldiers. However, defense is the only role that our government has a constitutional duty to engage in. In fact, "providing health care for everyone" is unconstitutional and is not very "Christian" in my view. Paul never exhorted the church to send its members to Caesar when they needed help, he exhorted THEM to take care of each other. To be sure we've done a pretty lousy job of it, but to voluntarily turn over more of our freedom (and responsibility) to the enslavers in the Federal Government is potentially more dangerous than all the bombs we've ever built.

PastorShawn

Without even responding to the military spending issue (which we could never "resolve" in terms of how much is "too much" money spent on national defense, or actually world defense since U.S. military spending benefits people world-wide and not simply in the U.S.), truth is important. Military spending is not half of every tax dollar; its closer to 20%. Of course to get to 50%, some will exclude large portions of government social spending to make military spending a larger percentage of something less that the entire U.S. budget, but this is dishonest. Make your argument, but at least do so with truth rather than a distortion.

larrypullen

Shane, I like your essay very much. Unfortunately political leaders have, or believe they have, a very limited tool box (to keep with Jim Wallis' statement about the hammer) with which to make a more just and peaceful world. That is why they tend to look to Machiavelli's instruction more than that of Jesus. It is easier, and more predictable for many people when we lack faith, to trust in fear rather than friendship to bring a more peaceful world. Yet ultimately we must have a significantly universal trust in God's power to reconcile all people in order to move away from military expenditures.

BillSamuel

Amen, Shane. It's nice that Sojourners allows you to post here, but it would be even better if they took your words to heart.

Two years ago, Sojourners undertook a major "The Budget Is a Moral Document" campaign. Shamefully, they never even mentioned the military budget, the largest item in the budget and one with clear moral implications!

Sojourners once played a prophetic role, but it has long since tossed that aside and instead curried favor with establishment political figures. Since the leaders of both parties are firmly committed to increased militarism, taking a prophetic role on peace would not have served this drive for mainstream respectability and they simply abandoned it.

meekman

It's undeniable that we spend a vast amount of money on our military. However, Shane's comments also hint that our military power is causing more harm than we realize. I think that these are two separate issues, both of which deserve prayerful attention.

Veterans' high suicide rate is only one of war's negative consequences for our fellow countrymen. Post-traumatic stress disorder, disabilities, and the separation of families are a few others. We should do everything we can to care for our soldiers and their families when they are hurt by war.

We cannot forget that war also devastates the countries we invade. Iraq and Afghanistan painfully taught us how much more difficult it is to rebuild countries than it is to destroy them. We cannot expect our military to seamlessly replace bad governments with good ones. What we can expect are difficulties, mistakes, and civilian deaths, despite our best efforts to avoid them.

Military action may sometimes be necessary, despite all of its costs. We do need to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks, and this may involve destroying things such as training camps. There are also arguments that, as the reigning superpower, we have a responsibility to protect everyone as much as we can. However, our current strategy of maintaining a huge number of nuclear weapons (and bases all over the world) as well as attempting to install good governments does not appear to be the best recipe for avoiding terrorists and promoting peace.

We need to advocate a responsible level of military spending as well as an appropriate and careful use of our military power. We can do this by discussing military issues with people around us, writing letters to our representatives, or even prayerfully protesting. Thanks, Shane, for reminding us of this heavy responsibility.

willhouk

Hey Shane,
I got to see you speak at William Jessup University yesterday where you touched on these issues along with many others. Thank you for your witness and your willingness to say the difficult things that need to be said. Your work has blessed my life in many different ways, and my wife and I will be praying with you and the many other Christians to bring some sanity to our country.

waitpony

PLEASE keep us updated on when we can gather at Congress' steps for a time of prayer. I'd love to be there.

Wes Ellis

Amen Shane!!!
The many who see themselves as "realists" and think that somehow in reality $680 Billion is a reasonable number to spend on killing need to recognize their cynicism and open their eyes. America is the most violent, greedy, economically oppressive nation in the history of the world. What other nation depends on the death of the hungry in order to enjoy it's own obesity? I love this country but let the Kingdom of God be our first allegiance.

What person has found life by killing to save it?

pcnot4me

Sorry,

But there is a time to fight. We have an enemy, they are Islamic extremists and they hate our nation and want to destroy it. And they don't hide that fact. Ft. Hood is the latest example.

The United States of America feeds more hungry, sets free more captives, and prevents more violence than any nation in the history of the world. What other nation comes alongside the weak? The United States of America.

The only way we can do those things is through our strength

letjusticerolldown

I am pro-military. I am for a budget increase. It takes money to bring troops home, close bases, and beat swords into plows. And that is exactly what should be done.

Thankfully, the most needed commodity costs nothing: vision, courage, love, imagination, leadership and brains.

We could cut the budget 50%, reduce our footprint around the globe, and still increase our capacity to serve as global cop.

The military hawks really need to be taken to task on their own terms; as to whether arming the world and going to fight all over the world has delivered any of its promises.

I think there are strong arguments for a strong military. But they can only be made when the vision, morality, humility, character and strategy of the nation are stronger, more durable, more transparent and more enduring than the military we fund. If we used that as the measure--the military budget ought be reduced about 90%.