On Remembrance Sunday we sang a very moving hymn:
O valiant hearts who to your glory came
through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
your memory hallowed in the land you loved.
Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war
as who had heard God's message from afar...
Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;
into the light that nevermore shall fade...
And I found myself thinking: Jihadis and ISIS fighters could sing that with all their hearts! Those who demonstrate such courage, such self-sacrifice - they surely secure their place in God's heaven.
But do they? Even those who have carried out mass-killings? There have been many such on both sides in the World Wars, and in so many wars since then.
The hymn continued:
Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still...
Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self-same way
...These were his servants, in his steps they trod.
And I thought: Courage even to death - Yes. But to go beyond that, and say that they trod in the steps of Jesus, whose ultimate choice was the way of non-violence - is that not blasphemy?
EDWARD WILLIAMS
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