There’s an interesting book that’s being written, called “The Moral Legacy of World War II.” It’s being written by Ted Grimsrud, who teaches theology and peace studies at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. He is posting rough drafts of each chapter on the web. You can see the table of contents here, with links to the chapters that have been made public.

It’s an interesting topic. While the impact of the war on society as a whole is interesting, I’m particularly aware of the impact on the church in the United States. Our fellowship, the churches of Christ, transformed almost overnight from a predominantly pacifistic movement to a movement that broadly supports military involvement.

I overstated my case the other day by saying that this country has basically been at war for the last 70 years. Nick rightly corrected me on this. If you want to get technical, the last declaration of war by the United States Congress was in 1942, when the U.S. declared war on Romania. What may have seemed like wars since then have merely been military actions. What is unquestionable, however, is that the U.S. geared up militarily in the 1940s and never “geared down” after that. We became, and remain, a militarized society. And our churches, the churches of Christ at least, became and remain a militarized religious movement.

So Grimsrud’s study should be interesting. I’ve only read the first chapter. I hope some of you will read his writings and comment on them. His bias is obvious, which can often be helpful. Studies done under a pretense of objectivity can be deceiving. Every story has a slant, and it’s useful to know ahead of time what that slant is going to be.