Notes: Renouncing War: How Mormon Theology & History Lead Us to Nonviolence

Notes to the forum seminar Renouncing War: How Mormon Theology and History Lead Us to Nonviolence, by David Pulsipher, who is teaching "US History 1820 to 1920" and "History of Peace" this semester.

This is commentary. And this is really good. 

A link to the video will be posted in this spot as soon as it it uploaded to BYU-I.

• "Therefore, renounce war and proclaim peace..." Doctrine and Covenants 98:16
• "Mormon theology and history effectively renounce all forms of violence- even defensive violence- and ultimately endorse and lead us to higher, stronger, and more effective methods of active and loving nonviolence." This is explicitly his thesis. 
• "This thesis does not condemn any of these heroes [from the scriptures]." 
• "...by faith was the law of Moses given. But in the gift of his Son hath God prepared a more excellent way..." Ether 12:11
• There is greater light and lesser light, gradations of light. "There is light, there is truth, there is righteousness, but there is also greater light, there is greater truth, greater righteousness, greater divinity, in other options."
• "Violence is harm by means that overpower people's consent and restrict their potential." There can be physical, emotional, psychological violence. 
• Direct violence is physical/verbal, and structural violence is injustice/inequality. The latter is no less violent because it is no less harmful, though it may be less direct and the blame may be spread out among many. 
• Against direct violence: "Thou shalt not kill... and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." 3 Nephi 12:21-22
• Against structural violence: "...it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin." Doctrine and Covenants 49:20
• "Peace is by definition the absence of direct violence and the presence of social justice and equality." 
• "Negative peace is the absence of direct violence, the lion laying down with the lamb." 
• "Positive peace is the presence of social justice, a structure in which everyone's potential is allowed, because the structures are in place that do not keep anyone from that potential."
• Negative peace described: "...and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another." 4 Nephi 1:2
• Positive peace described: "...there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free..." 4 Nephi 1:3
• "When we have achieved Zion, we have achieved both negative peace and positive peace."
• Nonviolence is more than being not-violent or not-acting. It is "intentional, confrontational, fearless, and loving action that absorbs, thwarts, and transforms violence." 
• "All violence is evil. Violence, by inflicting harm, is simply wrong."
• "...the Church is and must be against war, for war is of Satan and this Church is the Church of Christ, who taught peace and righteousness and brotherhood of man." Message of the First Presidency, October 1942. 
• Though all violence is evil, "some violence may be excusable, but it is never holy." 
• Using violence does not necessarily make someone evil... However, using violence never makes someone holy. Have you ever seen someone who was made better because they chose violence?" 
• There is a difference between justification and sanctification. 
• In the former you have done something wrong but you are no longer held guilty for having done it. You may perform violence but be absolved or justified. Justification is the removal of sin, but simply removing the sin does not make a person holy. 
• Sanctification is the process of making holy. "There are things that we can do that make us holy. Violence is not one of them." 
• "[After three attacks], thine enemy is in thine hands; and if thou rewardest him according to his works thou are justified; if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified." Doctrine and Covenants 98:31
• "And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children's children unto the third and fourth generation." Doctrine and Covenants 98:30
• "You are justified, but you are further sanctified if you choose something else." 
• "God is always trying to take us where we are and move us somewhere better. Violence may be justified but it is never holy, and it is never the best, strongest, or most effective way." 
• Society tells us that you have two options: giving in to evil or fighting back, and if you do the former then you are a coward. But the Gospel tells us that there are always gradations, that the universe is not binary. 
• Just because something is justifiable and excusable it is not made right or desirable. 
• Justified violence is like the moon: not only a lesser light, but something that has no light in itself. It has no light, no warmth, no love, but under the right circumstances it can reflect light. 
• Nonviolence is not just excusable, it is holy. Violence is effective but its effectiveness is only temporary. Active nonviolence on the other hand has "durable effectiveness." 
• We do not celebrate scriptural heroes for their violence. "The violence is something that we excuse, but we do not celebrate them for it." 
• "The light of the Suffering Servant" is not the reflected light of the moon of violence. 
• Agency and influence: a theology of power. 
• We are dangerously missing the point and misunderstanding if we conceive of the war in Heaven as a war of arms. It was not a physical war or a war of violence, but a war of words, a debate. 
• Let us not forget that the early Mormons' violent resistance against violent persecution led not to our victory, but to Joseph Smith's death and our expulsion from the States.
• "No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, " Doctrine and Covenants 121:41. This is the power of God, influence. 
• To reign with "blood and horror" is Satan's strategy, not God's. 
• Consider Nephi, who shocks his brothers and gets them to build the ship... but does not effect a permanent change. 
• When Zoram discovers Nephi's deception, Nephi's influence over Zoram ends. When he lays hold of Zoram he has influence, physically, but this will also end as soon as he lets go. But when he builds a relationship of trust with Zoram then he forges influence that lasts until the end. 
• The war in Heaven was a war over who would have power, who would have influence. 
• "Honor is power. In a universe of free-will souls, power is based on consent." 
• "The only way that God has influence on our lives, is if we give it to Him. The only way that Satan has influence on our lives, is if we give it to him." 
• "Power has to be built on consent in a universe of free-will souls. What builds lasting consent? Selflessness and sacrifice built on love and trust- enduring consent." 
• How is it that Satan and his angels find themselves outside of Heaven? In traditional Christian theology they are forced out through violence, but in Mormon theology "they are simply walking out of Heaven. Satan is asked to leave, to depart, and he does." 
• If Heaven is where God is, then Heaven can be relocated by God's own relocation. Unlimited mobility allows us to remove ourselves from others without violence. 
• "Why does Satan flee the scene? Because he can sense his influence is diminishing? Could Satan have departed because he knew that his influence was waning, so he cut his losses and departed before he could lose anyone else. But it would explain why Satan always departs when he sees that he has lost all influence... And he may throw a hissy-fit before he leaves, but he leaves." 
• As we learn in the Temple endowment, all of the ways through which Satan seeks to acquire power are ways that cannot be maintained. 
• "Responding to violence with active and loving nonviolence strips away the justification for violence, diminishes and frustrates the influence of aggression, creates a context for conversion [not necessarily in a religious sense], and encourages love." 
• "If I'm trying to intimidate you and you refuse to be intimidated, then I lose power and I fail at my point." 
• MLK: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
• Before the Spirit says anything, Nephi draws the sword. And then the Spirit speaks up. And unlike many other prophets, Nephi doesn't argue with the Lord. "And then Nephi returns home, and the first thing that he does is make a burnt offering. What do you make a burnt offering for? To absolve sin."