I preached a sermon this week about the human costs of war. The US spent $2.7000,000,000,000 — that is $2.7 trillion — over 20 years in Afghanistan, and the Taliban that was in control 20 years ago is still in control 20 years later. That amount equates to $300 million a day for 20 years.
Meanwhile, we are told the US cannot afford to provide health care, decent housing, quality education, free Junior College, affordable child care, high speed rail service, broadband Internet service to all regions of the country, and a clean and safe environment for all of its citizens.
Senator Joe Manchin voted to change the filibuster rule so Congress could approve $768 billion for defense spending for one year. Yet, he would not support $710 billion annually for Build Back Better to improve the physical and social infrastructure of this country.
This country has been at war with someone since its founding in 1776. The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War in 1846, the Civil War beginning in 1861, the Spanish American War of 1898. Of course, the so-called “Indian Wars” were waged against Native Americans because this country believed it was entitled to the land and natural resources of those tribal nations.
What is the difference between our wars of conquest and what Russia is doing today in Ukraine? Then came World War I in 1914, World War II in 1941, the Korean War in 1950, the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. There was the first Gulf War in the 1990s, followed by a second war in Iraq and the 20 years in Afghanistan. All of these “hot wars” occurred while we were engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union.
How many lives have been lost and how much money has been squandered on wars that seem to keep occurring with astounding regularity? Martin Luther King, Jr. was right in 1967 when he opposed the Vietnam War because it drained away our national treasure of human lives and economic resources.
King also said, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
We cannot remain silent about the human costs of war playing out right now in Ukraine; 1.5 million refugees in just ten days consisting mostly of older women and young children. We cannot remain silent when African medical students studying in Ukraine discover that racism and the assumptions of white supremacy are as prevalent in Eastern Europe as they are in the US, preventing them from equal treatment as they seek to escape the violence.
I began my sermon by playing "War", the 1970 Motown song by Edwin Starr:
“War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. War is a heart breaker, friend only to the undertaker.”
It is once again “A Time to Break Silence” about the human costs of war. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal!”
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The Rev. Marvin A. McMickle, pastor emeritus of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, retired in 2019 as president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York, where he had served since 2011.
