c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)

UNDATED _ Developing a balanced consensus about the use and abuse of U.S. military power is a critical theological task, but one many religious leaders avoid.

Instead, some clergy act as national cheerleaders who believe the deployment of our armed forces is a kind of Olympic competition intended to”bring home the gold.”Others take the opposite, almost pacifist position, arguing America should rarely, if ever, use its armed forces in the world.

The continuing crisis with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein emphasizes how dramatically the United States and the world have changed since the end of World War II and underscores the necessity of moving beyond the two extreme theological positions.

During World War II, the United States joined its allies in an all-out effort that succeeded in destroying three evil regimes: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and militaristic Japan. And those regimes needed to be destroyed because of their totalitarian ideologies and their many monstrous actions, including the Holocaust, a national policy of mass murder.

Happily, since their defeat, new democratic governments have flourished in Germany, Italy, and Japan, and today they are among America’s closest friends.

So it is little wonder that millions of Americans have grown up fervently believing once U.S. forces enter a fray it is a”winner-take-all”confrontation _ with the children of light clearly winning over the children of darkness.

However, since 1945 the results of American military intervention have been more ambiguous, making it imperative the religious community grasp the new and frequently unsatisfying realties of today’s global politics.

For three years _ between 1950 and 1953 _ America fought a bitter”police action”in Korea against an aggressive communist regime. Since then, an uneasy truce has been in effect, and as a former Air Force Chaplain who served in Korea during the 1960s, I can personally attest to the fragility of the cease-fire agreement that saved South Korea from the communists but left North Korea politically intact.

Of course, our later massive military involvement in Vietnam did not end in a truce but with communist North Vietnam conquering the South. Ironically, a quarter century later Vietnam is now a magnet for American business and trade.

Just seven years ago, the United States and its allies carried out”Operation Desert Storm”against Iraq because it had invaded neighboring Kuwait. The Iraqi aggression was successfully reversed, even though Hussein, a truly radical and evil ruler, has remained in power, continuing to taunt the world with his egregious policies.

Finally, U.S. armed forces are currently stationed in troubled Bosnia. Their goal is neither”victory”nor”defeat,”but peacekeeping, referees in the ethnic hostilities that could resume once they leave.

These less than decisive military commitments have caused deep frustration in America. Many yearn for the good old days of World War II when we demanded and received our enemies'”unconditional surrender.”Others take an”I told you so”posture declaring the incomplete results achieved since 1945 simply prove the futility of armed intervention.

Instead of trying to appease or reconcile these two irreconcilable position, religious leaders should stake out a third position _ force must sometimes, if reluctantly, be used. And they need to constantly remind America that Judaism and Christianity are profoundly committed to the pursuit of peace. However, our traditions also insist on peace with justice, not only with mercy. The Jewish religion teaches true peace comes only when justice and mercy embrace one another as equals.

Our spiritual traditions also recognize that evil exists in this imperfect world. Because of that troubling reality, we are commanded to mend God’s world by actively seeking to eradicate evil from our midst, a difficult mandate.

Sometimes armed force, with all its ambiguities, must be employed when diplomacy fails. But then, no one ever said pursuing peace is easy or painless.

DEA END RUDIN