A Soldier’s Journey to Peace Activism

by Michael Burroughs

I’m often asked: “Why would a retired Army officer like you be a peace activist?” Many are surprised that I now carry a sign in peace marches and am a member of Veterans for Peace while some of my military friends just call me “a hippie.” For me, striving for peace and justice has become a spiritual matter rather than a political one.

As a child I had always wanted to be a soldier. As with many of my friends, I saw the military as a noble institution in which to grow in stature while serving and defending my country. I went on to seek an Army commission while in college with the full intention of making it my career. My twenty-nine years of service fulfilled most of my expectations, and entering the military was a decision I never regretted.

For both professional and personal reasons, I was against the war with Iraq well before it started, and I was very vocal about it. However, it seemed at the time that the nation was fervent for “shock and awe,”and few I encountered had any patience to discuss alternatives with me. I was in a state of cognitive dissonance.

Conversion experiences are very powerful. The philosopher William James speaks of two types of conversion experiences—the “once born” and the “twice born.” Since my baptism at age 12 in a large fundamental church, I had been a once born—active in a comfortable sort of way, but uncommitted for the most part and still searching. My confirmation as an Episcopalian in 1997 took me down a new spiritual path.

On 9/11, I was beginning my third year in the Education for Ministry program. EfM was the beginning of my twice born experience. My former career, my assumptions about war, and my faith had to be examined in a new light— both spiritual and historical.

Early criticism was that we were simply not fighting a Just War. Later, after much study and prayer, I reached another more personal conclusion: there are no Just Wars—only wars. We cannot love our enemies while destroying them. We are told in the Gospels that the “Way” is arduous. Peace activism is an example of how arduous it can be. Pacifism goes against our most basic instinct for self-preservation.

My purpose here is not to make a case for or against Just War. That is a personal decision each of us must make after much theological reflection. Study the topic in depth. Make it a subject for discussion (and not argument) in church settings. Pray for guidance. Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit. Then live the conclusion you reach, with God’s help.

In light of my own studies, prayer and reflection, and after spending over half my life as a soldier, quietly attempting to reconcile the Sermon on the Mount with the realities of war, “love your enemies” and “shock and awe” have become theologically incompatible. This has taken me down a new path—from soldier to peace activist. I struggle with it still, and know I am not alone. I pray for a day when the global community finds peaceful ways to settle disputes. And I pray for a day when the Church, throughout the world, will settle for nothing less.

May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

Michael Burroughs is a retired Army Reserve colonel and is a lay religious brother in the Anglican Order of Preachers (Dominicans). He serves the Diocese of Missouri as EfM coordinator and mentor, and with his wife, Jan, is co-convener of the diocesan chapter of Episcopal Peace Fellowship.