Japan Bombings
I recently read a quote from a guy named George Zebelka. Zabelka was the Catholic chaplain who administered mass to the bombers who dropped the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. He later came to repent of not speaking up about the bombing of civilians. Having been thinkig about the topic of violence lately, this quote seems fitting. Here is his quote:
”To fail to speak to the utter moral corruption of the mass destruction of civilians was to fail as a Christain and as a priest as I see it…I was there, and I’ll tell you that the operational moral atmosphere in the church in relation to mass bombing of enemy civilians was totally indifferent, silent, and corrupt at best-at worst it was religously supportive of these activities by blessing those who did them…Catholics dropped the A-bomb on top of the largest and first Catholic city in Japan. One would have thought that I, as a Catholic priest, would have spoken out against the atomic bombings of nuns. (Three orders of Catholic sisters were destroyed in Nagasaki that day.) One would have thought that I would have suggested that as a minimal standard of Catholic morality, Catholics shouldn’t bomb catholic children. I didn’t. I, like the Catholic pilot of the Nagasaki plane, “The Great Artiste,” was heir to a Christianity that had for seventeen hundred years engaged in revenge, murder, toruture, the pursuit of power, and perogative violence, all in the name of the Lord.
I walked through the ruins of Nagasaki right after the war and visited the place where once stood the Irakami Cathedral. I picked up a piece of censer from the rubble. When I look at it today I pray God forgives us for how we have distorted Christ’s teachings and destroyed his world by the dostortion of that teaching. I was the Catholic chaplain who was there when this grotesque process that began with Costantine reached its lowest point-so far.”
Monte said,
March 4, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Wow, that is an important confession. America has yet to come to grips with this. I remember that the officer who ordered the firebombings just before this said, “If we lose the war, I’ll be tried for war crimes.”
We still hear much about how many American lives this supposedly saved. But Japan was defeated – and it is an island nation without adequate natural resources. It could easily have been blockaded. Alas, America would settle for nothing less that unconditional surrender. Negotiated peace was not good enough; total dominance was the prize America must have.
Even if the invasion had been necessary, the argument for it is one we would not accept from any other nation: that hundreds of thousands of helpless mothers, children, and old people should be roasted in order to reduce resistance to an invading army. It is terrorism. It is Genghis Khan.
Perhaps the most grievous result of Japanese cruelty is the way Americans drank the same poison, and accrued the same guilt.
JTH said,
March 4, 2008 at 11:44 pm
People have forgotten the cruelty of Japans army inside of China. It was was on par with the Nazis. Stalin was ready to march in and take over Japan. Our dropping the bombs made Stalin stop and reconsider. If Stalin would have taken over Japan, there would have been much more overall suffering than the two Atomic Bombs we dropped. Stalin only respected power and force. Truman took full personal responsibility for dropping those bombs, Truman fought in the trenches in WW 1. Truman knew the hell that war was. It is easy for “idea people” to look back and criticize decisions of the past based on emotional feelings.
George Zebelka seems to care only about the Catholics killed. I appreciate his acknowledgment of the 1700 years of atrocities by the Catholic Church. What use would Jesus, the simple carpenter, Son of God have for a ritualistic censer? Jesus has forgiven your sins Mr. Zebelka..
darthben said,
March 5, 2008 at 2:10 am
I don’t think we have to paint Japan as innocent to be able to acknolegde what wrongs we have done. Countries will likely never stop using violence to oppose violence, but I don’t think the church should be silent during such displays of violence-whether they are performed by Japan, Russia, or the US.
I think that the church needs to find a way to fight violence with love-because I don’t think that anyone else is going to do it. I think that fighting violence with violence is a lost cause-I know many see it as a responsibility that we have to fulfill, and I understand where they’re coming from-but I think it’s a lost cause, and to me the New Testament teaches avoidance of violence for the sake of self sacraficial love-I don’t see any sentiment there to use violence as a means to spread justice.
Also, although I don’t think that emotions should be the only basis for decisions, we can not nor should we try to eliminate emotions from the ordeal-if we do that we are just animals, or robots.
DarthBen said,
March 6, 2008 at 2:15 am
I think an important question concerning this issue is : Does the end justify the means? As anything justified to end a war like WWII? And if the end does not justify the means, another question is:Putting aside the good that may have come from the Japan bombings, what is the difference between the Muslim terrorist killing innocent American civilians on 911 and America killing innocent civilians in the Japan bombings?
Monte said,
March 8, 2008 at 1:15 am
JTH, I have not forgotten the cruelties of the Japanese, the Nazis, or the guys on our side, the Russians. But the most lamentable result of cruelty is how it convinces me I have a right to be cruel. It tricks me into becoming what I despise.
As to the Russians marching into Japan, we simply don’t know. What we know for sure is that Americans killed hundreds of thousands – perhaps millions – of mostly old folks, women, and children, in the A-bomb incidents and the (worse) incendiary bombing of Japanese cities during the month before. 8 million were homeless. Gen. LeMay admitted that “if we lose the war, I’ll be tried for war crimes.”
It’s less logical than we like to admit, suggesting that the roasting of hundreds of thousands of moms and babies had an overall humanitarian effect.