I will be thinking about how a confession of faith -- such as the Apostles' Creed, used in the Christian Church -- helps us think through our response to a problem like that of drone killing and drone surveillance. Since I was brought up in the Lutheran tradition, I am especially attentive to Luther's gloss on the Creed: "my Lord ... has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won [delivered] me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death ....". Can one rely on one's confession of faith to make sense of, and respond to, a situation such as the drones problem? In the light of a problem such as that of drones, is one's confession of faith further illuminated and strengthened? (Read my further thoughts about the Apostles' Creed as a focus for thinking about drones.)
Of course, the Apostles' Creed is but a single example of a confession of faith. I'm grateful to Newland Smith for reminding us that we should be thinking about the entire rich heritage of credal statements/confessions (see, for instance, the Baptismal Covenant of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer), as well as the way they find expression in covenants on justice issues (including examples such as "Covenanting for Justice in the economy and the earth," and Kairos Palestine 2009).
And, as Rev. Loren McGrail points out, beyond formal confessional statements and covenants, it is desirable to consider scripture more broadly.
For me, some of the key questions are:
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the exercise of authority to order killings by drone?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the injury to innocent parties ("collateral damage") in drone attacks?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the way drones place people under increased surveillance?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the way people engaged in warfare are distanced from those they injure?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the responsibility of the citizens of a nation for drone attacks carried out in their name?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the proposition that violence can be pre-empted by acts of "defensive" violence?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the posture we should take to drones in their roles as new and "advanced" technology?
MORE ON THESE QUESTIONS
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the exercise of authority to order killings by drone?
There is a great deal about our modern life that supports the myth of legitimately-conferred authority. The carrying out of killings with drones provokes us to put the question under a microscope: does the authority really exist for those actions? Is it something that I can support, in light of my confession of faith?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the injury to innocent parties ("collateral damage") in drone attacks?
We are inevitably asked to accept injury to innocents as an unavoidable consequence of a goal that is considered very important. Assuming for the moment that we accept the "very important goal" ... what does a confession of faith clarify about collateral damage? (See Ending Drone Killing: The Spirit Is Moving.)
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the way drones place people under increased surveillance?
There is a tremendous range of opinion about the desirability and permissibility of the surveillance under which, more and more, we all live. Is surveillance -- or opposition thereto -- a matter of faith?
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the way people engaged in warfare are distanced from those they injure?
Obtaining "distance" from where war and injury is happening seems like a desirable objective, and drones have been championed precisely because they put members of the U.S. military (and, all the more so, the rest of us) at the greatest possible distance from where the actually injury is taking place. What does a confession of faith suggest about this view? (See Drones vs. Up-Close-and-Personal Reality.)
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the responsibility of the citizens of a nation for drone attacks carried out in their name?
It is a condition of modern life that there are a few very narrow slices that any one of us is able to experience directly; most of human experience is "out there" somewhere, and we only have a very tenuous relationship to it. When drone killings are being done in our name, can we look the other way? Or do we bear responsibility? Does a confession of faith help answer these questions? (See Drones: Am I Responsible?.)
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the issues surrounding the proposition that violence can be pre-empted by acts of "defensive" violence?
Does a confession of faith help clarify whether we can espouse absolute, unequivocal non-violence? (See: Is God Urging Us to "Risk It"?)
* How does a confession of faith help clarify the posture we should take to drones in their roles as new and "advanced" technology?
What do we need, other than an open mind, when we consider whether we approve of technology? Does our faith really have anything to say about it?
Image source: Barewalls.com
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