Stanley Hauerwas AYR Interview
“On moral fragmentation in war” was a promo video by Stanley Hauerwas for the 2011 After the Yellow Ribbon conference at Duke University. Interview by Logan M. Isaac, videography by Pilar Timpane. For the unedited interview, see here.
Transcript
Having to envision the possibility that the youngster who doesn't look more than 12 or 13 is walking down the street and they may try to kill you, and so you must be ready to try to kill them. I think that's a moral injury. I think most of us are not prepared to think about what it means to kill.
That leaves a scar because there's a silence to it that you can't articulate in a way that is shareable. Because there's a shame to it that you don't quite know what to do with. And I think people are damaged by that, even if they haven't killed anyone. I think the very fact that they have to envision the possibility that they will kill someone, is not something that any of us know how to envision.
We need to start being serious about as the church, to be able to, to say to our young people, if you feel called to the military, you need to undergo some very strong forms of discipline that's part of the church prior to even entering the church needs to be able to be the kind of community that's at least as morally serious as the military. If we are to be any kind of alternative to it.
The Marines really are able to offer moral transformation of kids that come from very doubtful backgrounds. Who then through basic training, have their lives transformed and they then have trouble relating to the wider society. Now I wish we, Christians were at least that interesting and were able to do that Christian practice in the past where those that had participated in warfare had to undergo penance and reconciliation. Now that that's gone. When it existed, there was the possibility that you could bring your silence to God. So the first thing that the church does is listens.
We want to be present to you and when you want to tell us what is hard to tell, we want to listen. And part of listening may be helping those who have trouble telling us what they want to tell, become articulate by providing a language that otherwise might not be there, such as, " This is a confession." The language of confession is a powerful speech act, that you don't have to feel that you've got anything to hide.
