Peter Romersa

Yes, war is inevitable! The first so-called "classic" text in the "Great Books of the Western World" is the Illiad & the Odessy" by Homer. It is a tale of war. As long as we refuse to meditate, refuse to pray, and love our brethren, war we be forever. For example, I could make a list of all the people in history that have been executed and persecuted such as Hitler, Sadam Hussien, Bin Lauden, Laughner, Kasinsky, Manson, Pol Pot, Edee Amin. These are terrible people, whom we have nothing better to do with them than to kill them

Brian Whalen

YES - Conflict is a part of our existence. War is an Extreme form of conflict. So as long as We have one World, many people & a materialistic culture there will continue to be conflict and sometimes WAR.

Charlotte

No, I no longer think war is inevitable. Recent research is indicating that social instincts of cooperation and empathy are much more primal and basic than has been previously acknowledged, but have been suppressed (in non-nomadic cultures) since agriculture and the history of large-scale war (i.e. about 10,000 years). It could be that these previously suppressed instincts *are* already kicking in, in collective, spontaneous, and "selfish" recognition, in order to survive the very real threat of global warfare and annihilation.

Sergio

War will exist as long as individuals retain unique social identities. Because we value individualism and diversity as advanced intellectual beings, groups will always compete with one another for influence, power, land, resources, etc., and war will result when one side feels that they have exhausted all alternative means of achieving their goals.

Tom Riordan

the nice man on the radio asks
if war is inevitable or not.

far more wars are never waged
than are.

a few slip through the cracks
as a few inevitably do

but that particular handful
are only random exceptions.

it is random exceptions
that are of course inevitable.

Ayumi

Yes, inevitable, if we try.

Antonio Lauria

Not in general. "Human nature" can indeed permit violence, permit fighting, permit war -- but only undr very specific socia/political/economic/historical conditions or circumstances. These three, by the way, have to be distinguished from one another -- they are not the same, though they are too often conflated. So that's one issue that must be carefully parsed.

In the specific case of the United States, as currently structured, it is indeed almost inevitable. I would want to say more about this --- I teach a college course on "Militaries and Militarization" so ths is a topic which I like to discuss and hone my thinking about it. I would like to say more, and explore this issue further -- but that will have to wait.

Michael

War is inevitable because it takes only one psychopath or demigod to provoke one, and there are plenty of those on this planet, and always will be(eg Napolean, Hitler, Bin Laden). These are people who are capable of encouraging in otherwise peaceful people nationalistic and violent impulses. War is inevitable as long as it takes only one sociopath to provoke one.

Dennis Smith

War is a function of human brokenness and unchecked power. Here is my reflection, as a Presbyterian mission worker, based on my years of service in Guatemala (1974-2010):

DAMAGED GOODS (May, 2004)

I was the translator. The speaker was a Mayan pastor with deep roots in the spirituality of his people. The audience was a delegation representing several theological seminaries from North and Central America.
The delegation wanted to know what was happening in Guatemala. Almost eight years ago we had signed Peace Accords that ended 36 years of civil war. That war left more than 250,000 people dead or disappeared; more than a million displaced people. In the larger context, the delegation wanted to know what the pastor could say about Mayan cultural resistance. The Mayas had somehow survived 500 years of adversity and still maintained languages, cultures, a vibrant spirituality, a unique way of being in this world.
The Mayan pastor talked about rediscovering roots; he explored how hard and necessary that is after a time of massive brutality. How does one restore one’s humanity? How does one recover one’s connectedness with all things?
Being immersed in so much violence for so long, he said, breaks something inside us. Trust is shattered. Suspicion becomes a way of life. We become confused, numb, exhausted. And deep within us lingers a continuing spark of violence.
How do we restore balance? How do we re-build self-respect? What is the glue that helps us piece together our integrity? A starting point, he said, is to recall the stories told to us by our grandmothers.
But many, he said, have forgotten. They have been seduced by power, by the tyranny of consumerism. Inside, they are hollow, hurting, adrift.
Others have come to use the old stories for personal advantage. In the crass competitiveness of the moment, these bent ones have tapped into ancient spiritual power for vengeance, for personal gain, for partisan political ends.
Only a remnant have remained true to their vocation, to the awful, awe-filled calling to serve those in need in the name of God, whose name in Mayan languages is "Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth".
One professor wanted to talk about the problem of evil. Is there not a time when one must take up arms against the oppressor? He was like many of us. In the 80’s, much of his identity had become tied up in Central America’s struggles. In good faith, he, like many of us, had chosen to baptize the revolutions and sidestep their ambiguities. Now, he wanted to hear that the other side was evil.
The pastor did not answer.
Another posed a similar question.
Still no answer.
I noted to myself that the pastor did not trot out his credentials of suffering. I knew he had lost close relatives. I knew he had witnessed monstrous acts.
The pastor and I talked later. I asked him why he had chosen not to tell his own story. Such memories, he told me, should not be violated. To do so can trivialize the victims, can cheapen their ongoing presence as they accompany us on life’s journey.
We talked about living in a time of great violence. We agreed that in these circumstances, there are no good guys. Within each of us exists the capacity to do monstrous acts. That is who we are as human beings. To celebrate violence only lessens us, no matter what the justification. But victimhood also lessens us. To perpetrate violence breaks something inside us. Always. There are no exceptions.
So here we are, lessened: victims, witnesses, perpetrators. After so much brutality, our very humanity hangs by a thread. God’s restoring grace, God’s forgiveness, is our only hope.
In such struggles, my friend explained, it can be honorable, it can be necessary to say: “My time, for now, is done. I now must step aside because I am embittered, I have become hard. I sense within myself the lust for power. I sense within myself the temptation to say that ends justify means. Now I must attend to my own soul and seek healing for my family. I must help my community recover the gifts of tenderness and vulnerability. We must restore the fragile balance between past, present and future".
At these moments we must attend, with fear and trembling, to our own souls. Somehow, empowered by the Spirit of the Creator, we must rebuild community.
So how do we deal with continued violence and injustice? Do we just step aside and let it roll unchecked? No. The struggle to build the world imagined by God must continue. But we must know that the struggle will consume us. In our brokenness we will become even more broken.
In Guatemala, I have come to suspect that all of us, sooner or later, end up as damaged goods.
The lectionary texts this week speak of the hope of healing. John writes to a small, persecuted community of beliefs that is desperately trying to hold on to hope in the midst of persecution.
The church I grew up in expended enormous amounts of energy in explaining that all of this – City of God – with truth and light – would come some other place, some other time – just beyond tomorrow. But the early Christian community – to which John’s words spoke consolation and hope – understood that this Holy City was for them, in their time, in their place. It helped them carry on.
All of us, sooner or later, end up as damaged goods. That is why Jesus leaves us with an advocate, a comforter, a Healer: Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, spirit of wholeness – we are broken. We are capable of breaking others. That’s why Guatemalan poet Julia Esquivel states categorically:
“Because you can’t kill death with death
Sow life
And kill death with life.”
Holy Spirit, Spirit of Wholeness.
Restore within us tenderness and vulnerability.
Remind us that we are never alone.
We are accompanied by a company of saints, past and present.
All damaged. All broken. All forgiven.
All made whole, by the Grace of God.
Amen.

Michelle

Yes I believe war is inevitable. Even if democratic peace theory holds, there are plenty of resources and scarcity of them, mainly water, that would make it beneficial or certain states to go war. Even if all states move towards democracy, there is the question of what exactly counts as democracy because if illiberal democracies such as Russia are included then there is a chance that these illiberal democracies will war with each other.
Also, the fear factor needs to be taken into consideration. Since it is highly unlikely that all states will cooperate with each other and share accurate and full information a state, out of fear, can preemptively strike. Even if the recipient was not intending full out war the preemptive strike will trigger it.
I also think the resource that will be fought over the most is water since its scarcity is growing due to pollution and as long as this is the case war will be fought over this necessity.

Judy

Unfortunately, wars will always occur because of the struggles of people for food, water, money, power and land. Also a never-ending memory of hatreds and racism. People of good will try hard to bring different people together, but try as they will, there will always be people under the influence of power, money, religion and their own personal philosophy that cause them to hate and ultimately attack others. Listen to what goes on right here in this country. And some people or groups, by their behavior, bring on attacks on themselves. One can always point to a Hitler who had to be stopped.

Margaret

1)
The maturity of a species.
The era after the free she-s.

I am only (somewhat) facetious -
but what have the aggressors to teach us?

The wars we need:
Wangari Mathai, and the DRC's
struggles for trees, and for decency.

Forward perspective on current electives: don't settle for seconds for who secular's an invective; don't settle for second without stricture and checking.

Hit the deck, and get it done.
Deck someone, 'til we have won.

2) There are some lobbying for there to be a Dept. of Peace...gee, whodda thunk
...that took a long time to come up with...

3)See: ballet, "The Green Table", Kurt Jooss 1930's

4)I suspect this may be a failed planet if the utopians don't pull hard enough for warring from the opposite end of method - changing psyche's plane, with education, nourishment and creating new realization. There are many who make one wonder about the legitimacy of murder. There are behemoths. How do we manage?

Sean

"War is Inevitable" because human beings, throughout the history of time, have only been able to agree on one core issue: disagreement.

Organisms, by nature, are parasitic. Only through tough environmental challenges that arise, does cooperation exist. Look at the Chimpanzee (our ancestor) in Asia. For as many that help each other crack open coconuts to feed their family and tribe, there are just as many that would crack it over another's head to have more coconuts.

Organisms tend to evolve into group think because it is the simplest way to solve problems, pooling resources together to ensure survival. Group thin kcan also be incredibly destructive as organism, especiaslly humans, can be easily influenced due to fear and scarcity.

We live in a finite world. Finite worlds produce only one constant: scarcity. And scarcity, itself, provides only one constant: war.

John

Unless you ignore history and think something else is going to happen than what has happened since man was created, War is inevitable.

Joyce Mullan

I think conflict and disagreements are inevitable. I also think that in an attempt to be (really) secure people can end up trying to dominate others. But, words and actions, and outmaneuvering those who counsel war can be good techniques. I agree with Gandhi that violence can only get you so far and once you use violence it can be very hard to stop (as Hannah Arendt also noticed) and as we have seen all through out history. Parents, educators, and politicians can all encourage us to respect differences, remember our commonalities, find more creative solutions. It can end if we continue to try and never stop trying!

Roger

War will never disappear for it is founded in primeval instincts as fundamental as sex and hunger: innate drives for self-preservation as well as protection of home and sustenance. To this, greed to take what other human beings possess seems equally fundamental, as is the motivation to seek revenge. Homo sapiens have always – and forever will – compete for resources and sense threats, real or imagined. Competition engenders conflict, and disagreements on a large scale may lead, tragically, to outright battle. War may be initiated by an aggressor, or defensive in nature; it is still war in either case. The genesis of endemic human conflict is far more complex than the equivalent instincts of other animals. Human beings stand apart in their intellectual capacity to reason, imagine and justify destructive conflict. We also possess the unique ability to devise ever more devastating methods to kill our enemies. Let us admire the pacifists, who represent an unattainable ideal for the human animal.

Sebastian Polanco

War is here to stay.
Wars are the result of either greed,(exceptionalism),or internal economic pressures. Of course a balanced combination of these two is to be expected.The Spanish -American War and the preemptive wars launched by the USA and Israel in the Middle East are examples of one. The Manchurian war, the re-arming of Germany which ended in WWII are of the second kind. Wars are political tools used to distract from heavy internal social, economic or political problems; the Falkland Islands war, again the Israeli wars, the North Korean production of nuclear weapons and the upcoming war against Iran could be cited as examples of this. Spice-up any of those situations with beliefs such as,(or rather biased definitions of) Democracy, Freedom, or tags such as Pure Race, Chosen People, Infidel or Terrorist. Top it off with average stupidity and ignorance and there you have it. Eliminate all of the above and then there will be peace

Diane Barth

Unfortunately, I am afraid so, although I do wish it wasn't true. But thought you might find this conference interesting, if you don't know about it already:
Is War Inevitable? An Interdisciplinary Conference - Psychology Making a Difference. Here's the link: warconference@gmail.com
Best,
Diane Barth

Barry

The question is framed too vaguely. At present the answer is yes. For the (possibly distant) future, the answer is no. The difference is in education and, to some extent, economics. As education teaches people the advantages of non-warlike means of settling disputes, military responses will increasingly fall out of favor. Democratic forms of government will make this more likely. The role of economics is important because the more people rise out of poverty and into middle class lifestyles and have more to lose, the less likely they will support governments that pursue military solutions.

Hank

Yes, but we can minimize the occurance of war. So as long as humanity is unable control fear, anger, and greed people will always fight. How we control those emotions and resolve our disagreements diplomatically will be the true test of avoiding war. But, our history shows otherwise.

Henry Makovec
Coeur dAlene, ID