Today we remember our fallen heroes.

Here in the UK it's Remembrance Sunday, the day when we remember the fallen from the wars of the past and also remember those who are involved in fighting the present day wars. I believe that war is always absolutely evil. Whatever our history, no Christian theology can glorify the experience of war. We can dress it up as a ‘crusade’; present it as a sanctified moral endeavour but violence will never be the chosen way of our God, or of his Son, Jesus Christ.It’s true that war can be justified by arguing that it’s the only way to preserve higher values such as the protection of our freedoms and our sovereignty from the assault of an aggressor.

Throughout the land there will be Services of Remembrance held at War Memorials such as the Cenotaph shown here, where wreaths in memory of the fallen will be laid by their comrades and by local dignitaries and representatives. Each service will be special, evoking many memories, painful, sad and proud, of friends and relatives who paid the ultimate sacrifice. Whenever I see such memorials I find myself checking out the names, and connecting with the sacrifice represented. I wonder in what circumstances did those concerned lay down their lives?

Today we also ask ourselves whether war is a justified response to potential threat, in order to pre-empt aggression. The question focuses especially on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the potential threat implied by Iran, although perhaps it’s an inevitable part of globalisation. What are our responses when alien ideologies and atrocities in other places seem to threaten here?

How we justify war has a direct impact on how we view the sacrifices we ask of people in military service. How do we justify the sacrifice we ask of such individuals and their families if we’re unsure of the basis of that sacrifice? It seems self-evident that if we devalue the moral principles which hold us back from war then we devalue the sacrifices which are made, and subsequently we devalue human society as a whole. This is not something which Christians, or indeed anyone else in our society, should easily ignore.