Seventy years ago today the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. I believe this is the darkest day in the history of our country.
In what amounts to one of the largest terror attacks in world history, our military set off a weapon that instantly vaporized thousands of unwarned civilians. Over the next days, weeks, months, and even years many thousands more died of burns, radiation sickness, and various cancers. The suffering was beyond comprehension.
For being a country that prides itself on being "the home of the brave," on August 6th, 1945 we took the cowardly way out.
I understand the arguments in favor of dropping the bomb on Japan; I disagree with them all. NOTHING Japan did or could have done would have ever justified our using a weapon of this magnitude on an unsuspecting civilian population. It was a hideous, wretched act on our part. To make matters worse, we did it again three days later at Nagasaki.
The United States has done some good things in its history. It has also done some bad. What happened on August 6th, 1945 was the worst. May it never happen again. We must never forget what we did that day.
4 comments:
I understand your pacifist view and agree that Jesus lived and taught us to turn the other cheek. But Paul gives a deeper understanding of government in Romans 13:
Every [a]person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except [b]from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore [c]whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for [d]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.
America exists because it was "established" by God.
"For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, BUT FOR EVIL."
The "evil" perpetrated on America by Japan - beginning at Pearl Harbor" - was dealt with is a way that may repulse you, but in fact, saved many more lives than were killed by those two bombs. And those bombs also quickly put an end to the evil aggression of an ungodly government.
I'm assuming you would rather have had that war linger on for who knows how long with the deaths of who knows how many more people on both sides.
As far as being the "darkest day in the history of the US," maybe you simply forgot about a Supreme Court decision 42 years ago in America that has resulted in the deaths of over 57 MILLION innocent babies!
An act of war that killed an estimate 250,000 (Highest estimate of deaths by both bombs), as opposed to an act of a court in peace-time that has killed over 57 MILLION babies to date is not worth the comparison.
About every three months 250,000 babies are KILLED! That's EVERY three months - non-stop.
If it took you 5 minutes to read this comment, 10 babies were just killed.
Here is something that you may consider when thinking about a "dark day in America"
Abortions per year: 1.058 million
Abortions per day: 2,899
Abortions per hour: 120
1 abortion every 30 seconds
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Neil,
Thanks for your comment.
My position is not pacifistic, but one of non-violence. They are similar but not quite the same.
As for government, I do believe a secular state must defend itself. As for WWII, I have little trouble with the actions of our military in general (although the Tokyo firebombing went over the line).
The atomic bombs far surpassed anything that can be justified biblically. We vaporized thousands of civilians. I can think of no argument that adequately defends this. We cannot allow pragmatic arguments make us think that the slaughter of non-combatants is O.K.
Perhaps a little perspective on World War II may be helpful. The war lasted close to six (6) years. Over 47,000,000 (47 million) civilians and combatants were killed. That averages to 21,461 per day for the 2190 days of conflict. Now battle statistics tell us that on some days far fewer than 21,461 were killed and on other days many more than 21,461 were killed.
For many reasons (and we will not go into this but it started with the body counts of the Vietnam War)the modern mind cannot accept the death of a great number of people on a single day. 80,000 were killed in the bombing attack on Hiroshima. Another 80,000 were killed in the Nagasaki bombing. Did you know that a 9 March 1945 raid of Tokyo using the M-69 incendiary bomb killed 100,000 Japanese?
So here is how it seems to work to the modern mind. It is okay to be engaged in combat operations and kill 50 people a day for 25 years, but it would be totally unacceptable to drop a bomb that would kill 400,000 people on a single.
What is cavattack?
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