1. The work of Christian Peacemaking Lesson 3: Should Christians fight in wars?

2. Who am I? Can you identify any of the following people from their pictures?

3. Who am I? Saint Thomas Aquinas

4. Who am I? Pope Benedict XV

5. Who am I? Fr George Zabelka

6. Who am I? Bert Brocklesby

7. Who am I? St Martin of Tours

8. Who am I? The Unknown Soldier

9. What links these people?

10. All of them can help us answer this question… Should Christians fight in wars?

11. Pope Benedict XV was Pope during the First World War. St Martin of Tours was a soldier who became a Christian.

12. The Unknown Soldier: a soldier of the First World War Bert Brocklesby: a Christian who refused to fight in the First World War

13. St Thomas Aquinas: a priest and theologian who developed the Just War theory Fr George Zabelka: the priest who blessed the atomic bomb

14. Thinking about: the stories of these six men, the teachings of Jesus, and the example of other Christians you know of, Do you think Christians should ever fight in wars?

15. Christian work for peace today During the two world wars when conscription was a reality and young men were compelled to join the military, Christian resistance to war was realised by conscientious objection, taking on non-combatant roles, and campaigning for peace. How might Christians in the UK today continue to resist war?

16. Lesson 3: Should Christians fight in wars? Credits Images of St Thomas Aquinas, Bert Brocklesby, and Pope Benedicat XV are in the public domain. Image of Fr Zabelka is from the film Zabelka: The Reluctant Prophet (http://vimeo.com/48820359) Images of St Martin of Tours and the Unknown Warrior are used with permission under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version All other images and materials are by Pax Christi UK