VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1359288426|CONTENT|Early on in its existence Christianity allowed itself to be hi-jacked by Rome and its military machine.  From then on, it became part of the establishment, of government, power and oppression.  In this way, Christianity ensured its survival, but its message of non-violence, of support to the poor and oppressed was fatally compromised.  Throughout the centuries certain Christian groups like the Quakers have tried to break free and return to the original message of Jesus, but mainstream Christianity remains entrenched in militarism – one only has to watch the Remembrance Day parades, visit cathedrals with their military chapels or note the propensity of members of the Royal to sign up to military service to become convinced of that.

People who choose to become army chaplains presumably are able to live with the compromise and tension between the words of their prophet and their support of military personnel.  They probably think they are doing a necessary job, and would argue that like the rest of us they have to live in the real world.  But although I am not a pacifist myself, or a Christian, I am still inclined to think that members of the Society of Friends embody something closer to what ‘real’ Christianity is, or was, supposed to be about.
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