I think what we should all learn from the muslim cartoons scandal is that insulting someone so precious to so many people as the god of a major religion, is a very bad idea whether or not people get violent, because it is so hurtful to so many. Therefore, if we’re not going to do it to the muslims because of some muslim nutters, surely we shouldn’t do it to the Christians, becauuse insulting vast numbers of peace-loving people, just for the sake of being risque and getting away with it, is a very morally low thing to do. Hence, I agree with the pastor you quoted.

I’m not a Pacifist but I do oppose war. Rememberance Day is about political point-scoring. I had someone once ask me why I never wear a poppy and I told them; I’ve been to where the Somme took place. I’ve been to Tyne Cott and several German equivalents. I have had my moment of rememberance in a deeply personal way; spending 50p on a Poppy doesn’t make you ‘More Caring’ than I am. All I ever see is rememberance hi-jacked to feed into Nationalism or anti-militarism by politicians of all colours.

The fact of that matter is I, and many others, feel uncomfortable with the ’sacrifices’ of soldiers – often for goals I don’t agree with. I have no problem remembering the horror of war, and feeling the damage it inflicts; which should be channeled into anti-militarism not soldier hero-worship.

As JFK said ‘Only when the conciencious objector is held in the same esteem as the warrior will peace be possible’.

You’re right that strict pacifists aren’t the only opponents of war (I think you’re missing out on the complexity that the therm Pacifism has splintered into in recent years, even Hugh Bayley MP claims he’s a pacifist). But you can’t take for granted that people think war is a bad thing.

I don’t think the White Poppy Campaign is perfect, and it doesn’t take into account the views of anti-statist non-pacifists, of whom I know quite a few. It was partly for this reason that I chose to bang on about the first world war more than the second, as outside the statist agenda it was essentially pointless.

HfH in particular I really dislike because in donating to them I’m saying “yes, I think these people are heroes”. I think these people need help, but in no way do I view them as heroes.

* Improve and keep the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme under continual review
* Stop breaches of harmony guidelines (deployment rates) in order to reduce family separation and breakdown
* Provide bereaved Armed Forces families with independent legal advice during inquests
* Introduce an Independent Advisory Committee on Military Deaths
* Make NHS priority treatment work for veterans with injuries caused by Service in the Armed Forces
* Tackle poverty among older veterans and widows

So remind me, what were you complaining about? It is you, not the poppy appeal, that politicises armistice day. It is a day of remembrance, without any glorification that I can see, at which time a bunch of pacifists choose to make a grab for attention in order to whine “I told you so! I told you you war’s bad!”. It disgusts me. War’s bad, well duh: we’re remembering the people who died and so preserving the memory of the cost of war. If we removed that, we’d be more likely to become jingoistic, not less. The thing that most disgusts me about the white poppy crusade is that it is based on the lie that only pacifists can view war as bad. That is enormously insulting and arrogant, as well as being untrue.

Tell me, how many homeless veterans have you helped house? Until it exceeds the RBL’s figure, I’ll treat your post as posturing, which gives the lie to the dichotomy in your title.

There’s no taboo. You make a cheap, vulgar argument and you get called on it. That’s life, What’s more, the symbol of death does not glorify war, I’ve never heard a single person suggest that it does, who wasn’t pushing some pacifist agenda at the time. Your starting premise is thus completely unsupportable, so get outside and stop reading the ekklesia newsblog.