Oppenheimer and the Little Rock Nine

Last week, Lorna and I saw the movie Oppenheimer which is in theaters.  This is the wonderfully told story of the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos in the United States led by Robert Oppenheimer.  This marked the beginning of the Nuclear Arms Race which is still being run by the world today.  I also heard an interview with one of the Little Rock Nine who were the children who broke the segregation of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.  These events both took place in the post WWII United States.  But beyond that I saw some interesting connections I want to explore. 

The development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos unleashed the unimaginable destructive effect of atomic energy, which unfortunately was not unimaginable for the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who were obliterated by the first and second (and hopefully last) atomic bombs used in war.  The Little Rock Nine also set off a different type of explosion in the battle for integration which is still being fought in the United States today.  With the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, the nuclear arms beast has been awakened and has raised its monstrous head after slumbering in relative obscurity for many years. 

The specific issue that I want to explore in these two events is non-violence.  The actual and potential for violence in the atomic bomb is unfortunately crystal clear.  This is best demonstrated by the quote by Oppenheimer from The Bhagavad Gita, on observing the explosion of the test bomb at Los Alamos, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”    The development of the atomic bomb by the Oppenheimer team at Los Alamos was justified morally because the Allies and specifically the United States was in a race to develop one before the Nazis.  In effect, Oppenheimer believed that the ultimate effect of having the atomic bomb was uncertain but if the Nazis had it there was no doubt that it would be used in unimaginable ways.  There was, in his mind, no question that the United States had to develop the bomb first.  In this, as in the whole Allied effort in WWII, the use of violence was not an option.  The option was too horrible to imagine.

In the case of the Little Rock Nine and desegregation writ large, the use of non-violence as a strategy was employed by those working to bring about desegregation.  The member of the Nine who was interviewed worked to promote non-violence throughout her life.  On the other hand, those opposed to desegregation did not hesitate to use violence to fight against it and for segregation.  The leader in the non-violence approach was Martin Luther King Jr.  There was no question that this was a powerful moral force in moving the United States to be more desegregated and a more perfect Union that many believe in.  The question that arises from this is, when is it appropriate to use non-violence as a strategy and when isn’t it?

In considering this issue, which I have pondered over the years, I know that as a Christian I am called to uphold non-violence in my approach to others.  However, I believe that it has its limitations.  Gandhi is the example of someone who used non-violence in efforts to free India from the yoke of English colonialism.  This proved that non-violence can achieve its goals.  But I have also pushed back against this.  I, and I am sure many, have posited that Gandhi, and his followers would not have succeeded if they were opposing the Nazis or other totalitarian regimes which would have had no compunction against using every weapon available to them.  Would India ultimately have achieved independence in the long run in such a situation through non-violence means.  I don’t have the answer to that, but I am certain that it Hitler would not have voluntarily given India its independence because of a non-violent opposition.

As a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ who showed the power of non-violence, I can only conclude that we must give priority to non-violence as the moral option.  However, there are times when the violence must be used to resist evil.  The question is, when is it justified?  There is no easy or clear answer to that, that I can see.

May you be blessed to never face that choice on your journey.