Karate and Christianity

by Father James Wyse, 4th Dan

Sometimes there is concern about what it means for a Christian to study karate. How can the study of a fighting art fit with Jesus’ injunction to turn the other cheek? There are various schools of thought on Christianity and self defense, and I shall try to explain a position that I think makes the most sense and fits into most historical Christian thought.

It says in Matthew 5:38-42: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”

That is potent stuff. The big questions are does Jesus’ teaching forbid self-defense? And, if not, what sort of demands do they make on us? No Christian can say that Jesus’ words make no demands on us, and to spin them until they are comfortable takes all the power out of our Christianity. Given our ability to deceive ourselves, we should approach the question carefully.

The Sermon on the Mount is about setting up a new vision of how to live rather than detailed set of do’s and don’ts. At the time there was a deep sense of the importance, indeed the necessity of revenge, and it would often lead to a cycle, escalating with each turn. If someone did you wrong, you had no choice; you had to strike back. Jesus frees us to new possibilities and a higher purpose.

Jesus is calling us to seek the good of all people, even if they don’t deserve it. We look at Matthew 5:43-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

There is a command to an unconditional intent to do good to all. Treat people not merely according to what they deserve, but according to the greatest good. This leads to the question of what happens when there is a conflict of goods? From the time of Augustine, most Christians have recognized that there are times when defending against an unjust aggressor takes precedence over our duty to be kind to an unjust aggressor. Besides, we know that letting people get away with crimes is not necessarily good for them. Every parent knows (or learns the hard way) that letting their kids get away with everything is not going to help them in the long run.

If we take these words of Jesus as literal commands, they would not just forbid the use of physical force, but any resistance. Locking doors, using passwords or virus protection are methods of resistance to evil. Oh, and forget about calling the police. One would not even have to steal from us, merely ask. There can be witness value in refusing to fight, showing unconditional love, but I would suggest that it does not always serve Christian witness. Remember the movie “Witness” with Harrison Ford? Our hero was living for a while with an Amish community, which did not believe in self defense. Every time they went into town, local bullies would harass them, knowing there would be no resistance. Thinking that Harrison Ford was Amish, they began to harass him too. He was not passive, and somebody got a bloody nose. This gave the audience the great satisfaction of seeing bullies get their comeuppance, but I think there is a more serious point: while I have great respect for the Amish and their willingness to suffer harm rather than cause it, in cases such as this, their passivity encourages evil rather than quells it. The does anyone care to guess if the incident caused the bullies to rethink their behavior?

I heard the story of a theology professor who said that he would not use violence even if his sister were getting raped. Several of the women in the class responded, “I’m glad I’m not your sister.” There was a Dilbert comic strip in which Dogbert said he wanted everyone to renounce fighting. Dilbert thought that was a beautiful sentiment. Dogbert walked away saying, “Then I could conquer the planet with a butter knife.” If we chose a pacifist response to villains, some might hope that eventually the demonstrating of our love would overcome them. I would suggest that most of our experience with people who are unimpressed by such things points to pacifism leading to a world ruled by predators.

Some people would fight expecting you to fight back. To refuse would end the game. They think that everyone is like them, and to react as they do not expect might give them pause. Some attack because they want a passive victim. They look upon others as game animals. To give in is to reinforce the pathology. The question becomes what will be most likely to lead to peace? That is going to be a judgment call, and not always clear. We are called to give the benefit of the doubt to avoiding harm, but there will be times when that doubt is overcome. The greater victory would be to overcome evil with kindness, but we have to decide if that is a reasonable hope. We have a choice, and we are responsible for that choice. We are not merely pawns of the situation, but free to decide what is the greatest good.

Karate is a way of peace. If you read the autobiography of Gichin Funakoshi (and if you haven’t, do not delay), he tells the story of a time he was on his way to class and three thugs started pushing him around. He protested that he was so small it would be no challenge to beat up on him. They demanded money, and he offered them the food he was bringing for the shrine. They took it and went off, never knowing how lucky they were. His teacher praised him more for that than for all his excellent technique. I think Jesus would have approved too.

Karate training helps us be calm and confident in a fight. This would help us keep our anger and fear overcoming our better judgment, and be better able to choose a peaceful alternative. Being calm and confident may also help deter a bully who might sense that fighting us will not be as much fun as he hoped. Karate students also have experience taking their lumps, so they could keep control even if things started to get physical but not past the point of no return.

Having skill in the martial arts makes the choice not to fight a much greater gift. It is one thing to decide not to fight back if we couldn’t expect to accomplish anything anyway. Its another to have a good chance to clobber someone, but choose not to for higher reasons. We read in the story of Jesus’ arrest in Matthew 26:51-53: “ And behold, one of those who accompanied Jesus put his hand to his sword, drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels?’” Jesus emphasized he was not giving in to the inevitable. He was choosing his path, and even in the garden was not a helpless victim. He gave himself as a gift.

The martial arts, properly practiced, lead to greater personal maturity, and that helps us see the greater goods and the bigger picture. We know that our highest victories on not physical, but in hearts and minds and lives. We know that the goals we seek are greater that a given moment of anger. Using force to stop an aggressor will not win the battle over evil, but protect the arena in which we can do good to people. It is by doing good to people that we point them to the Greatest Good.