Re: “Group wants sainthood for Ben Salmon, World War I draft resister from Denver,” July 12 news story.
Ben Salmon was sent to prison for refusing to fight World War I on religious grounds. Now a group of Catholic peace activists is calling on the church to elevate him to sainthood. (Photo provided by Journal of the Catholic Peace Fellowship)
As a Catholic, I read with interest attempts by peace activists to elevate Ben Salmon, a Denver pacifist who refused to fight in World War I, to sainthood for his stance opposing the war.
Salmon wrote to President Wilson, “The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ is unconditional and inexorable. … When human law conflicts with divine law, my duty is clear. Conscience, my infallible guide, impels me to tell you that prison, death, or both, are infinitely preferable to joining any branch of the Army.”
Not only should Salmon not be considered for sainthood, but his erroneous quote of the Sixth Commandment must be clarified. The King James Bible translates the original Hebrew as “Thou shall not kill,” yet the original Hebrew (of which the Ten Commandments were written) does not say, “Do not kill.” It says, “Do not murder.” Both English and Hebrew have two words for taking a life (“kill” or “harag”; and “murder” or “ratsach”). The difference is enormous and is apparently lost on Salmon and his supporters. Itap why killing in self-defense is not “murder,” nor would we say someone “murdered” a fly.
If Catholic peace activists want to elevate anyone to sainthood, they should consider Martin Treptow and read his moving words titled “My Pledge.”
Therese Roth, Denver
This letter was published in the July 19 edition.My pastoral experience in Indianapolis in the early 1970s with draft resisters and then parishioners in Nicaragua during the Contra War of the 1980s makes me appreciative of Ben Salmon’s biblically based objection to participating in war.
The 2nd Vatican Council (1962-65) validated conscientious objection to all wars; the U.S. bishop promulgated this teaching in 1971 as resistance to the Vietnam War peaked. But Salmon, despite being one of the Catholic faithful, did not receive any support from his church as did Vietnam-era young men who said no to war. He was a war-resisting pioneer. He suffered for it, as prophets often do.
It would put the Mile High City on the ecclesiastical map and secure a place in my heart if its Catholic residents join the campaign to petition the Vatican to consider his beatification.
Fr. Bernard Survil, Greensburg, Pa.
This letter was published in the July 19 edition.In and of itself, Ben Salmon’s refusal to fight in World War I based on his religious convictions would not qualify him for sainthood. If that were the case, any soldier who chose to fight would be precluded from sainthood. Salmon could very well be a saint. The question is, did his life exemplify a conformity to the will of God as taught by Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible? Was his life one of exemplary virtue? Have there been miracles of healing based on praying for his intercession? All these questions would have to be examined, hence the lengthy process when there is a cause for canonization.
Kathy Cain, Yampa
This letter was published in the July 19 edition.
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