So what is worth dying for these days? Is there a role for modern Anabaptists to discuss, and then act upon, this in the global family of faith? Is injustice anywhere a threat to justice everywhere, as MLK so clearly stated, and if so what do we do about it?

There are modern Anabaptist martyrs, most recently that have been written about by EMM. I mostly think about this in the context of Zimbabwe and the immense suffering of our brothers and sisters there. Zimbabweans are dying in their struggle for justice and as a result of injustice. Should they die alone, as the rest of us respect international borders more than God’s Kingdom allegiance?

Since unfortunately the African continent, by almost all objective analysis, contains the worlds most unjust places at this time, I wonder what might African Anabaptist leaders develop if they could come together to develop a CPT-ish organization for themselves that could, at their discretion, invite participation from the Global Anabaptist family of faith. Is there any group that is having these discussions or is there an appropriate forum that anyone knows of?

I agree that York emphasizes the “marvel of battle” especially in recounting the early Christian martyrdoms. Yet I disagree that “the good guys and bad guys are unambiguously decided.” In fact, York points out that during 16th-century, “being a martyr was possible only if one died for true doctrine.” After reading the book, I was able to better understand the motivations of Lutheran and Reformed Christian leaders killing Anabaptists, whom they saw as a threat to the church. York’s book helped me question whether early Anabaptists were martyrs and to see the moral complexity of my spiritual ancestors’ antagonists.

True doctrine is also the question in whether or not Oscar Romero is a martyr. Romero, the former Catholic archbishop of El Salvador, was assassinated in 1980 for preaching against the oppression of the poor in his nation. That oppression was taking place in the context of Central American conflicts in which Marxists and right-wing groups fought each other for power.

The likely reason Romero is not a canonical martyr for the Catholic hierarchy is because of belief by some in Rome that Romero was a proponent of Latin American liberation theology, which popes John Paul II and Benedict considered to be Marxist.

Nothing I have read or seen indicates Romero was a Marxist sympathizer, except if one believes Marxist ideology at points resembles the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To this Anabaptist, Romero was a martyr who died for true doctrine. Still, it is possible to see Romero as a martyr without viewing Catholic leaders through a Da Vinci Code-style lens.

To name someone a martyr is not necessarily to ignore the complexity of those who killed the martyr, but a reminder that what one counts as true doctrine will in some contexts have a high cost.

In Pan’s Labyrinth the heroine chooses not fight and instead lives in her own world, a world that those who are engaged in conflict refuse to see. A world with a past and a future that promise peace.

Hellboy II creates a villian who you sympathize with, a society willing to die out to prevent a war, and a heroine that takes her own life to prevent further bloodshed.

Both stories, especially the second, really begin to question just how much killing another human being is actually worth.

I’m not familiar with Oscar Romero nor his religious or political views. Yet, when we are willing to die for our beliefs we become a martyr for something, the question is “What?”.