Thread by @jarrodmckenna

As someone who seeks to be deeply committed to Jesus’ “love your enemies” Way, it can be difficult to navigate #anzacday. I too have family that have served in war. I too want to remember so it never happens again. #LestWeForget

Yet when real lament is fashioned into a form of nationalism that contributes to the unquestioning support for future wars, my baptism demands I cannot abide it. But we must lament. One thing we can do, must do, is tell the truth. #LestWeForget

So lest we forget what historian Henry Reynolds called “the most forgotten war”. In 2013 Reynolds suggested 20,000-30,000 people were killed between 1788-1934 in a war that most Australians don’t know about, and it happened right here. #LestWeForget

New historical research shows that number to be conservative. According to two historians, Raymond Evans and Robert Ørsted-Jensen more Aboriginal Australians were killed in Queensland *alone* than Australians died in World War I. #LestWeForget

To be exact, 65,800 people killed in Queensland. 62,000 are thought to have died in WWI. If this is just Queensland, can you imagine continent-wide the horror? We must not forget. I don’t want to oversimplify over 250 different language groups and cultures. #LestWeForget

Some of the these conflicts were wars, brave warriors armed with the honour of traditional weapons versed rifles. Let me make it plain, these massacres are unquestionably genocide. #LestWeForget

Often pacifist Peoples defenceless against technologically “advanced” ways of murdering others made in the image of God. HG Wells wrote “The War of the Worlds” after imagining what if Martins did unto Europeans what the European settlers did unto the First People’s of Tasmania.

Famously in 1938 the radio play it caused panic as listeners thought it was real. Turns out, It was. Spiritually there is no healing without remembering, lamenting and repenting. #LestWeForget

Any history lesson, any school excursion, and ANZAC service that doesn’t tell the truth of these soldiers and civilians killed does not contribute to the healing of this nation. @yassmin_a was right. Today, tell the truth. All the truth. So help us God. #LestWeForget.