Few could surely have been unimpressed by the dignified way Aung San Suu Kyi returned to public life following her years of captivity. The lack of bitterness, unforgiveness, and recrimination in her words set Suu Kyi apart from so many in today’s world. How easy it would be for her to call for a violent revolt against the regime that kept her under house arrest. Instead she calls for face to face talks and reconciliation.

I cannot help but compare her actions and the potential developments in Burma with what has happened both in Afghanistan and most especially Iraq. Now that WMD are no longer mentioned, it is freedom that is usually cited as a good enough reason for taking military action. To win freedom from the hands of evil dictators and set both countries on the path towards democracy is seen as a worthy cause to justify the killing of tens of thousands of innocent people. And yet years down the line the situation in both those nations is still such a mess on so many levels.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a Buddhist, a religion with a strong emphasis on peace and non-violence. But could the peaceful circumstances of her release, coming as it did during what was Remembrance weekend in the ‘Christian’ western world, be interpreted as the stones crying out? Should the church – that has worked so closely with the state in many countries to justify war – be taking Suu Kyi’s freedom as a sign that there is a different way of doing things?

It was Jesus himself who used the phrase about the stones crying out their praise for him should his followers be silenced. The words are attributed to him by Luke in the passage that tells the story of his ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem – an event that is dripping with imagery about a humble king bringing peace to the city. As his disciples shout their praise the Pharisees call on Jesus to rebuke them, presumably because their shouts include messianic titles. ‘I tell you,’ says Jesus, ‘if these become silent, the stones will cry out.’ Following this Jesus weeps for Jerusalem in anticipation of her failure to recognise the Prince who has brought her true peace.

There are some who would argue that the church has for too long provided moral cover for the state in its use of military power. Ever since the days of Augustine – Christendom’s theologian – and his ‘just war’ theory, the church has been too ready to defend the use of violence. Is it not possible that Aung San Suu Kyi – not a believer, of course, merely a Buddhist stone – is shouting for a different way?