It’s no big secret. Conservative Christians (fundamentalists) stand foursquare behind President George W. Bush in his so-called war on terror. They have their reasons.
In his incisive article, The Christian Case for War, Stephen W. Carson tells us that these are some reasons he has gleaned from his talks with people. It is those reasons that he lists in his article, together with his personal refutation of them.
With due respect to Stephen Carson, I will list the same reasons, and follow them up with my own personal response to them.
l. America’s role in the world has been overwhelmingly positive. Maybe once true, but no more. America is now seen by other world powers as arrogant, aggressive and malevolent.
2. The United State is not an empire. Tell that to the 150 nations where we have troops stationed, and insipidly demand that they “do it our way, or else.”
3. When the U.S. has acted abroad it is to stop evil regimes. Where did we get the wisdom, or the right, to decide who is evil and who is not? Moreover, many “evil” regimes were (and are) supported by us. Saddam Hussein is a prime example. So we are not as lily-white as we seem.
4. We should give Bush the benefit of the doubt about the Iraqi war because he knows more about what’s going on than we do. Bush knows nothing about war. He avoided going to war, he started a needless war with the wrong enemy and he listens only to advisors who believe in preemptive war.
5. Our huge troop presence abroad is viewed as benevolent. This is wishful thinking. If foreign troops were stationed on our shores, uninvited, we would be naive to view them as friendly. Why should they view us that way?
6. Modern weapons hit only the “bad guys” and avoid hitting the innocents. Really? Well, if we can “pinpoint” our targets that well, why have thousands of civilians, including men, women and children been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan? It’s a pipedream.
7. The liberal media is against this war, so there must be something good about it. This kind of logic is like saying, if God allows sin to exist in the world, it must be good for mankind, War is Hell, said General Sherman, no matter how hard we try to justify it, or pray it away.
8. Bush seems to be a devout Christian, so we can trust him. He’s also an inveterate liar. Does that make him less of a Christian? Perhaps not, but neither does it automatically make him a truth teller. He’s full of error, like all of us.
9. Bush was called by God to be our leader in the post 9/11 world. So he wants the world to believe. But history is filled with men who insist God spoke to them. Some performed miracles to prove it. But most have been put away.
10. Muslims hate America and Israel because they are fanatically anti-American and anti-Semitic.
Wrong. Muslims hate America because we have been invading and interfering in their “holy” lands for decades. And they hate Israel because it’s inseparable from America.
11. The preemptive Iraqi war is a just war of self-defense against world-wide jihad. If a world-wide jihad is a reality, what has starting a preemptive war with Iraq go to do with it? And if jihad IS real, why isn’t Bush leveling with us about what he intends to do about it?
12. Bush is realistic in his “aggressive” response to terrorism. He has no choice. Talk was never on his agenda . His desire to be a “War President” has seen to that. With 280 million American lives at stake, Bush’s actions are reckless, irresponsible, and highly dangerous.
13. The world is different than in the “colonial” days. Nonintervention is no longer an option.
Obviously times have changed, but the principles of “rightness” never change. If nation’s resist U.S. intervention, why are we surprised when war becomes an option? We’ve made it one.
14. This is a spiritual war between Christians and Jews, against the aggressive followers of the false religion, Islam. This may indeed be a war of “good” against “evil”, but who decides which religion is “true” and which is “false”? How about Buddists, Taoists, and Yogism, are they evil? Baptist, Catholics, and Jews, are they good? Who dares to play favorites with God’s people?
My compliments to Stephen W. Carson and his fine article, and the list of responses he got from Conservative Christians. Being a Christian myself, I see plainly how these good folks are stuck in a warp of self-righteousness, close-mindedness, or delusion. But what I cannot see is how they can justify taking the rest of us with them.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”