Iraq: The Hubris of Muscular Christianity

Why is it that conservative religious people ignored all the warnings of disaster in Iraq and pressed ahead for this war? What compelled them to ignore the experts on Iraqi culture and think that the Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds could get along? Did they really think that the mere presence of young Americans on their soil would erase centuries of religious and ethnic distrust?

A friend of mine said that this ignorance, this hubris comes from the same strain of thinking that generated the doctrine of Manifest Destiny in earlier American history. I think he is onto something. Conservative Christian churches seem to get captivated by triumphant images of US military power. I think it comes from a preoccupation with end time, millenialist beliefs that Christians will rule the Earth with Christ for 1,000 years. Notice, this triumphal thinking, this emphasis on power, this emphasis on being at the right hand of Christ.

Is this what Jesus taught? I don't think so. He taught us to be humble, to feed the hungry, to care for the sick, to clothe the naked.

Judas and others wanted a muscular Messiah who would take up arms and throw the Romans out of Israel. Jesus taught, "Blessed are the peacemakers..."

One of Jesus disciplines cut off the ear of the Roman soldier when Jesus was arrested, but Jesus healed the soldier.

I am not a pacifist. We need to defend ourselves, but invading another country that has not attacked us does not qualify as "blessed peacemaking." Thinking that we can inculcate democracy, cooperation, political compromise, and respect for the rule of law in a country with no history of democracy is just plain dumb. Thinking that we would be welcomed as liberators in a society whose culture and religion is so vastly different from our own is painfully idiotic.

Blessed are the Peacemakers