THE NEXT KID WHO HITS SOMEONE IS GETTING A SPANK!!!!
Within the next few days, the U.S. will almost certainly lead a military strike against Syria. Up until now, our official response has been to support the Syrian rebels in their struggle against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Well really, we didn’t support the rebels until it looked like they actually had a chance…. and also after Assad was killing many of those Syrian citizens who were rising up and demanding change. So, to show them that killing people is wrong, we armed the rebels so that they would be better able to kill people. But now it seems that there is proof that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of people. So, to show them that killing hundreds of people is wrong, we are going to send a bunch of Tomahawk Missiles in there and kill hundreds of people.
And on and on and on…. It seems we have learned nothing. And when I say “We,” I don’t mean the United States. I mean The Church.
Believe it, Taylor Swift…. I would have been out here chanting “Four more years!”
Right after 9/11 (and right before the US military response in Afghanistan and the “Shock & Awe” campaign) I sat down for dinner with a group of friends from Church, and I said that if we really wanted to be a “Christian Nation,” we would use the money that we would have spent on killing people and spent it on loving our enemy–loving them with roads and schools and hospitals. I was a vocal critic of George W. Bush, but if he would have stood up and said, “Because of what I believe about Jesus, I believe that I am called, as the leader of this country, to love the people of Afghanistan and Iraq…. and that does not mean killing them,” I would have gone door to door for him in the next election.
It’s way easier to be “The Home of the Brave” when you are killing people from a computer screen in Colorado Springs….
These sorts of ideas (loving your enemy) are dismissed as naive fantasy, utopian, and unrealistic when it comes to matters of international policy. But just think about where we are now: Iraq is teetering on becoming a failed state, and there were over 1,000 people killed there by terrorist bomb blasts in that country last month alone. For what we have spent on the war in Iraq, we could have provided our kids with free higher education for the next 58 years. Imagine if when the Muslim world thought of the United States of America, they thought of humanitarian aid instead of drone attacks–We might even have the moral authority to have our words actually mean something when we criticize Bashar al-Assad for using Sarin gas against people.
‘Murica.
The Church has a responsibility to stand up and say to the U.S. government, “We are NOT behind you on this.” It almost certainly won’t change the course of events over the next few days (or years, probably), but at least we will have said it. And maybe if we say it loud enough, somewhere in the world, someone might hear it and know that these military actions are not supported by the people who claim to follow Jesus. A lot of Church people like to claim that the USA is a “Christian Nation.” This is complete horse crap. If the Church could pull their heads out of their guns for a moment and really start looking like Jesus, I think we would see that the best thing we can do is yell at the top of our lungs, “WE ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION!!!”
Let us love our neighbor, whichever flag they raise.
So I am just one Christian, but I’m going to say this as loud as I can: President Obama, I am not behind you on this. I don’t care about what you said about a “red line” before in reference to chemical weapons. A military strike will do nothing to turn the tide of the war in Syria other than to “show them we mean it” when we draw a line in the sand. People don’t need to die just so we can show the world we mean business. There has been too much killing already, and this belief in killing people to stop people from killing people is nonsense. It will only end with even more dead people, and the US having more enemies and more people willing to strap a bomb to themselves to kill us. Jesus’ call for his followers to love our enemies is not a naive utopian fantasy–It is the only outline for peace that actually works. I believe you when you call yourself a follower of Jesus…. Follow him right now.
God help us. And I include the people in Syria and the rest of the Middle East in that “us.”
The Boeskool 
Keep in mind that in the cities and towns across our fruited plain, the white, conservative, wealthy (middle and upper-class) Christians, including Catholics, living/working in areas where money, power, and influence have been entrenched since our countries founding, these folk do not find themselves invited (or fastened) to a high Christology of Jesus. It’s a low one. Meaning, yes, Jesus, was born (thank you, Lord), and died (thank you, Jesus). But that’s really it. Jesus is not there to instruct on such matters as Statehood. Statements such as Jesus’ “He that lives by the sword will die by the sword” where Jesus demonstrated non-violence as his ethic during his own arrest by Roman authorities, these passages are not about, in the eyes and ears of white, wealthy Christians, these are Not. About. Current Events. They just aren’t. Leave me alone, I got enough problems in my life without pie in the sky hippie drippie peace-talk.
Here’s what white wealthy non-upset at drone strikes or Iraq failed-state Christians believe about Jesus. That (bless his heart), he is a holy puppy, a loving buddy, and later (afterlife), our glorious sin-wiper-away. Blessings.
It works! It has worked since the founding colonialism (Native American genocide) of America and in the slavery of blacks. It works in our times of domestic economic disparity, drone warcraft, and environmental suicide. It worked at the dropping of Fat Man and Little Boy. It works at Guantanamo. White wealthy Christians don’t see Jesus as a resource, much less an authority, on political matters. And why would they? There is no reason, no imperative, to re-direct.
This isn’t the first time you’ve thought about these things, is it Geoff. 🙂 Thanks for your thoughts. We need to deepen those folks understanding of Jesus then, right?
how did this article become about “the white, conservative, wealthy (middle and upper-class) Christians? Historically speaking, they have created and ruled our government and purported some of the greatest atrocities in the world but when the article involves the word “we” and “us” it means the entire church not just those we feel need to hear it more. I would like the US to learn from our past mistakes, even as recently as Iraq, and not missile the bahoojies out of Syria. Can’t the Church as a great segment of the population get out there and say we are not behind this? That’s all the free thinking I have right now.
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