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… some folks inherit star-spangled eyesHoo, they send you down to war, LordAnd when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?”Hoo, they only answer, “More, more, more, more”¹
It has been a year since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life. In a flash of time, a stray bullet from the would-be assassin killed an innocent bystander before he was eliminated by a Secret Service sniper. In the following days, Trump and his enablers filibustered about his ear brush with death while evangelicals elucidated on how God had miraculously protected him. Amid all the hype, the men who actually died that day soon faded into historical footnotes.
Yet there is a singular scene from the tragedy that has been burned into my memory. It’s the image of Donald Trump in the chaotic aftermath, blood smeared, fist raised, face snarled, while shouting the F-word at his followers:
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Forgive me, but watching someone championing violence while standing knee-deep in violence seems like an especially harebrained first response. Unless fighting is the point. Unless fighting is how you understand the world.
When the F-word is celebrated there is usually a pyramid of participation: at the top are the few instigators, below them the handful of enforcers, and at the bottom the multitude of victims.
fighting: the remedy for fighting
We live in a culture where fighting is both frowned on and normalized. People fight over money, property lines, jobs, vaccines, bad driving – any personal or ideological difference you can imagine. Movies feature heroes who resort to violence to avenge some violence.
There is an epidemic of sports in our culture that imagines you have to ‘go to war’ if you want to win. Two years in a row the Stanley Cup Champions have bragged about their strategy of physical intimidation and raw disrespect for their opponents. Or how about a President (him again) who wants the White House to host a UFC event next year so fighters can bloody each other into submission or brain trauma?
Our affection for fighting doesn’t even ensure justice. Marcellus Williams was executed in Missouri last winter despite a startling lack of evidence, despite prosecutors agreeing to a plea deal to save his life, despite the victim’s family supporting him. The conservative judges and the christian governor chose to fight and had him executed anyway.²
Christians can love the F-word too. They can fight over rights, beliefs, morals, territory, methods, tribes. Some use faith as an excuse to label or dehumanize others they don’t approve of.
By the way, I’m not suggesting we should never fight. Sadly, some fights become legitimate when we are forced to defend ourselves or protect the weak. Actually, that’s my point – I’m worried how easily we are convinced to fight for the wrong side. For the powerful the F-word is strategic; for the powerless it is rebellious.
fighting: pawns v pawns
“When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable.” – Thomas Merton
Most who witnessed the horrible events of 9/11 believed retaliation against the terrorists was the right thing to do. Fine, but now we have a truer peek into the cost of that F-word.³
- Wars related to 9/11 have cost over 8 trillion dollars for the U.S. alone.
- 940,000 people have died directly from the fighting.
- 3.8 million more died indirectly from starvation, thirst, disease, displacement, loss of infrastructure, secondary violence.
- There have been approximately 38 million refugees and displaced persons.
- Four times as many American soldiers have died by suicide than died in combat.
- These statistics are incomplete and ongoing.
See that? The F-word caused more suffering for the innocent than it did for the guilty, bringing pain to hordes of innocent people, including their own. Fighting doesn’t bring justice, it multiplies injustice!
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when the President (sigh…) ordered an attack on nuclear facilities in Iran (an admittedly complex issue). In the aftermath he posted: “Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE.” He grouped warriors, bombs, and peace together into the same word salad without irony, or insight.
The next day he ended with a flourish: “I wanta’ just say, We love you God and love our great military.” Knucklehead evangelicals ignored the pandering God-talk and praised the President for taking the fight to the Middle East where they are hoping for Armageddon.
But let’s be clear – God’s shalom (deep peace and meaning) can’t coexist with the violence of the F-word. A lifestyle of intimidation is unsustainable and will inevitably collapse on itself or, as Jesus said, “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword”.
fighting: the antidote to peace
Philip Yancey wrote of C.S. Lewis’s observation: “… almost all crimes of christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist.”
Christians are taught that humans are naturally sinful, that God saved the world through death, that the world will end with violence, so naturally their obsession with the F-word drives them to vote, speak, act, and enforce actions that lash out against things they don’t approve of.
(Update: We recently watched season two of Netflix’s “Shiny, Happy People” which is a riveting and frightening expose of this brand of evangelicalism. A must-watch if you dare.)
Yet scattered throughout the Bible we see that ‘sound doctrine’ has less to do with morals or beliefs and more to do with kindness and justice. Significant numbers of christians today are fighting culture wars, invisible demonic forces, and a cornucopia of perceived enemies while ignoring explicit directives from Jesus himself, who enfleshed loving enemies (gulp), and praying for them (ouch).
This is a good place to hear from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who experienced imprisonment and death for his outspoken resistance to the Nazi’s.
“Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christian should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.
fighting: loss of meaning
A few days ago we watched a news channel while enjoying a summer lunch of crackers, cheese, veggies, and potato salad. At some point a reporter shared a report about the desperation of people living in Gaza. It became a memorable moment when the most beautiful little girl, perhaps four or five years old, appeared on the TV monitor.
Out of respect, her face was blurred and the family were not identified, but it was clear they were distressed. The most beautiful girl lay silently with only a blanket between her and the ground. Her eyes were empty, fragile skin stretched over her skeleton, and she was unable to move as creeping starvation paralyzed her.
Why was the most beautiful girl starving? Because Hamas and Israel are so full of hatred that they are using starvation as a weapon against one another. And the evil is ignored, blessed, financed by millions of people around the world who believe the war is God’s will.
At the end of the video we were able to see the most beautiful girl again. She was laying in the same place as before, yet now there was an eerie stillness about her … she had died while the film crew were in her home.
In that moment I hated the F-word and all who demand it, obey it, live it, allow it.
fighting: endgame
Another forkful of potato salad slid into my mouth but the irony hit me at the first chew. The most beautiful girl deserved a mouthful of food more than I ever had – she had died from lack of food while I was emptying my full plate. This innocent child of God had lived most of her life running from war and death; I had lived mine worried about comfort and theology.
Yes, she had died in their war zone, but she had died in my world. The questions are challenging.
- What important fights do I ignore because they don’t directly affect me?
- What instigators do I enable? Am I an enforcer for an instigator?
- What fights do I take up that are petty? Do people suffer because of the emotional or spiritual war zones I create?
- How do I begin to replace my instinct to fight with an instinct to be gracious?
- How can I better practice the peace and love that I preach?
The way we treat our Creator’s children reveals how we think about our Creator. Disciples of Jesus should bless rather than curse. We should love justice more than we love fighting.
The most beautiful girl is in the arms of Jesus.
The fighters of the world were never worthy of her.
~ ~ ~
¹ Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: John Cameron Fogerty. Fortunate Son lyrics © Jondora Music, Shanty Kelyn Music, Concord Copyrights
² Surveys consistently show that conservative christians prefer keeping the death penalty even if it means occasionally killing innocent people.
³ The Costs of War Project (highly recommended, website or social media)
Music: Fork in the Road, Grumpynora, Unknown Album
Music: Be Thou My Vision, Unknown Artist
