God and War

[Philosoraptor]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18367804/site/newsweek/



May 7, 2007 issue - "I walked the floor of The White House night after night until midnight," President William McKinley recalled. "I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance." McKinley was trying to figure out whether to annex the Philippines, captured by U.S. troops in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Finally, it came to him: "There was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them ... "


Never mind that most Filipinos were already Roman Catholic, or that they didn't want to be occupied. In a brutal insurgency that dragged on for three years, more than 4,000 Americans and half a million Filipinos died; American soldiers first deployed the torture known as water-boarding, and may have first used a version of the term "Gook" to describe the Asian enemy they were trying to save.

The many critics of George W. Bush like to paint him as a Holy Warrior. They point to his unfortunate choice of the word "crusade" to avenge 9/11, his frequent use of the term "evil" and his statement, to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, that he does not need to consult his father, the 41st president, because he appeals to "a higher Father." But he is hardly the first president to beseech the Lord in time of war, as McKinley's story shows. On the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg, knowing that a Confederate victory in Pennsylvania could mean the loss of Washington, Abraham Lincoln dropped to his knees and prayed. "I must put all my trust in Almighty God," he explained. "The burden was more than I could bear." In the White House, Lincoln said, he was often driven to his knees "by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go." Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush liked to quote that line.

American war leaders have been counting on divine intervention since Washington's nearly vanquished Army escaped the British under cover of a providential fog the summer of 1776. From the beginning of recorded time, soldiers have called on God in the heat of battle. And in America, God and war have a particular kinship: presidents in time of conflict invoke the Lord's name as a way to rally the people, but also as a comfort and consolation for the loneliness of command. Evoking God in the midst of mass killing is inspirational to some and offensive to others. Divine sanction has been used to give meaning to the Constitution's promise of equality as well as to license genocide. Depending on the moment and the character of the particular president, asking the Lord's help in time of war can be a sign of hubris or humility.

[patrice]

1. People need to get the difference between Prayer and Blasphemy.

War IS Social Abortion and as long as any members of the Human Family are War Slaves for the Materialism Machine, a woman's individual choice to abort is more of a sacrament than a sacrilege.

[lazer47]

2. The God I know

doesn't want to talk or hear or answer prayer about killing. And it is ludicrous to ask him to condone or validate killing in any form