Confronting Militant Republicans

[Pravoslavnik]

Do Orthodox Christians Have a Moral Responsibility to Confront Republican Militarism in America?


Within less than a century of the Great Schism of 1054 A.D., St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the apostate Western Europeans had developed the militant monastic "orders" of Roman Catholic Christendom--the Templars, Hospitallers, etc.--which were blessed by the Pope to kill pagans in the Crusades. The Orthodox Christians of Byzantium had been fighting the Moslems for centuries, but always relied extensively on diplomacy, and required a rather strict penance of soldiers who were forced to kill pagans in battle, even in defense of their country. For the Orthodox Christians, war and its attendant mass murder were always considered an absolute last resort.

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 Republicans in modern America, like the post-Schism Catholics, have prided themselves on strident militarism, which is paraded about as a badge of honor, and considered a virtual insignia of American "patriotism" in their ranks.  What is worse, the documentary evidence has now clearly shown that America's invasion and bombing of Iraq in March of 2003-- dubbed "Operation Shock and Awe" by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld-- was part of a carefully pre-meditated objective of a conservative "neo-con" think tank called the "Vulcans"-- comprised of Irving Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, and others.  Their plan had been preconceived and articulated long before 9/11, and required only a pretext, and a President who could sell it to the American public.  The rest is, of course, history.

     The disastrous tenure of Republican President George W. Bush, which will surely rank with that of Presidents Warren G. Harding and Ulysses S. Grant as the among the very worst in the annals of American history-- is at last approaching an end.  Many Americans remain in a "state of denial" about the rather remarkable legacy of deliberate Republican dishonesty behind the American miltary campaign in Iraq.  Some have even persisted in believing the false witness of President George W. Bush (in his 2003 State of the Union address, and subsequently) that Iraq had military or political relations with Al Qaeda prior to 2003, despite the overwhelming consensus of the bi-partisan 9/11 Commission to the contrary.  Republican Presidential candidate John McCain exhibited similar dishonesty by walking through a carefully cordoned section of Baghdad last year and declaring that "Baghdad is now safe."

    Oddly enough, many American Orthodox Christians have apparently embraced Republican militarism, and I know of one Orthodox deacon who was even delighted to hear President Bush say, "Bring them on!" while speaking of Iraqi insurgents during the 2003 invasion.  (Interestingly, this same deacon later became an ardent advocate of the MP takeover of the ROCOR, even declaring ROCOR dissenters "schismatics" and "phyletists.")  Yet, did our Lord and Savior not say quite clearly that "those who take up the sword shall die by the sword?"

    Which brings me back to my original question.  Without presuming to know the correct (i.e. Orthodox) answer, I ask of thoughtful Orthodox clergymen and laity, do we, as Orthodox Christians, have a moral responsibility to confront pseudo-Christian Republican militarism in America, and even within some of our own Orthodox parishes?  Do we have a moral responsibility to speak the truth and to confront those who bear false witness and advocate murder, even in the name of Christ?  Certainly, there are those among us who believe this to be the case with regard to the unborn, but what about those who are already born and living in this fallen world?  How much militant Republican "collateral damage" to civilians around the world is considered acceptable to the Orthodox Church?

[GOCPriestMark]

Pravoslavnik,

This is a very interesting question. It looks like you have given it much thought. I am surprised no one has commented. I am still thinking about it myself.

I do think it is strange that some Protestants see the American military as 'Jesus' army.

In your thinking about war; Do you see killing in battle and murder as the same thing? Perhaps the 6th commandment is more properly rendered; "Thou shalt not murder."
How do you explain God's directions to Moses and Joshua to slay multitudes of people, including women?

If all killing is murder and therefore sin, then how is it that an angel of God kills thousands?; "Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they [were] all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh."

Is militantism restricted to Republicans? Wasn't it President Clinton who waged war against nominally Orthodox Serbia in order to give land to Muslim Albanians?

Just a few thoughts . . .

[Pravoslavnik]

Father Mark,

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 I have been truly disappointed with the lack of discussion here about this question, which is so relevant for American Orthodox Christians during this election year.  I do not pretend to have the correct answer, but was hoping to hear from others about the Orthodox Patristic take on the question.

    Obviously, there are many historical examples of warfare in Orthodox Christian (and Judaic) history.  St. Constantine conquered in the sign of the Cross.  The soldiers of Byzantium fought the Persians, Goths, and, eventually, the Moslems, in defense of their empire.  The Russians fought the Mongol hordes, Lithuanians, Swedes, and Teutonic knights in the days of St. Alexander Nevsky, and later fought Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, and the Catholic Hapsburgs.

    So, my question is really about the Orthodox view of a righteous war, and whether the militarism of modern America is "righteous" in an Orthodox sense of the word.  America has always been a Protestant nation, and has had a sense of militancy and even imperialism (e.g. committing genocide against Native Americans, and appropriating Spanish and Mexican property) that seems linked, historically, to the rise of "militant" Christianity in post-Schism Western European Catholicism.

    As for whether our American militarism is a "Republican" phenomenon, I think it can be fairly said that it is [i]predominantly [/i]Republican.  The Republican Party in America has longstanding, close ties to the "military-industrial" complex, and the "hawks" in modern American politics are almost all standard bearers of modern Republicanism.  George H.W. Bush paraded tanks around the Washington mall in Soviet fashion after the Persian Gulf War, and Donald Rumsfeld said on PBS News during the American invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, "We have some wonderful new military technology, and we need to use it."  A credible case can be made that George W. Bush used the 9/11 Al Qaeda attacks as a false pretext to implement the longstanding "neo-con" plan of Rumsfeld and Cheney to invade Iraq and to secure Iraqi oil reserves.  (Apparently, about 80% of the world's known oil reserves are located in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.)

    Bill Clinton's participation in the NATO bombing of Serbia was one of his only public policy errors, in my opinion (as opposed to problems with his private conduct.)  He was convinced by Thomas Eagleberger and others that the militant Milosevic regime had to be forced to withdraw troops from Kosovo and Bosnia--and Serbia would not have been bombed if Milosevic had cooperated with the peace initiative.  Hence, some of the blame for the bombing of Serbia must clearly rest with the Milosevic regime.  The Serbian Orthodox Church, itself, had long criticized Milosevic.  Margaret Thatcher and the British Tories had been calling for the bombing of Serbia since 1991, when the rump Yugoslavian (Serbian) military shelled Dubrovnik.  As an Orthodox Christian, I have been outraged by the conduct of the EU and NATO in Serbia, (including Kosovo) and I also believe that the American media has never informed the public here about the history of Islam and the Papacy in the Balkans.  

  Nevertheless, I believe that Republicans are the main driving force behind our recent American militarism.  And most Orthodox Christians I know, curiously, seem to vote for the Republican "hawks," or "chicken hawks," a term used to describe those like Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and George W. Bush, who have sent thousands into battle, and launched untold mega-tons of laser guided bombs into civilian areas, without ever having fought in battle for their country.

[Cyprian]

And most Orthodox Christians I know, curiously, seem to vote for the Republican "hawks," or "chicken hawks," a term used to describe those like Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and George W. Bush...

Perhaps that says more about the folks you associate with than it says about Orthodox Christianity in general.

One is incredibly naive and just plain ignorant if he thinks that anything useful would come from voting for the likes of either McCain or Obama.

Both the Republican and Democratic parties for several decades now have habitually committed fornication with the Great Whore Babylon -- the Synagogue of Satan. They are members of her body now.

"[H]e which is joined to an harlot is one body"

As for both mainstream parties in America:

"They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good....They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

Met. Vitaly reportedly told his flock many years ago that it was a waste of time for Orthodox Christians to vote in these evil times.

Advice with which I whole-heartedly concur.

Cyprian