Inhumane Behavior
A chaplain's view of torture
by Kermit D. Johnson
The Christian Century
The historian Arnold Toynbee called war 'an act of religious worship.' Appropriately, when most people enter the cathedral of violence, their voices become hushed. This silence, this reluctance to speak, is based in part on not wishing to trivialize or jeopardize the lives of those who have been put in harm's way. We want to support the men and women in our armed forces, whether we are crusaders, just warriors or pacifists.
Furthermore, those who interrupt this service of worship become a source of public embarrassment, if not shame. The undercurrent seems to be that dissent or critique in the midst of war is inherently unpatriotic because it violates a sacred wartime precept: support our troops.
From the standpoint of Christian faith, how do we respond? I would say that if war causes us to suppress our deepest religious, ethical and moral convictions, then we have indeed caved in to a 'higher religion' called war.
Since this obeisance to war is packaged in the guise of patriotism, it is well to admit to the beauty of patriotism, the beauty of unselfishness and love of country, land, community, family, friends and, yes, our system of government. But this fabulous beauty makes us appreciate all the more what Reinhold Niebuhr called the 'ethical paradox in patriotism.' The paradox is that patriotism can transmute individual unselfishness into national egoism. When this happens, when the critical attitude of the individual is squelched, this permits the nation, as Niebuhr observed, to use 'power without moral constraint.'
I believe this has been the case, particularly since 9/11, in the treatment of prisoners under U.S. custody.
We must react when our nation breaks the moral constraints and historic values contained in treaties, laws and our Constitution, as well as violating the consciences of individuals who engage in so-called 'authorized' inhuman treatment"
Read more
by Kermit D. Johnson
The Christian Century
The historian Arnold Toynbee called war 'an act of religious worship.' Appropriately, when most people enter the cathedral of violence, their voices become hushed. This silence, this reluctance to speak, is based in part on not wishing to trivialize or jeopardize the lives of those who have been put in harm's way. We want to support the men and women in our armed forces, whether we are crusaders, just warriors or pacifists.
Furthermore, those who interrupt this service of worship become a source of public embarrassment, if not shame. The undercurrent seems to be that dissent or critique in the midst of war is inherently unpatriotic because it violates a sacred wartime precept: support our troops.
From the standpoint of Christian faith, how do we respond? I would say that if war causes us to suppress our deepest religious, ethical and moral convictions, then we have indeed caved in to a 'higher religion' called war.
Since this obeisance to war is packaged in the guise of patriotism, it is well to admit to the beauty of patriotism, the beauty of unselfishness and love of country, land, community, family, friends and, yes, our system of government. But this fabulous beauty makes us appreciate all the more what Reinhold Niebuhr called the 'ethical paradox in patriotism.' The paradox is that patriotism can transmute individual unselfishness into national egoism. When this happens, when the critical attitude of the individual is squelched, this permits the nation, as Niebuhr observed, to use 'power without moral constraint.'
I believe this has been the case, particularly since 9/11, in the treatment of prisoners under U.S. custody.
We must react when our nation breaks the moral constraints and historic values contained in treaties, laws and our Constitution, as well as violating the consciences of individuals who engage in so-called 'authorized' inhuman treatment"
Read more
posted by Black Sheep at 6:34 AM
2 Comments:
your blog is like a port in a storm. i hope you don't mind that i added you to my sidebar.
I left the Vineyard about 7 years ago. I have since come to understand from proper, exegetical study of the holy Scriptures, that their leaven is postmodernism. They deny absolute truth in their claim that Jesus is their only theology.
How can a person know Jesus? Only by the objective, written word of God. This is what they deny. This is why they sit around in so-called small group Bible studies, reading a verse or two entirely out of context, and then asking each member of the group to explain what those verses mean to them.
But rather than asking what these verses mean to YOU, they should instead be asking, what do these verses MEAN? They don't, and they can't, because they deny the Scriptures teach absolute truth. Instead, they insist we can learn truth in all sorts of others ways.
If anyone is interested in pursuing this look at postmodernism and its effect upon today's churches, then I'd recommend you begin here: https://cornbreadandbourbon.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/the-gospel-of-grace-tract-form/
Also, Lutheran pastor, Chris Rosebrough, hosts a pretty good podcast called, Fighting for the Faith. You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher and other podcast sites. He just recently did a couple episodes again on postmodernism where he mentioned the Vineyard in particular.
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