Millions of citizens are deeply disturbed that the military-industrial complex too often shapes national policy,
but they do not want to be considered unpatriotic. ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963
I think it's patriotic to espouse the freedoms that our Constitution establishes as rights to it's citizens.
But all honest debate about policy, get's dicey, because there are fellow citizens, friends and family that have to follow orders related to that policy. If we reject as unjust, some action of our government...we are by association, accusing those who choose to obey those orders. There is no way around that issue.
An attempt is made to distinguish the disparity by saying things like: "I support the troops but not the War." This is an attempt to divide the issue of blame. Good folks don't want to be "against" people...soldier or senator...but in the end, one holds the gavel and another the gun. That fact makes the attempt to separate the act from the actor...extremely complicated.
Ultimately we are all responsible for our own actions. The gravity of that fact needs to be fully comprehended by anyone choosing to submit their will to the state.
If a solidier makes a vow to the government....they are bound by oath.
This is an issue that comes up in the debate about Christians being soldiers: Submitting thier will to that of the state.
Some would say that's an action that Jesus told His followers to avoid.
Matthew 5: 33-37
"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
In the end, my wrestlings with these topics are not meant to "be against" someone...but against a system...but I know that in the fray, that isn't always clear.
1 comment:
Most Christians in the military don't even blink when taking the oath to 'protect and defend the Constitution, against all enemies, foreign and domestic...and obey the orders of the President of the United States' (paraphrase, I didn't look it up) I know I didn't. I believe that it is the result of a profound innoccence regarding America's place in the world as the 'chosen' nation. While I have never articulated it, I guess I believed that God inherently wants America to succeed, that maybe, in my mind I have for my whole life almost thought of America as the Church instead of seeing the Church as separate entirely and not dependent at all on the rise or fall of nations.
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