Archive for war on terror
The Iraq War is a War on Christians
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Almost two years ago, I reported that there are no more churches in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. Now, Andrew Doran at AmCon Mag tells the story of how the Iraq War became a war on Christians. Hopefully, the U.S. will not repeat the mistake for a third time in Syria.
Did you know that prior to the invasion of Iraq, Pope John Paul II sent Cardinal Pio Laghi, who was also a Vatican diplomat, to see President George W. Bush in order to convince him not to attack? The Vatican had the wisdom to see what many in the world could not: that an invasion would result in a protracted war with tens of thousands of deaths and an increased hostility to Christians in the region.
Obviously, Bush and Co. didn’t listen.
Tags: Afghanistan, Christianity, iraq, middle east, Syria, war, war on terror
Janus Christians
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"Were it not for the support offered by several tens of millions of evangelicals, militarism in this deeply and genuinely religious country becomes inconceivable." ~ Andrew Bacevich (Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.).
This is one of the most sobering statements in Dr. Bacevich’s important book The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (Oxford, 2005). Whether you agree or disagree with evangelical support for militarism, the fact remains that the largest group of Americans that the government can count on to support the institution of the military, the empire of troops and bases that encircles the globe, large defense budgets, overseas military interventions, the perpetual war on terror, and now torture is evangelical Christians – and the more conservative the more bloodthirsty.
Why?
If there is any group that should oppose these things, it is conservative Christians who profess to be in subjection to the Bible. There is something gravely wrong with evangelical Christianity when socialists like Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky get it right and conservative Christians get it wrong.
Christian warmongers are looking in the Bible, but they are looking in the wrong place. Everything in the Bible is written for us, but not to us. Although there are some exceptions, most Christian warmongers are Janus Christians.
Janus was the two-headed Roman god of gates and doors. With faces that looked in two different directions, he could see forward and backward at the same time. Because he was considered the god of beginnings, our first month, January, was named after him.
So, what do many evangelicals have in common with the Roman god Janus?
Plenty.
Tags: Bible, christian libertarianism, ethics, peace, theology, war, war on terror
Is God Against Drones?
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He is not, according to former CIA analyst and current Christian axis of evil candidate Mark D. Tooley, as long as it is just the United States that is using them.
I first wrote about Christian "leaders" moonlighting as apologists for Bush and the Iraq war – the Christian axis of evil – back in 2006. The original group of inductees included Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Hal Lindsey, Cal Thomas, and Pat Boone, with WorldNetDaily publisher Joseph Farah getting an honorable mention.
Since then I have written about other candidates like Tod Kennedy, a pastor; Craig Parshall, a lawyer; Doug Giles, a Christian killer par excellence; Bryan Fischer, a Christian warmonger on steroids; Michael Milton, a seminary chancellor and theological schizophrenic; Joe Carter, a conservative Christian warmonger; and Ellis Washington, the greatest Christian warmonger of all time.
Now we have Mark Tooley asking the question: "Is God against Drones?" He might as well have asked if he could join the Christian axis of evil. Tooley is the president of The Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), "a faith-based alliance of Christians who monitor, comment, and report on issues affecting the Church." "We are Christians working to reaffirm the church’s biblical and historical teachings, strengthen and reform its role in public life, protect religious freedom, and renew democracy at home and abroad," says the group’s mission statement. Founded in 1981, the IRD is headquartered in Washington D.C.
Tags: drone strikes, ethics, Obama, politics, war, war on terror
LCC joins the Clear Skies Initiative
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I am pleased to announce that LibertarianChristians.com is now a member of the Clear Skies Initiative, sponsored by Muslims4Liberty.org. The Clear Skies Initiative is a broad coalition of individuals and groups set against drone warfare waged by the United States Federal Government.
From the Change.org petition (which I encourage you to sign and share):
“The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles commonly known as “Drones” has become ubiquitous among military agencies, and increasingly by domestic law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, the scope of their use is shrouded in secrecy, and the consequences of their use go largely without scrutiny from other branches of government and mainstream media, which allow this practice to go on without accountability or challenge.”
Drones are also responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths of innocent people in warzones due to indiscriminate weaponry and operators. This terror must be stopped, and I hope you will consider signing the petition as well.
Tags: activism, drone strikes, Obama, politics, war, war on terror
Militarism is not heroic
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Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL, and the U.S. military’s most lethal sniper, was deliberately and fatally shot recently by another veteran while on a gun range.
According to Star and Stripes, Kyle had been awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. He is officially credited with more than 150 kills during four tours in Iraq; he is unofficially credited with up to 255. Kyle won’t say just how many people he has killed.
“I don’t care about the medals,” Kyle told the Star-Telegram in a 2012 interview. “I didn’t do it for the money or the awards. I did it because I felt like it was something that needed to be done and it was honorable.” Read More→
Tags: Chris Kyle, ethics, militarism, military, snipers, war, war on terror
Norman Horn is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the 