Why do so many Christians support the Iraq War?
What I'm about to write is going to be a somewhat touchy subject, at least to some people. But it is also something that has confused me for a quite a while.
It all comes down to this question: Why are many Christians so supportive of the war in Iraq? We can break this question into four parts. Why do so many Christians: 1) believe the precepts for the war are justified, 2) simplify the issue into a good vs. evil dichotomy, 3) support a policy that encourages death and destruction rather than life and peace, and 4) support a policy that makes Iraq a life-threatening place for a Christian to live?
Many Christians are adamant in their support of the war, in spite of the long established facts that the American people were simply lied to in going over there. But I feel like Christian support on this first point has more to do with ignorance than ideology — willful or not.
Many people are not aware of the fact that Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda had no link whatsoever. The evidence that supported the Bush administration's run-up to war has long since been proven faulty — and in fact was proven faulty before we ever went to war. The Bush administration failed to listen to evidence contrary to their aims, instead favoring evidence already tilted toward going to war. The Bush administration lied by presenting one side of the picture, misleading America into a war which will scar us for decades to come. Even in 2008, many are ignorant of these facts, and Christians who support the war are not excluded.
The evidence contrary to the Bush administration’s goals clearly showed Iraq was not a threat to our national security. I'm not going to go into the details of this evidence; whole books have been written about that. However, it is our duty as American citizens to take up the mantle of responsibility. It is our duty to be knowledgeable about what is going on, and to hold our government accountable. As a Christian, I inwardly cringe whenever I hear my pastor give a diatribe about supporting the war and its precepts. Support our troops, yes. Support the war, no.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jordan Richardson
To answer your question: It happens because many American Christians tend to put their country first and their religious beliefs second. Christians in other parts of the world have a greater tendency to condemn the Iraq War.
2 - DaveNalle
Perhaps some Christians believe that setting people free and giving them a chance not to be oppressed and persecuted by dictators is part of Christian charity.
Think about it. 150 years ago the abolitionists in America were mostly highly religious Christians, many of them Quakers. They risked their lives and ultimately launched a war to free the slaves from the oppressive rule of southern slave masters. Most would consider that a very christian act.
How is it less Christian to want to free people ruled by dictators who can kill or torture them at whim and who have committed genocide and mass murder?
It's a very strange form of Christianity which is willing to stand by and be silent and take no action while others are murdered and exploited.
The question should be how can any Christian NOT support the Iraq war?
3 - Pablo
Dave,
Pardon me while I gag.
4 - Christopher Rose
Dave, in which case, can we expect to see these Christian armies turning up in places like Burma, Zimbabwe, Somalia and all the other countries where the regimes are far worse than Saddam Hussein's was? I very much doubt it. The second invasion of Iraq was a poorly thought out, cynical and opportunist war that has created more problems than it has solved.
5 - Les Slater
“But Saddam killed maybe a thousand. I'm not even sure it was that many…”
It won’t convince many people, of any faith, or no faith, by coming up with such outrageous distortions of history. The Ba’thist regime of Iraq, including all the years led by Saddam Hussein, should rightly go down in history as a thuggish blight on humanity.
6 - DaveNalle
Always the blinkered literalist, Chris. Sarcasm just flies by on both sides leaving you staring stolidly ahead.
That said, I challenge you to show more deaths in any of the nations you mention than were caused gratuitously under Saddam.
Dave
7 - Christopher Rose
Dave, to pull off sarcasm you need a reputation as a funny guy, not a wonker...
8 - Condor
Hmmmm, bash away at will at the religiousity, but faith is something else altogether.
I would have to surmise that most people, both in and out of religiousity, in and out of an organized church, throughout history and even today are really (and on both sides of a war) are in effect very CONCERNED ABOUT THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN HARMS WAY. I don't think faith based Christianity supports war, but they understand government and the demands placed on the troops, which leads them to support the ability to either get it over with, or dominate the operations and bring the troops home.
If you have ever studied ancient texts you will find that thoughout the body of philosophy, there is a general thread that if you have government you have to expect certain demands by that government.
Think of it as a tax... your children are in effect the taxes being levied by the government. Call it a volunteer force if you wish. But if no volunteers were available, the draft would ensure that the ranks were populated.
As laid out by the constitution, the government is assigned to protect us. Which, through war or deterrance it is in fact accomplished.
Iraq is just another place where war is currently be waged. If you don't have children, and you might, you will understand the concern and fear parents have for their children, especially when they are sent far from home to fight in hellish place under hellish conditions in circumstances that some or all of the people here and in theator do not understand.
Perhaps the comments by some are harkening back to early memories of "turn the other cheek" and that Christians are to be looked upon as some namby-pamby soft fleshed, quivering wussy society. My history studies have revealed that those who go forward with faith, do so with a purpose that is strong and vigilant in its execution.
I suppose that the general thought is that Christians (let's say faith based) are viewed as a people who prefer to be beat up, bullied, go into the fetal position at the slightest provocation etc.... you know, turn the other cheek and all of that.
I would contend that the general consesus within the Christian faith is that the context in which that thought was rendered, was directed to other "brothers" only. Should turn the other cheek? If you want to get your ass kicked that would sound tactical advice. But who wants to get their asses kicked? It is a painful lesson/experience to receive a sound uncomprimising thrashing.
It's "hollywood" to get your ass thoroughly beaten only then to rise up bloody and torn down and only then take command of the fight.
9 - Christopher Rose
Faith is a condition of complete gullibility in which the afflicted are able to persuade themselves that any half baked concept is a plausible belief system, despite the lack of any supporting evidence or the considerable evidence in support of alternative explanations. In the majority of cases a cure still proves elusive...
Examples include con trick victims or marks, religious believers and our own Dave Nalle.
10 - Carmen
Kyle, before you publish anymore posts like this one, please take the time to study beyond college text books and Blogs. For example, if you want to understand Christian thought, you will need to become thoroughly familiar with the Bible (both Old and New Testaments). Consider, for example, that Jesus said he did not come to bring peace to the world. Jesus also said he did come to open the prison doors and set the captives free. Who were the prisoners Jesus was talking about? The prophet Isaiah also spoke of setting captives free. Who were these captives? What Bible did Jesus read? The reason you are confused about Christian thought is because you haven't done your homework. Suppose you wanted to write a history of the American civil war. You would need to study primary texts as well as secondary sources, because that's what "professional writers" and historians get paid to do. Understanding Christian thought requires the same level of dedication and discipline.
As for the Iraq war and your claim that it was initiated on the basis of faulty intelligence, have you considered that the people who produced that intelligence were Clinton appointees and the entrenched bureaucrats who served under them. Why didn't President Bush replace these people who had failed to predict and prevent 9/11? I know CFR scholars will disagree with me, but three of the best books written about 9/11 were all written by investigative reporter Peter Lance: A Thousand Years for Revenge, Cover Up, Triple Cross. Lance, BTW, believes Bush should have been impeached over 9/11, but he does expose an Iraq-al Qaeda connection that existed during the Clinton administration, and in that sense he is no admirer of Clinton or Bush Sr. either since the intelligence rap spans all three administrations.
It has been said there is no such thing as a dumb question, but what is dumb is not allowing an honest question to take you on a journey of rigourous learning.
11 - DaveNalle
Faith is a condition of complete gullibility in which the afflicted are able to persuade themselves that any half baked concept is a plausible belief system, despite the lack of any supporting evidence or the considerable evidence in support of alternative explanations.
Rather like the enduring faith that ever more powerful and wide-ranging bureaucracies will bring about anything other than the enslavement and eventual impoverishment of once free peoples.
Dave
12 - Condor
"Faith is a condition of complete gullibility" - Rose
Are you including faith in yourself?
13 - Tony
The thing you're missing here Kyle, is that at the foundation of Christianity is the ideal that everyone who doesn't "accept" Jesus as their savior is condemned to hell. That includes, Jews, Muslims, Athiests, ect...
Now if you feel like an entire nation of people is going to hell that you probably have no problem killing them yourself and speeding up the process. I think that's the fine print under that "Thou Shall Not Kill" Commandement that God gave to.....well the Jews, wasn't it?
Thou Shall Not Kill....unless those who are in the sight lines are of an improper faith. Kind of like that whole Crusades thing.
The real question we should be asking is why so many "good" Christians support dumping American money, that could be spent on "good American Christians" who are suffering and homeless, on a country of Jesus hating infidels.
Now that's where the real irony lies.
14 - Tony
Just a note on the "wide-ranging bureaucracies."
Have you not paid attention to the Bush presidency or the things McCain has purposed? The Government bailing out banks, buying into banks, buying up mortgages, creating no Child Left Behind, the Dept. of Homeland Security, the list goes on.....these are all bureaucracies. George Bush has ruled over a regime of massive spending and massive government expanision. The only difference between himself and the dems. is that he borrowed the money from China instead of raising taxes here at home, contributing greatly to the problems we are facing now.
The Republicans are not even a semblence of the former supply side, Regeanomic republicans. That is why the entire financial community has turned away from McCain.
15 - Kyle
Hey guys, some good thoughts here. It's pretty exciting to get so much feedback, especially since this is only my second article! So, thanks for that.
You guys might be surprised by this, but I'm actually a Southern Baptist with a pretty good knowledge of the Bible. I was saved as a Freshman in high school.
I think the fact that many American Christians support the Iraq War is due to ignorance, not faith. Many are just not aware of simple facts, and as such, can't form informed opinions. I have faith in God, yet weighing the evidence, I see Iraq as pretty unjustified for the reasons listed in my article. We were deceived into going there, by both our government and the media. Even worse, over a million are dead due to us, a far worse evil than Saddam, and he was pretty evil.
However, I also think you can't take Old Testament wars of the Israelites vs. Canannites or whoever else they were fighting to justify wars today. The contexts are WAY different, one of which is God is telling them to go to war, and God really doesn't tell us to go to war today. At least as far as any of us knows.
I believe by looking at Paul and Jesus in the Bible, that they would be against theocracy. Any time a theocracy has existed in human history, it's been pretty much bad news.
I know I really haven't addressed everything brought up but that would be pretty impossible. Thanks again for the thoughts.
16 - bliffle
Just like uninhibited free markets (which soon become controlled by the winners).
Those two choices are opposite faces of the same coin.
Doesn't it seem possible to come up with a scheme that is better than each?
17 - Lee Richards
GWB is a christian.
GWB believes his christian god wanted him to invade Iraq.
GWB is either correct in his belief, or full of it.
Christians who support GWB and his war on such a basis are either correct, or full of it.
Christians who support war to spread the faith or suppress alternative systems of belief and culture are exactly like the radical fundamentalists of other faiths who believe and act the same way. Both favor force to control the lives and consciences of others.
War is man's worst disease, and supporting an optional war is like putting anthrax in the water supply.
War is justified for self-defense, and the defense of helpless innocents, under the rule of law. To claim God is on our side in this war, or that Jesus would be right there in Baghdad swinging his sword of righteouness is ignorance, bad theology, and hellish Christianinty.
18 - Doug Hunter
"Many are just not aware of simple facts, and as such, can't form informed opinions."
With your 1000 deaths comment in regards to Saddam you show you are just like them... or a liar. So do you want to be considered ignorant or a liar?
19 - DaveNalle
Lee, it's hard to go wrong if we just start out assuming that Christians are 'full of it' as you say.
Dave
20 - Ms. Know
For whatever reasons the socialist illuminati want us to believe we shouldn't be at war, the fact remains that we are. I believe the Christians are praying for the safety and victory of our troops who are over there serving for you and I.
21 - Kyle
I admit my ignorance about the number of deaths. I just found several sites that point to around 600,000 deaths under Saddam, since he began to rule in 1979.
The invasion, however, has caused over a million deaths, mostly through the sectarian violence it caused. I still think invading Iraq was the greater evil.
22 - Pablo
I too think the invasion of Iraq was the greatest evil. It is also difficult not to also draw the same conclusion about its admirers and defenders.
On the home front I also think that the Homeland Security/Patriot Act/Police State mentality and legislation is equally as evil, again as are its admirers and defenders.
I not being a Christian do not believe in the Devil. I do know evil when I see it however. Those that endorse torture, kill wontonly, kidnap (rendition), are in my book evil, and should be resisted and condemned.
23 - Clavos
kill wontonly...
Wontons should only be killed for soup.
24 - Pablo
Once in a blue moon you are almost cute Clavy, good thing for me im straight.
25 - Doug Hunter
"I too think the invasion of Iraq was the greatest evil."
Why? Google Saddam torture videos on the internet and see what real evil is. Holding down people and cutting out their tongues, throwing people off buildings, execution by dynamite, beheadings, amputations, having friends and family break each others limbs, iron maidens, electroshock torture, rapes, chemical warfare, etc. All this stuff was reasonably commonplace, documented, and sanctioned by government officials under Hussein.
I am embarassed about the failures of US intelligence in the runup to war, the unneccessary torture and killing that has been documented by US forces, and often the cowboy attitude our president has had toward this very serious issue. I am glad that we have people who are critical of out motives, means, and method. I'm glad we feel bad about what happened at Abu Graib.
It's great we do all that, I want us to be held to a higher standard. But... that doesn't mean we're more evil or even close to as bad as the thugs who ran Iraq.
I sincerely hope that is rhetoric getting the better of you rather than your true feelings. If not, I highly advise you seek out a Republican or someone with a different viewpoint in real life and have a conversation with them. I can't imagine what it must be like to think that half the country or so supported a greater evil than the Hussein regime, that most of us are monsters on the inside.