War Gets a Promotion

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war. (Psalm 120:6-7)

No doubt you’re aware that the president has issued his 202^nd executive order (in eight months) to demote defense and promote war in its place.* Is it a simple photo op, a commercial or a makeover, or does it mean something to rename the Department of Defense and replace it with the “Department of War”? And BTW, the Pentagon’s website has transformed from “defense.gov” to “war.gov.”

In recent post, I posed the question whether or not the change was a good idea or not. Some thought it’s a good thing because it sends a message to bad actors around the world that we are poised to do what it takes to preserve our American way of life. Others were neutral about it. What does it matter, they said? Still others thought that designating a department of the federal government this way, indicating its mission is that of “war” instead of defense speaks of a much more aggressive posture in the world. The direction we’re going seems to be a stance of picking fights rather than doing our best to avoid them.

You might’ve guessed I am of the opinion of the latter.

Trump said the switch was intended to signal to the world that the United States was a force to be reckoned with, and complained that the former name was “woke.” I’d remind us that it was changed to “defense” in 1947. Is he saying the country was “woke” in 1947? I thought that was the America he wants us to return to so we can be “great” again!

For those who are neutral, I’d remind us that words matter, especially when describing matters as important as war. It’s like the difference between a sign on your door that says “No Solicitors“ and “Anyone uninvited will be eaten by our pack of pit bulls.“ “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Proverbs 12:18) “Defense” says something altogether different than “war.” Right? Is it our desire to be a nation of warriors?

Vernacular and rhetoric have the power to fuel good or bad actions (Proverbs 18:21). Let’s say you’re having a disagreement with someone, which would you rather hear, “I disagree with your position, but I am willing to listen for clarification”? Or, “You are f***ing out of your mind and you’d better watch your back!“ It’s not just in the words, but the spirit of what they convey and how they affect the hearers. Right?

Department of war sounds like we expect, maybe even hope to go to war. After all, if we’re going to have a department dedicated to war, let’s not waste it! To me it’s not an innocuous matter of semantics but gives yet more evidence that the spirit of our nation is being undermined and replaced by the spirit of this world (Romans 12:2). As an example, in reference to the bombing of what we’re told was a Venezuelan drug boat, killing eleven people on board without due process, Vice-President Vance wrote: “Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military.”

As a Christian I do my best to take my worldview and ethical values from Jesus, who taught a particularly nonviolent way of life. “All who draw the sword will die by the sword,” he said. Not to mention, blessed are the meek, turn the other cheek, and so on. Gandhi once said that Jesus was the greatest practitioner of nonviolence in history and that the only people who do not know that are Christians. I heard a believer say recently that Christians are “too nice,” and that we should be willing to “fight fire with fire.” (Did she mean “firepower”? I don’t know for sure.)

Before anyone asks, yes, I’m aware of “Just War Theory,” not to mention the “obligation” for a person or nation to defend their families or countries against actual threats of violence. Though I’ve thought and studied quite a bit about such things, I’m still a little on the fence about a Christian’s duty to kill others in war. (Please don’t judge me for my agnosticism on this. I’m thinking through it.) But when it comes to the growing number in our tribe’s strange devotion to their firearms, hawkishness in foreign policies, and advocacy of violent insurrectionism, I draw the line at the place I believe Jesus drew it.

It’s been pointed out that before the end of WWII it was the DOW (Department of War). Before 1947 1,142,000 Americans died in our wars. Since we changed the name to DOD our wartime death toll has been less than 90,000. Shouldn’t we hope to evolve as a race and as a country rather than slide backward into an emphasis, and by implication, almost an encouragement toward “war”?

“Better a patient person than a warrior,” wrote Solomon, “one with self-control than one who takes a city.” (Proverbs 16:32) War should always be nothing but the last resort. Downgrading its name sounds like a devotion more to war than to defense, and appears to me neither “patient” nor “self-controlled.”

Donald Trump is not the first, but the most recent high priest of the national cult of militant masculinity. Seems some people believe in a Jesus and his band of spiritual bad asses that more closely resemble William Wallace than either Mother Teresa or Mister Rogers.

Don’t forget the mean spirit of what megachurch Pastor Robert Jeffress said of Donald Trump in the months before the 2016 election, “I want the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-you-know-what I can find in that role, and I think that’s where many evangelicals are.” In that same year, Army Chaplain John McDougall published a book called Jesus Was an Airborne Ranger: Find Your Purpose Following the Warrior Christ.

It’s disturbing to me that more than any other religious demographic in America, white evangelical Protestants support preemptive war. Which book are we reading, the Quran or the New Testament? Is there a verse in the latter that I don’t know about that commands Christian holy war? Is somebody planning a comeback tour of the crusades?

Trump also said during the signing ceremony that “we’re going to go on offense, not just on defense,” and that changing the name “sends a message of victory.” Victory implies winning over someone or something.  Victory over whom? The now Secretary of Defense likes his new title “Secretary of War” as it expresses “maximum lethality.” If it’s maximum lethality we’re about now, count me out. Seems to me the moral center of the country that many call a “Christian nation” has been Trumped­­––Vanced if you prefer.

“He (God) makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” (Psalm 46:9)

*This is one of those things that’s not official apart from an act of Congress. So, I’m hoping that body of ineffectual men and women will decide to put the signs and URL back where they belong.