[Pyro7480]

Fallujah prayer : A rosary hangs off the barrel of a machinegun mounted on a Bradley belonging to the 1st Cavalry Regiment 5th Battalion positioned on the outskirts of Fallujah. (AFP/Patrick Baz)

[Recon by Fire]

Big machine gun...Actually it is an M242 25mm chain gun.

[B-Chan]

The sight of a string of rosary beads and the Crucifix hung about the barrel of a machine gun is shocking — but let us not confuse transient emotional responses with the realities of a properly formed Christian conscience. A gun is a tool of war, yes, but war is not an inherently unchristian thing; a just war — which this conflct certainly is — is an act of charity, and as such should be fought with a solemn, optimistic good spirit, not with distaste.

“War is a dreadful thing, and I can respect an honest pacifist, though I think he is entirely mistaken. What I cannot understand is this sort of semi-pacifism you get nowadays which gives the people the idea that though you have to fight, you ought to do it with a long face as if you were ashamed of it.”

— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

A Christian soldier should no more feel gloomy or ashamed while doing his job than a Christian surgeon feels while doing his: both men shed blood, and both are doing good.

Discussion on this topic:
Catholic perspective
Evangelical pespective

[Travis McGee]

Check 21.

[wardaddy]

all we need is a Lionheart Brigade.

I hope they kill a whole lot more than they capture.

the way these savages behave, they merit the black flag.

[SuziQ]

Fallujah prayer : A rosary hangs off the barrel of a machinegun mounted on a Bradley belonging to the 1st Cavalry Regiment 5th Battalion positioned on the outskirts of Fallujah.

As the President said "In the war between good and evil, God is NOT neutral."