Posted on 09/02/2007 5:04:30 AM PDT by Clear Rivers
If you happened to be in a crowded room at The Beacon Drive-In one Wednesday in late August, you would have heard a man in a suit reference Genesis Chapter 50, the book of Isaiah, and using two fish and five loaves of bread to feed thousands of people.
It wasn't a sermon.
It was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 presidential contender, during a stump speech in front of a room full of Republicans.
Using biblical references on the campaign trail isn't unusual, especially in the conservative core of South Carolina. Often, they can be heard when candidates spell out their positions on abortion or gay rights. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback regularly repeats "All for Jesus" when he's in front of a crowd, for instance.
"If you're a Republican candidate campaigning in Spartanburg ... right now, you have to do whatever ever it takes to stay alive, and that means courting a constituency that can help you," said Laura Olson, an expert in American religion and politics at Clemson University. "In the Republican primary in South Carolina, an absolute crucial constituency would be social conservatives, value voters, evangelical Protestants - call them whatever you want. Quoting scripture would be speaking their language.
"In a national sense, it could be a problem. But in Spartanburg, South Carolina, you're going to alienate fewer people than you're going to attract."
While many candidates are quick to cite the Bible when it comes to social issues (or, in the case of Huckabee's latest visit, the state of his campaign), they are much less likely to run to the Good Book when it comes to the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has left thousands of Iraqis dead.
In a series of interviews with top Republican candidates or members of their campaigns during the past month, the Herald-Journal asked how supporting such a war meshes with the most basic biblical teachings such as "love thy enemy" or "thou shall not kill." Most defended the war in Iraq as "just" - morally acceptable, despite the nature of warfare.
What they said
• Huckabee, who calls the war against terror "World War III," is a Baptist preacher and pointed out that the literal translation of the Sixth Commandment is "Thou shall not do murder."
"The same Bible that says 'thou shall not kill' is filled with references to war," Huckabee said. "It's never an ideal. It always should be the last resort. But I don't think anybody would deny that war was a necessary action to stop Adolph Hitler, to stop the invasion of Japan in the United States, and to stop many evils that have happened throughout history. It's not something that you take lightly or enter into with a cavalier spirit, but sometimes it is the only way to put aside an evil that is determined to destroy others."
• Arizona Sen. John McCain, an Episcopalian, cited a chapter in his latest book, "Hard Call," that focuses on American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.
"Niebuhr argued in his rejection of pacifism during World War II that man, self-interested by nature, cannot hope to replicate Christ's perfect love, but at best can hope to work in history to achieve a derivative of his love: justice," McCain said in a statement. "War, if it is waged in the cause of doing justice, may be morally acceptable to Christians, as long as - and this is important - we have the humility to accept that we are engaged in a morally hazardous action, and that our pride and self-interest, if we are not very careful, could subvert the very cause of justice we intended to serve."
• Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, initially laughed at the question, and then pointed out that the issue had been debated for years by theologians and philosophers.
"Radical violent jihad is evil," Romney then said. "It is the same face that Hitler's holocaust camps showed the world during the second World War. And it is good and right to combat forces of evil, such as those represented by Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups that preach terror and hate and destruction."
• Brownback, who converted from Methodist to Catholic in 2002, pointed out that America's invasion of Iraq was closely on the heels of 9/11, and that his feeling was that Saddam Hussein had used gas against his own people and that U.S. intelligence showed that he had chemical weapons.
"I thought he would give them to terrorists to use against us, not al-Qaida, necessarily, but other terrorists that were operating on his soil," Brownback said. "I wasn't willing to let him kill our people, and I think that is a just war situation - that combination of what he had done to his own people and the very real threat I believed he was to our people."
• Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani perhaps least often uses biblical references to justify his positions - he's said on numerous occasions he likes to keep those feelings between himself and his Catholic priest.
Giuliani, in past interviews with the Herald-Journal and other papers, has pointed out on abortion, for instance, that his position rests in the Republican belief that government should not intrude into a person's life.
His campaign offered this excerpt from a speech Giuliani delivered at The Citadel in May: "Our ideas of freedom, democracy, respect for human rights, respect for human life, and the rule of law ...
"These are the principles that the human heart and the human soul yearn for. These are gifts that are given to us, not by government, not by men or women - these are gifts that are given to us by God."
What it means
The idea of a "just" war goes back hundreds of years - St. Thomas Aquinas defined it in the 1200s, and even he was referencing St. Augustine's works from the 4th century. But the idea still guides politicians today: President Bush first used the term "evildoers" on Sept. 14, 2001, and has used it repeatedly since.
Clemson University political science professor Dave Woodard pointed out that just war theory was debated often during World War II, Vietnam and the first Gulf War. In Vietnam, for instance, America decided it would be immoral to bomb dikes and flood civilians. President George H.W. Bush faced the same questions during his term.
"The purpose of war is to bring about peace," Woodard said. "Morally, he thought we were slaughtering them, and he wanted to end the conflict.
It turned out, when it was over, we weren't doing as well as it seemed we did in the pictures. So, he left Saddam Hussein in power and pulled out."
In his "Summa Theologiae," Aquinas argued that there are three conditions for a just war - that the ruler for whom the war is fought must have the authority to do so; that a just cause is required, so that those upon whom war is waged "deserve" such a response; and that the war is conducted to achieve good or avoid evil. Citing Augustine, he states, "For the true followers of God, even wars are peaceful if they are waged not out of greed or cruelty, but for the sake of peace, to restrain the evildoers and assist the good," according to one translation.
In modern terms, that means asking whether a war is justifiable or whether the ends justify the means, Olson said.
"Most social conservatives would say yes, because they tie it to 9/11 and other things tied to 9/11," she said.
But it's a fine line the candidates must walk.
The last thing any of them wants to do is tie their morals or values regarding the war directly to Christianity, because then the debate turns into one of Christianity versus Islam, Olson said.
"The war is very controversial," she said.
"And the war itself doesn't inspire quite as much agreement among social conservatives as gay rights and abortion would. It's certainly true that a majority of social conservatives would support the war, at least to some extent. But you want to find ways of attracting people, keeping them on the same stage. It's one thing to try to mobilize social conservative voters by talking about homosexuality, abortion ... but the war is a whole different can of worms to open.
"Not that abortion and homosexuality aren't controversial - they are. But ... the war is a messier issue for this audience."
Tying ones world views (war or anything) to Christianity may be considered a super bad thing but that is the only way to stay true to ones religion or values. Being politically correct, in other words, is being a hypocritical lying crapweasel who will do anything to get elected without regard to principles or morality.
Agree 100%. My point was that to oppose a just war or also do nothing is wrong.
There is a very instructive story in Judges 19+20. An evil deed was committed, and those that did nothing (”Hey, we can’t be bothered”) were then killed, after the bad guys and those that gave them shelter were killed.
And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death. ...
8 And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly. 9 For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there. 10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.
Evangelical Protestants are good people. That’s why the MSM despises them so much.
I have to disagree with the commentary. If a tribe did not want to help oppose evil, they should have been “eliminated”.
Even more to the point, why were the Jews forced to wander around in the wilderness for an extra 40 years? Because they were afraid to invade the land God gave them and exterminate every man, woman and child who were already there. Eventually Joshua decided to follow God's instructions and do just that.
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