How Come Christianity Has So Much War?

November 30, 2006

Why has Christianity experienced so much in the way of war? It is hard to read the Sermon on the Mount, with the admonition to turn the other cheek.. and then to look at the long history of warfare in Europe and elsewhere. We live in a country in which conservative Christians of various stripes have an important voice in policy decisions, yet we are also one of the most militarized nations of all time. How does the religion of the New Testament.. strictly interpreted.. turn into a culture that looks like us?

Perhaps we represent a natural development of the secular vacuum of the New Testament. I remember talking about the Sermon on the Mount with my Dad, and hearing how those rules were great for personal values, but were completely unrealistic when it came to national policy. A nation could not conduct its affairs by turning the other cheek or going the extra mile. At the level of the group, it seemed, self-interest had to take over. So yes, the Sermon on the Mount hardly preaches violence, but its vision is so other-worldly and private that it also allows for a group actor—such as a state—to engage in actions that seem contrary to the spirit of the text.

Let's put this another way. Since the New Testament does not offer direct foreign policy advice, but looks to the individual's relationship with God.. it becomes possible for the state to wield power with little oversight. We know from the New Testament that Roman soldiers converted to Christianity, and they were not ordered to drop out of the military. So what would this Roman soldier do if Rome decided to invade Persia next door? He would of course do as he was commanded. On this earth he would render to Caesar what was Caesar's and look to his eternal reward for his private devotion to Christ.

As a result, Christianity does not have much in the way of overt declarations of war to explain away.. especially if one allows the New Testament to simply overrule the Old Testament. But it nevertheless sets up a dynamic that allows for a highly militarized culture.

Look around. You see little dissent from American Christians about the choices our government has made for war. The appeals are made to patriotism.. that is, we fight not because we are Christians.. or with reference to any specific verse in the Bible.. but because we are patriotic Americans. We have our personal religious comfort on Christmas.. but our national pride on the 4th of July. We go to church on Sunday.. but then catch the news about our wars on television. The mark of our national culture is this coexistence of religion and patriotism.. the one sanctioning personal piety and the other underwriting self-interested actions.

But those violent Muslims, with their Qur'an and their calls for jihad!!