No general has ever appeared in front of his army and said, "I had a long talk with God in my tent last night, and he said this time he’s going to side with the Turks."
– as quoted in Robert Buckman’s Can We Be Good Without God? (2000)
The idea that religion and politics should not mix was always a bit of a fiction, resting on no obvious philosophical principle. Uneasy bedfellows they may be, to be sure, but bedfellows they are all the same. For example, the very fabric of Canada’s political development over the past four centuries was woven out of ideas, beliefs and values whose origins trace back to the Catholic and Protestant churches. Yet there’s still a lingering sense of unease whenever politicians evoke religious authority or when religious leaders tackle political issues. Recent events have made this quite clear.
First, there was the delayed reaction to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s habit of ending his speeches with the phrase "God bless Canada." Innocent enough, you’d think, but apparently not. "Does he mean that all of our soldiers will come home safe and sound and escape the great wrath of those Muslim fighters whom God obviously refuses to bless?" asked one correspondent to the Globe and Mail. " Good question. In anticipating or requesting God’s support for one politically determined group of humans (e.g. Canadians), does Harper mean to deny the same to others?
Still, Harper is on solid constitutional ground. No less a document than the Charter of Rights and Freedoms opens with the unequivocal claim that "Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law."
But some critics are less concerned with the theological or constitutional roots of Harper’s petition, and more with its political implications. "I do believe we all know to whom Harper is tipping his hat with these words," wrote John Chuckman in January’s online CounterBias. "George Bush, author of two wars which have killed more than a hundred thousand innocent people… says ‘God Bless America!’ every chance he gets." In this fashion, a seemingly innocent valediction becomes a sinister secret handshake between two world leaders.
Well, what about President Bush himself? A self-declared "born-again" Christian, Bush has never hidden the fact that his religious beliefs inform and even direct his political actions. Asked in 1999 to name the political philosopher or thinker that he most identified with, Bush replied, "Christ, because he changed my heart."
Yet he is hardly alone in this respect. Ever since 9/11, patriotism, militarism and religious piety have fused into a single world view that has swept much if not most of America. For example, it was by a vote of 404-0 that the House of Representatives passed a resolution to permit the posting of "God Bless America" signs on all public school buildings, thereby violating the time-honoured separation of church and state.
Even so, it was still surprising to hear one reporter, at last week’s press conference marking the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, ask Bush if he thought that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism were, in fact, signs of the Apocalypse. "I haven’t really thought of it that way," Bush replied. "I guess I’m more of a practical fellow…. What do we do to protect us from harm? That’s my job."
Yet just three years earlier, it had been a much more forthright Bush who had spoken with Palestinian Prime Minister Nabil Shaath. "I’m driven with a mission from God," Bush allegedly confided. "God would tell me, ‘George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.’ And I did, and then God would tell me, ‘George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq.’ And I did. And now again, I feel God’s words coming to me, ‘Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.’ And by God I’m gonna do it!"
So there we have it. Not oil, not national security, not revenge for daddy… but a divinely inspired mission to deliver peace to the troubled Middle East.
Which brings me, inevitably, to the Christian Peacekeepers Team.
Just days after Bush’s press conference, a multinational military force located and released James Loney, Harmeet Singh Sooden and Norman Kember – all members of the CPT – who had been held captive by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade since last November. A fourth man, Tom Fox, had been executed two weeks earlier. Relief and elation were natural, obvious and indeed proper sentiments widely expressed at the safe recovery of the three men. Yet even before their return home from Iraq – in Loney’s case, to his native Canada – there were some who voiced less celebratory reflections.
Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente questioned both the CPT’s wisdom and motive for staying in Iraq long after almost all other NGO groups had heeded government warnings and pulled out. "Their aggressive idealism did nothing to advance the cause of peace, and a great deal to put other people… in harm’s way." In the same paper, Rex Murphy was even more critical. While the CPT thanked "all those who worked and prayed for our release," he noted that it took a subsequent press release to express any gratitude to "the soldiers who risked their lives to free Jim, Norman and Marmeet." Yet even that statement went on to add, "As peacemakers who hold firm to our commitment to nonviolence, we are also deeply grateful that they fired no shots to free our colleagues."
This reticence to thank their armed liberators can be traced back to the CPT’s origins. Founded in the mid-1980s by Canadian evangelist Ron Sider, the CPT brought together Mennonites, Quakers and the Church of the Brethren in an organization committed to "reducing violence by getting in the way." Since then, the CPT has widened its denomination base – it now includes Catholics, among others – and has supported peace missions around the world (e.g. Gaza, Haiti, Bosnia and Chechnya) as well as in the U.S. and Canada.
The CPT remains small – just 30 or so full-time members plus 160 part-time volunteers – but pursues its goal with the devotion of the fanatical. "Those who believed in peace through the sword have not hesitated to die," Sider once declared. "Again and again, they sacrificed bright futures to the tragic illusion that one more religious crusade would bring peace in their time, and they laid their lives down by the millions…. Unless we are ready to start dying by the thousands in dramatic vigorous new exploits for peace and justice, we should sadly confess that we never meant what we said."
Thus even as the world rejoiced at the release of Loney, Sooden and Kember, it is impossible not to notice the irony that it took the very same forces opposed by the CPT – the military occupiers of Iraq – to do what four months of earnest prayer had failed to achieve. Perhaps thanks was too much to expect.
And so the uneasy marriage of religion and politics continues…. |
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