Christian fundamentalists and war

Posted by Joe on: 03.19.2008 /

All today I have been thinking about the Iraq conflict and considering the Christian response. I would like to share something I’ve found. It is from a Commencement Address from a fundamentalist High School. Imagine the scene: two bearded guys on a stage, giving the kids a final lecture before they are let loose on the world. An awkward silence as a significant proportion of the school just wants the whole thing to be over. If it had been my school, there would probably have been stink bombs and lots of sniggering, but then maybe the fundamentalists are better behaved than we were.

Mr Souder, the history teacher is speaking.

Your theology (belief who God is) will not let you lose your life to reconcile your enemy to God, but will let you risk your life in the noble pursuit of your enemy’s blood. This is tragic, of course, and like they say, war is hell, and you will genuinely regret needing to start one, but remember your values. Stay in touch with reality. Your standard of living, that is, your ability to consume as many resources as you want to before you die, is something to which you have a sacred duty. This will again be a time for deep soul commitment. You will need to live by sight and not by old-fashioned Sunday-go-to-meeting Nice Guy ethics. Keep your eyes on the facts. Death, and your enemy’s intention to visit it on you, must be kept uppermost in your mind. After you have recovered your money-and-sword-based distance from the one who is trying to save his life at your expense, you will again have leisure to forgive others, to love all men, and maybe even, perhaps in a voluntary service situation, to suffer a little bit, in carefully measured amounts of course, for people “less fortunate” than yourself. Of course you are under no obligation to help others at all if that in any way interferes with your primary objective - postponing your death.

Later he continues:

According to most religious people, even many who name the name of Christ, it is possible, in fact, it is necessary to “do evil that good may come”. These is a good kind of evil, they believe, though then they mention it they always call it “necessary” evil. They cannot even imagine, let alone believe, that the universe is arranged in such a way that good will triumph without the aid of strategically administered evil. They say they are in touch with enough facts to demonstrate that careless or unlimited love and forgiveness do nothing but long term damage to the moral order of the universe. Vengeance, they believe, is a more basic reality, and therefore much more effective for salvaging our fallen world than forgiveness.

Mr Sauder was talking to the class of 2007 from Faith Mennonite High School in Pennsylvania, a school comprising of children from various kinds of strict Mennonite and Amish churches in the area.

I can’t help thinking that if this talk is the culmination of an Anabaptist education in America, then there is hope for Western Christianity.

Mr Sauder, that is one of the best sermons I have ever heard. I hope your students will do you proud.

Full text here (.pdf) and h/t to Javan Lapp

4 Responses to "Christian fundamentalists and war"

Comment by: Benjamin
1 03/19/08 7:18 PM | Comment Link |
Joe

You find the most fascinating things. Thank you for sharing.

Your hope for Western Christianity is admirable.

Do people call the Mennonites, the Amish, and the Anabaptists “Fundamentalists”? It’s a new use of the term to me.
Comment by: joe
2 03/20/08 3:46 AM | Comment Link |
Well, put it this way Benjamin, if we had a bunch of people in the UK who grew their beards long, wore strange clothing and spoke a language none of the rest of us could understand, there is a good chance they would be characterised as fundamentalists.

If they had such anarchic theology and archaic practices as the Amish, I have no doubt they would be imprisoned as a danger to society.
Comment by: Benjamin
3 03/20/08 10:40 AM | Comment Link |
If they had such anarchic theology and archaic practices as the Amish, I have no doubt they would be imprisoned as a danger to society.

Surely you’re joking? I mean aren’t we over here in the U.S. the ones who like to imprison so many people?

I bet you have something akin to Amish over there somewhere?

When I think “fundamentalist”, I think of Christians, or religious people of any flavor, actually, who make of their religion a sort of … nationalism, a sort of … –well, I mean they are willing to promote their religion using violence. For instance, … atheistic fundamentalism.
Comment by: David H
4 03/20/08 2:52 PM | Comment Link |
Wikipedia definition of fundamentalism:

The term fundamentalism was originally coined to describe a narrowly defined set of beliefs that developed into a movement within the US Protestant community in the early part of the 20th century. These religious principles stood in opposition to the modernist movement and espoused the strict adherence to and faith in religious “fundamentals”.

The term “fundamentalist” has since been generalized to mean strong adherence to any set of beliefs in the face of criticism or unpopularity, but has by and large retained religious connotations (especially since the Iranian revolution, when Islamic fundamentalism became a term used to explain the political Islamic movement based on fundamental Islamic beliefs).[citation needed] The collective use of the term fundamentalist to describe non-Christian movements has offended some Christians who desire to retain the original definition. “Fundamentalist” has also been used pejoratively against those who hold an intransigent set of beliefs. The term has been used to characterize religious advocates as clinging to a stubborn, entrenched position that defies reasoned argument or contradictory evidence

From Dictionary.com:
1.(sometimes initial capital letter) a movement in American Protestantism that arose in the early part of the 20th century in reaction to modernism and that stresses the infallibility of the Bible not only in matters of faith and morals but also as a literal historical record, holding as essential to Christian faith belief in such doctrines as the creation of the world, the virgin birth, physical resurrection, atonement by the sacrificial death of Christ, and the Second Coming.
2. the beliefs held by those in this movement.
3. strict adherence to any set of basic ideas or principles: the fundamentalism of the extreme conservatives.

Based on those two definitions, Mennonites might be fundamentalists, but they aren’t Fundamentalists. Mennonites and Amish have a tendency to be conservative in their beliefs and, perhaps, not particularly open to change. But historically they have been fundamentally opposed to some of the things that make Fundamentalists Fundamentalists.

The teacher’s commencement address, which really resonated with me, was a call for the school’s graduates to return to some of the core values of Mennonites. I have heard similar things from a variety of sources. But the core values and faith basis for traditional Mennonites is almost in opposition to much of what has become mainstream American Evangelical “christianity.”