Bush's Crusade Mentality Creates Unease

By: Leo Sandon

The traditional biblical positions regarding war and peace are now being represented in the public square: pacifism, just war and, lamentably, crusades.

Pacifism probably was the predominant Christian witness during the Church's first three or four centuries. It has been perpetuated in historically peacefull churches - Mennonite, Brethren, Friends - and among members of mainline groups who believe that participating in violence, warfare, and military service in a nuclear era violates a moral imperative. Pacifism not only has survived through the centuries but is taking on a new credibility. Pacifist or quasi-pacifist strategies of nonviolent social reconstruction, conflict resolution, and reconciliation are gaining respect in academic, governmental, and associational circles. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others, demonstrates their usefulness much as Gandhi, Kagawa, and Martin Luther King Jr. did in the recent past.

The just-war tradition began with St. Ambrose and St. Augustine in the 4^th and 5^th Centuries. It probably is the perspective of choice for the majority of Christians who think seriously about war and are not willing to obey uncritically whatever the state commands. It shares with similar ethical traditions in Judaism and Islam a concern for moral restraints on resorting to war and humane norms in conducting it. In this tradition war may be justified if the cause is just, if it is a last resort, if it is legitimately authorized, and if there is reasonable hope for success. War, furthermore, must be waged with discrimination and a sense of proportionality.

Probably most ethicists and religious leaders working from a just-war tradition rule out pre-emptive warfare. Bishops and bishop-types from around the world represent a continuum ranging from grave concern to unequivocal opposition to U.S. policy. The Vatican considers a pre-emptive war against Iraq "a war of aggression". A number of Jewish groups and most Muslim leaders also oppose it.

Other religious leaders, however, support the invasion on the basis of their interpretation of just-war principles. Roman Catholic theologian Michael Novak, of the American Enterprise Institute, supports it, as do a number of prominent conservative evangelicals. Just-war theory has a history of sometimes being stretched to rationalize whatever a nation-state needs to justify.

But the surprising aspect of current U.S. policy is the crusade mentality displayed by the Department of Defense and President Bush. Its antecedents lie deep in the holy-war tradition of ancient Israel. It was big in the 11^th Century, when Christians needed to liberate Jerusalem's holy places from the Turks. For crusaders, war is a religious and moral obligation. Not since World War I has the crusader attitude been so strong.

This week's Newsweek has an extraordinary cover story on "Bush and God: Why his 'God Talk' Worries Friends and Foes". Journalist Howard Fineman and religious historian Martin E. Marty give voice to a growing uneasiness among our allies and among U.S. citizens.

"One hopes that the Bush people will keep in mind," Marty writes, "that claims of God's always being on our side are alienating to many former or would-be allies." Since an initial blunder of calling for a crusade against terrorists in the wake of Sept. 11, President Bush has taken care not to use the term. But the crusade attitude and rhetoric continue unabated.

It is ironic that Osama bin Laden refers to the American crusaders when he attempts to stir up hatred toward us in the Arab world. When we, in turn, speak of good and evil in absolute terms and declare war on demon enemies with crusading fervor, we fan bin Laden's flames. As evangelical theologian and Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw (quoted by Marty) notes: "Those inflammatory statements stimulate further antagonism on the part of Muslim extremists."

Advocating a crusading invasion of Iraq today invokes ghosts from religiously motivated missions we thought were distant memories. Richard Lion-Heart (1157-99) led the Third Crusade, going it alone when German and French allies dropped out. Richard led the greatest force ever assembled during the Middle Ages, but on the cusp of invasion he decided that more blood wasn't worth it. He made a truce with Kurdish leader Saladin and went home.

So far President Bush's course has been analogous to Richard's. But don't look for any abrupt change of direction this time around.