A History of Violence

  

"Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle." ~Psalm 144

Our Judeo-Christian heritage inspires many good works. When we read the Bible selectively, editing out the slaughter, we can find some sweetness. But entwined with the loving-kindness is a history of violence. Our scripture is bi-polar, both a luminous call of love and a gloomy manual of war.

According to the Bible, history's formative event is the brutal invasion of "the promised land," a divinely sanctioned genocide against indigenous tribes. "In the towns and cities I have given you for your inheritance, kill everything that breathes" (Deuteronomy 20). The Book of Revelation concludes the Bible with an apocalyptic battle. Jesus returns to conquer the evil ones, throwing non-Christians into the eternal "pit" with Satan.

The "pit" may or may not be a concentration camp, an Indian reservation, or the Gaza Strip, depending on how fundamentalists down-load their myths into history. The final Armageddon may or may not be a war between patriot militia survivalists armed with Bushmaster ACR's against Obama's black UN helicopters. But it's pretty obvious that our "gun culture" runs deeper than Hollywood or the NRA.

In America, the president poses with a rifle to look credible. Citizens arm themselves with brutal weapons of mass murder to feel patriotic. We raise our children in the aura of empire with deep psychic military propaganda, under the assumption that our violence is different than that of other tribes, because our violence is blessed by God. From the earliest age, we hypnotize toddlers with the glory of weapons. And no sooner does Jesus say, "Put away your sword" (Mat 26:52), than Paul writes:

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes... extinguishing the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit." (Ephesians 6)

It's glib to say, "We mustn't take these symbols literally," in a world where 98% of the people always take everything literally. From Joshua to Sampson to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, all the most exciting Biblical images indoctrinate our toddlers to sacred battle, teaching children that war is the final solution to conflict.

We wag our finger at Muslims for their war-like religion. We look down on indigenous people for their bellicose tribalism, especially when they resist our corporate profiteering, our military occupation. We are God's chosen invaders. If tribal people defend their land from us,, they must be "renegades," "savages," "guerrillas" and "terrorists." The violence of their self-defense is demonic, while the violence of our military empire is divinely inspired.

We Americans should show some real courage. How? Stop condemning the violence of Third World people, and honestly confront the pathological belligerence of our own religious tradition.

Then, simply let go of the old story...