A religious criticism of the Christian-warrior general

The liberal Protestant magazine Sojourners has an message to General "my-God's-bigger-than-your-God" Boykin by Jim Wallis on its Web site:

General, I think the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" must have been written just for you. I'm sure your superiors have already given you a lesson in politics and public relations. And I've heard you have toned down your opinions and said you didn't mean to offend anyone. Whether you keep your job is a political question, the outcome of which we will know soon enough.

But I want to raise some different issues: biblical theology, bad teaching, and church discipline. General, your theology bears no resemblance to biblical teaching. You utterly confuse the body of Christ with the American nation. The kingdom of God doesn't endorse the principalities and powers of nation-states, armies, and the ideologies of empire; but rather calls them all into question. You even miss the third verse of "Onward Christian Soldiers," which reminds us, "Crowns and thrones may perish, Kingdoms rise and wane, But the Church of Jesus, constant will remain." And let's not misinterpret the famous first verse, "Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before." The cross, General, not the Special Forces.

The AOL Journal windmills of my mind has some comments on politics and exotic religious ideas here and here. (She's listening to Nanci Griffith, too, always a nice thing to do.)

The Sojourners Web site also has a brief article called The Hungry Spirit: Damnation Will Not Be Televised, which has some interesting tidbits in it. I especially like her little confession, involving one of the all-time great TV shows:

Almost everything I know about hell's eschatological aspects I learned from watching UPN's now-defunct series Buffy the Vampire Slayer - sort of an interactive "Divine Comedy."

Buffy was more theologically sophisticated than General Boykin, that's for sure.

Tags: christian fundamentalism, christian general, christian right, christianism, global war on terror, gwot, jerry boykin, jim wallis, william boykin, war on terror, william arkin

General Boykin's non-apology apology

Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin has really caught some flak over his remarks about how his religious beliefs animate his approach to fighting terrorism. He's now responded with a non-apology apology. That's a statement that's couched as an apology but isn't really.

For instance, if I say, "All left-handed Presbyterians are morons," and someone demands that I apologize for an offensive remark. So I respond by saying, "I'm sorry if anyone was offended by my comment on left-handed Presbyterian morons." That's not an apology, it's a sneer. I'm "apologizing" for someone else's response to what I said. What it really means is, "Anyone who was offended by what I said is a pathetic jerk."

General "God is on my side" Boykin gave a classic example by saying, "For those who have been offended, I offer a sincere apology." Translation: For anyone who claims they were offended, I'm sorry you're such a pathetic whiner and enemy of the One True God; for everyone else, of course, God is on Our Side.

Oddly, this same Los Angeles Times article I just linked quotes "Eugene Fidell, a military law specialist in Washington" as saying he was not aware of Boykin having broken any rules by his comment. "But he said the general's comments posed a 'management problem' for Boykin's superiors because they appeared to reflect 'profoundly poor judgment'." Uh, I would say so.

But Daily Kos has pointed out that military regulations do put limits on the situations in which a soldier can appear in public in uniform. (Boykin has often made his controversial religious declarations while in uniform.) More specifically, Army Regulation 670-1-10 (j)1 and (j)2 prohibit the wearing of uniforms in "the furtherance of any political or commercial interests" or while "participating in public speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies, or public demonstrations, except as authorized by competent authority."

So whether he violated regulations is still an open question in my mind.

Tags: christian fundamentalism, christian general, christian right, christianism, global war on terror, gwot, jerry boykin, william boykin, war on terror, william arkin

Onward Christian soldiers

Sometimes I read news that really scares me. The new deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence is Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin. He's in charge of the search for Osama bin Laden (we haven't all forgotten him, have we?) and Saddam Hussein. Gen. Boykin is a born-again Christian who sees his job as a bit more than a secular calling. He's been known to make public statements like these:

[Appearing] in dress uniform and polished jump boots before a religious group in Oregon in June to declare that radical Islamists hated the United States "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian ... and the enemy is a guy named Satan."

One Middle East expert quoted in the article flags the "Judeo-Christian" term as playing into radical Islamic propaganda against the "Christian-Zionist" enemy. In theological terms, too, it's a garbled concept, even though I know it's sometimes used by Christians with the intent to be inclusive.

"I knew my God was bigger than his [a Somali warlord's]. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

It may be worth noting that the US decided to pull out of the idol-worshipping warlord's country. But I guess that would be too much of a theological fine point.

"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this.

[Of George W. Bush:] "He's in the White House because God put him there."

I've never really thought of the pro-Bush majority on the Supreme Court as messengers of God. But maybe my faith isn't as clear as the General's.

Military analyst William Arkin calls Boykin "an intolerant extremist who has spoken openly about how his belief in Christianity has trumped Muslims and other non-Christians in battle."

Tags: christian fundamentalism, christian general, christian right, christianism, global war on terror, gwot, jerry boykin, william boykin, war on terror, william arkin