'Idolatrous' Baptist Bibles for U.S. Military
The 16 million member Southern Baptist Convention is publishing military Bibles for various branches of the U.S. armed forces, to the horror of left-wing bloggers, who fear the Bibles advocate an "idolatrous" American nationalism.
A division of the Southern Baptists' Lifeway Christian Resources has released "The Soldier's Bible," "The Marine's Bible," 'The Sailor's Bible," "The Airman's Bible and "The Coast Guard Bible."
Blissfully indifferent to political incorrectness, the Bibles include the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the pledge of allegiance, prayers from George Washington and George Patton, and testimonies from former airman Jimmy Stewart and former Marine Oliver North, among others. The covers of the Bibles bear the insignia of the various service branches.
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"Apparently the Southern Baptist Convention's leadership, or, at least that part of it which makes publishing decisions, has rejected Jesus as the Prince of Peace, the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world," scribbled one angry, ex-Southern Baptist blogger. "It has rejected the nonviolence which Jesus practiced and taught; rejected the command to be peacemakers."
The Bibles from the Southern Baptists unapologetically assume that honorable Christians legitimately may serve in the armed forces of the United States. This audacious assumption offends two, but frequently overlapping, constituencies in the American religious world. First, there is the old Religious Left, which assumes that all U.S. military personnel are agents of U.S. imperialism and potential war criminals. Secondly, there is the new pacifist fundamentalism, which denounces all hints of patriotism as "idolatrous" and caesarian.
In the mythology of the former, not all force is per se evil. Anti-western liberation struggles might be morally legitimate. But all exertion of U.S. military power is de facto an abomination.
In the mythology of the latter, all "violence" is anathema to the Gospel. And all loyalties to nation states, particularly to the United States, are an exaltation of Caesar above the Lord.
Both schools of theological thought are largely confined to seminary-trained elites, whose theological premises are almost entirely rooted in the 20th century.
The Southern Baptist publishing house, in contrast to these religious elitists, largely adheres to an historic Christian understanding of military vocations and of national loyalties. Like Jesus Himself, who never demanded that soldiers He met abandon their profession, the historic Christian church has nearly always recognized that legitimate rulers may use force in just causes. And nearly all branches of Christianity have always recognized that believers have temporal loyalties to community and ruler, which are of course subordinate to God.
In contrast, the old Religious Left will affirm the ardent nationalisms of aggrieved Third World victim groups but never of Westerners, least of all Americans. And the pacifist absolutists portray Christians as nearly disembodied souls, with no permissible earthly affections, except to radically counter-cultural churches.
As one distraught blogger in the pacifist camp asserted, the Southern Baptist publishers are promoting the United States "as a 'chosen nation"" and are denying the "the universality of the gospel." But in fact, traditional Christians typically believe that all countries are "chosen" for some providential purpose. The God of Christianity does not simply operate through individuals or the church, but through many instruments, including nations.
Pacifist absolutists denounce national loyalties as "throne and altar theology," akin to the compromised churches of Nazi Germany. Another infuriated blogger insisted that the Southern Baptist use of military insignia was "blasphemously demonstrating to the entire world that they view the Almighty God as though he were the domesticated deity of a single nation and/or military tribe." In fact, the Southern Baptists are illustrating that God has a message for U.S. military personnel no less than He speaks to any other profession or nationality.
Would the sanctimonious crowd that is so peeved by the Southern Baptist military Bibles similarly fume over Bibles aimed at Mexican fruit harvesters, Chicago garbage collectors, New York school teachers, or the faculty of Ivy League universities (who probably are most in need of Bibles)?
What if such Bibles, rather than including prayers from American generals, instead contained quotes from Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, and William Sloane Coffin? Probably there would be no denunciations of "insidious civil religion," as one irate blogger wrote of the Southern Baptist Bibles.
The prayers, hymns and quotes in the Southern Baptist military Bibles do not summon soldiers and sailors and airmen to mindless nationalism. Just the opposite, they are calls to integrity in the sight of God. "Almighty Father, whose command is over all and whose love never fails, make me aware of Thy presence and obedient to Thy will," reads The Marine's Prayer. There are no calls to nation-worship or empire-building.
Objections from arm chair theologians to the Southern Baptist military Bibles are not rooted in authentic worries over idolatry. They are instead premised upon an unthinking anti-Americanism that attributes to our republic almost cosmological evil. Fortunately, most Christians, Southern Baptist or not, understand that God loves all nations, including even the United States.
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Mark D. Tooley directs the United Methodist committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy.
