Barrett Garese

6od:

outofprint:

I just saw GQ’s feature on Rumsfeld’s cover sheets to Iraq War reports that mix bible quotations with Iraq-related imagery. This was disturbing to me, as I assume it was disturbing to many who saw it. The problem is that to many people, there’s nothing wrong with this. Many Americans staunchly believe America is a Christian nation and bible quotes aren’t out of place in government reports. By simply presenting these documents, we are not accomplishing anything but preaching to the choir. We need to discuss why it’s so wrong for the Secretary of Defense to do this. I tried writing about each horrible problem with this situation, but it was hard for me to approach or appeal to such abject stupidity. Those who think America is a Christian nation don’t want to know that many of the instrumental Founding Fathers were deists and anti-theists. If someone as dangerously stupid as Rumsfeld could be the Secretary of Defense, and that, upon receiving these cover sheets, Bush was so dangerously stupid as to let Rumsfeld keep his job, I’m not sure I can verbalize just how bad things have gotten. Even looking past the religious undertones of US policy, I can’t even conceive how the people trusted to lead our country could justify their actions with meaningless and idiotic quotations such as “Here I am Lord, Send Me!” to justify sending our reserve troops to die or “Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind” to describe the strength and ability of our armed forces, which surely wasn’t what the bible was talking about. And with hindsight, does not “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” make them question their faith or at least their childlike interpretations of it?

I am without words.

It’s getting harder and harder to believe that there was no religious motivation in going to war. There’s a reason religion and government make the worst bedfellows.

Source: benwasser