Recent events have gotten the song With God On Our Side stuck in my mind. Yes, the Bob Dylan original, but also the Neville Brothers version.
The antepenultimate verse:
But now we got weapons of chemical dust
If fire them, we’re forced to, then fire them we must
One push of the button, and a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions when God’s on your side
The final verse:
So now as I’m leavin’ – I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’ ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head, and fall to the floor
That if God’s on our side, He’ll stop the next war
When I was in fourth grade, two things happened. I had a “born again” experience watching a Billy Graham revival. And I learned the lyrics to the fourth and final verse of the Star Spangled Banner, which I still know by heart.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause, it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
At 9, I was fully inculcated in the mythos of God and country. But by the time I was 16, the linkage began to fray.
Atomic Cafe
Still, I “get” it. When I saw the movie Atomic Cafe in the early 1980s, I was most taken by the songs that linked the struggle for nuclear supremacy with religiosity, none more than Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb by Lowell Blanchard.
Everybody’s worried ’bout the atomic bomb
But nobody’s worried about the day my Lord will come
When he hits (great God almighty) like an atom bomb
When he comes, when he comes
Here are versions by the Soul Stirrers and the Pilgrim Travelers.
O.M.G.
I found reports that “US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical ‘end times’ to justify involvement in the Iran war to troops” to be heretical to true Christianity.
“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says it has received more than 200 complaints from service members across all branches of the armed forces, including the Marines, Air Force, and Space Force.”
One noncommissioned officer said their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that [FOTUS] has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
This is disturbing but hardly surprising. “Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, is known for his embrace of Christian nationalism. He previously endorsed the doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism (CR). The philosophy calls for capital punishment for homosexuality and strictly patriarchal families and churches.”
A current meme online: “If your pastor is telling you that murdering Iranians will hasten the return of Jesus, you’re not a church member. You’re a cult member.”
Confronting Christian nationalism
I really loved what Rep. James Talarico, now the Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat in Texas, had to say on the Stephen Colbert YouTube interview.
Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers how we’re going to be judged and how we’re going to be saved. By feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people…
Two commandments
JT: My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. And when I was little, he told me that Christianity is a simple religion. Not an easy religion, he would always clarify, but a simple religion, because Jesus gave us two commandments. Love God and love neighbor. And there was no exception to that second commandment.
immigration status or religious affiliation. And it’s why I have fought so hard for the separation of church and state in the state capital in Texas
JT: That’s right.
JT: Well, because we are called to love all of our neighbors, including our Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, agnostic, and atheist neighbors. And forcing our religion down their throats is not love.
