Those of us who have followed Dr Robert Pape’s work, would by now be convinced of all the reasons to expect the upcoming US mid-term elections to be anything but business-as-usual in American politics. Even without his expert and so far dazzlingly accurate projections however, it would be clear to any observer the dilemma the US has worked its way into, internally and internationally.
The tendency to tune out the warning signs for the sake of continuing to enjoy what comforts our present positioning may have afforded us, especially in the Caribbean, so hitherto relatively sheltered from the major turbulences of Western geo-political palace intrigue; while understandable, is perhaps no longer prudent. As alluded to in past writings, the titanic is sinking and survival requires alertness of focus and astuteness of action and those who cant be bothered, having already dressed up for the ball and anticipating a wonderful evening under the stars, only seal their fate and must then summon the courage to die with as much dignity as circumstances may afford.
Having spent most of my adult life intrigued by the connections between religion and politics, and having deeply interrogated both for answers often concealed from the general public, and having come to some general conclusions on what the present moment signifies both for Carribean realities and especially for Christian faith, what fascinates my attention in Pape’s lucid analysis of the options the present US administration has in navigating this self-induced quagmire of the Iran war is what I will call the calculus of war, which is measured in human death.
The reason for this keen interest, of course, is that this is the litmus test of the value of human life, the central axiom upon which we predicate the value of our religious and political ideologies and practices.
Neither American Democracy nor Christian faith holds much promise but for its purported espousement of the value of all human life, especially the lives of its adherents and participants. When either religious or political ideology or practice become coopted as instruments of war and exploitation, we should expect them to eventually lose their popular appeal and support, having lost their compelling moral appeal and authority. War changes the normal experience and expectations of human life.
I highly recommend this interrogation both of faith and national policy for all who intend for their involvement in civic life and religious community to be an excercise in collective human empowerment rather than being the means by which what powers we do have in our contribution to collective decision-making are usurped and manipulated by interests we failed to scrutinize. The acid test for me to determine true from false religion, or democracy from demagoguery is whether and what or whom our religion and politics teaches us to hate. Once hatred is engendered as a matter of religious or political principle, its dehumanizing influence invariably prepares the path for the reign of death to be accepted as normative and justifies the campaign for its acceptance as political necessity or as the will of God.
So much more should be said, but what is most interesting at this moment for me, is who is saying what, and who chooses at such a time as this to say nothing at all. The older one gets, the more it becomes clear, if one chooses to be aware, in life … even in death, things are not what they appear to be.
