Preachers and War
By Don Wilkey, Pastor
First Baptist Church, Onalaska, TX
Celebrities often comment on U. S. foreign policy, especially in regard to the war with Iraq. Everyone has
the freedom to "speak out" in our democracy. However, many of us might be surprised to learn that throughout our history, prominent ministers have been as outspoken as present-day Hollywood personalities.
The nation has a rich history of ministers who have gone to the public airways in time of war, either as hawks or doves. Until recently, the hawk model has been the most common response.
German churches offered their church bells to be melted down into cannon balls for use in World War I. They no doubt had gleaned the idea from southern Protestant churches, who did the same during the Civil War. Cautious pacifism has always seemed to be a stance more equated with cowardice than with Christian ethics. Most recently, the splinter group who left the Baptist General Convention of Texas equated being a pacifist with being a pagan.1
In the 1930s, Arkansas passion play founder and preacher Gerald Smith formed a political party with Father Charles Coughlin, who was a Catholic priest. Smith, Coughlin and others of like mind formed the organization seeking to keep the nation out of World War II. Gerald taught followers the fascist salute, while Coughlin got on the radio to proclaim national problems were caused by American Jews.2 Both had a national following and some historians credit them with founding the modern Religious Right.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt grew weary of dealing with Coughlin and a Lutheran preacher known as Gerald Winrod. Winrod ran for national office from Kansas and was known as the "Jayhawk Nazi." You could guess what Winrod`s politics were. His radio broadcasts seemed to undermine the war effort in the U.S.3
The Roosevelt administration eventually brought crim-inal charges against the Kansan, saying he was a threat to national security. FDR tried to get the Vatican to deal with Coughlin, who was reported to have received funds from the Third Reich.
Viet Nam-era folks might recall seeing a few ministers holding posters against the war. The war also had ministerial backing. Fundamentalist leader Carl McIntire, who was defrocked by the Presbyterians, often held rallies in support of the war.4 Colonel R. B. Thieme, head of a national tape ministry, often preached wearing a military uniform. Thieme, who uttered profanities from the pulpit, once told his listeners it was their "God given right to kill Gooks." A modern Religious Right preacher, Rick Scarborough, seems to be following their example.
Televangelists Jack Van Impe and John Hagee have packed their TV programs with charts on the end of the world, laced with biblical predictions regarding the region of the Iraq conflict. Popular black preacher T. D. Jakes was recently pictured preaching in military camouflaged fatigues, with a downed helicopter for his backdrop.
President Bush`s own denomination, the Methodists, have had an ethics leader who pastors in Washington D.C., come out publicly against the Iraq war. Rev. James Forbes of Riverside Church in New York City, allowed anti-war demonstrators to use his church for a rally. I was in the audience when Forbes declared that real regenerated people are not for the war with Iraq. In Baptist lingo, that means you are not saved if you are for the war.
Meanwhile, Southern Baptist`s national ethics organi-zation head endorsed the conflict, saying it falls under the category of a "just war."5 The SBC passed a unanimous resolution at a national meeting endorsing the war. In contrast, President Jimmy Carter wrote in the New York Times that the war did not fit the qualifications of a "just war."
Religious-right writer Gary North has called attention to the split between the neo-conservatives and the religious Reconstructionists. Although ultra-conservatives, R. J. Rushdoony and North differ with the new political hawks; they are not supporters of Israel. North claims U.S. foreign policy is influenced too much by pro-Israel proponents, based on a faulty eschatology.6 These two have opposed the Gulf and Iraq wars on the grounds the conflicts aid the Jews in Israel. North states that both he and the founder of Reconstructionism are anti-Zionists. Of added interest is North`s statement that he and Rushdoony do not believe the U.S. has fought a legitimate war since 1783. Thus, all wars since then were unjust, including the Civil War. Rushdoony once wrote that the real glory days for the nation were found in the antebellum South. The publication also claimed the "Christian South" fought against a "Universalist North" and lost the Civil War because they did not remain faithful to God, who surely favored their viewpoint.
Many would be astounded to find that the hardcore ele-ment in the Reconstructionist movement believes World War II was not a legitimate ethical effort on the part of the nation. Recently the John Birch Society magazine, a favorite among that crowd, suggested President Bush had a hidden agenda in Iraq. He was secretly clearing the way for the United Nations to control the world.
In the early 1900s, national preachers Harry Fosdick and George Truett used their pulpits to support the U. S. entering World War I. Though these men were miles apart in their theology, they both later regretted allowing themselves to be drawn into promoting America`s participation in the war. Their note of caution appears to go unheeded by the current generation of ministers.
Billy Graham, as an international evangelist, has tried to steer clear of partisan politics or the public endorsement of politicians or their views. However, he has spoken forcefully on moral issues, such as the Salt II treaty. This approach has enhanced his worldwide ministry and often given him a platform to speak a prophetic word in many nations.
Preaching is often equated with "thus saith the Lord." Yet too often, personal opinions and political viewpoints seem to get mixed up with divine mandates.
In the Old Testament and in many nations today, ministers are exempt from military service. However, this exemption does not imply their role was to remain home to determine national policy or organize political movements. The "word of the Lord" is best heard from the lips of a prophet who cannot be accused of partisan politics.
1 Gary Ledbetter, "Pacifism and Moral High Ground," Southern Baptist Texan, Feb. 17, 2003, 4.
2 Gustavus Myers, A History of Bigotry in the United States (New York: Random House, 1943), 432, 444.
3 John Roy Carlson, Undercover (New York: E. P. Dutton,
1943), 165-166, 169, 172.
4 Current Biography, 1971, 248.
5 Tammi Ledbetter (ed.), "Culture Watch," Southern Baptist Texas, Feb. 17, 2003, 12.
6 Gary North, "Neoconservatism vs. Christian Reconstructionism," Chalcedon, Nov/Dec 2005, 13-14
