December 31, 2009

War is not God's will.

This Iraq veteran's confession about the damaging role he played in an innocent family's death reveals the all too human aspect of war. Life and death decisions are made in a matter of seconds. The soldier then said how the mother of the family came up to his shoulder and expressed to him that it was "God's will," - but he was not buying the religious get-away card, and took full responsibility of his actions. He refused to look to God to explain his violent decision that laid out a family flat. It was definitely a daring revelation, and his experience is by far a common one.

For all the fundamentalist rhetoric about a new crusade, this is not a religious war, but a commercial and territorial one. God did not march into Baghdad with the 33rd infantry. And he is not there now, justifying the murder of innocent human beings.