Ex-Evangelical Apologetics: Stand for the Flag, Kneel for the Cross
On another installment of Ex-Evangelical Apologetics Brad takes on the mantra, "I stand for the flag and kneel for the cross." By looking back to the New Testament and Early Church Fathers, he is able to show the Uncle Rons of the world that the earliest iterations of Christian faith were often staunchly against war, violence, and revenge.
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Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center at UCSB.
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All right, we're on another round of ex-evangelical apologetics, and I want to talk today about Christianity and violence.
This relates to Christianity and guns.
This relates to the idea that somebody would kneel at the cross and stand for the flag.
So there's a lot of sort of ways that you might get into this conversation with Uncle Ron or And I think there's a bunch to say here.
So, needless to say, white evangelicalism and many white Christian nationalists, some of whom are Catholics or Mormons or part of any number of Christian fundamentalist traditions, Have become over the last half century, I mean, there's an argument to be made that they've always been this way, but over the last half century especially, they've become militaristic.
And so we can see this in things like the 1970s when Jerry Falwell, one of the leaders of the religious right, held I Love America rallies.
And we get to the point these days where militarism and white Christianity in the United States are pretty intimate bedfellows.
People sort of assume this.
Jimmy Carter, and others.
This continued into the Reagan era, and we get to the point these days where militarism and white Christianity in the United States are pretty intimate bedfellows.
People sort of assume this.
Anecdotally, I can say that when I was a minister in Southern California, we had a Tuesday morning prayer meeting every week, and folks from the congregation would send in prayers on Sunday, and we would lift them up on Tuesday morning. - Okay.
I can tell you that we never once in my seven years of attending that meeting were asked to pray for peace.
We were never asked to pray for our enemies, whoever they may be, foreign or domestic.
We were asked, however, dozens and dozens and dozens of times to pray for our military, and according to the prayer request, the people in the military who enable our freedoms as Americans.
And so for me there's a very deep sort of mark about how white evangelicalism and white Christian nationalism in this country are linked to militarism and a kind of a sense that there is no question that violence and war are justified in most cases and in fact needed.
We're seeing returns of this kind of talk in light of what is happening in Afghanistan.
Now, I'm not here today to advocate for a staunch pacifist attitude.
I'm not here to say that that is the most coherent or legitimate response to issues of war and violence.
But what I do want to sort of give everyone is a chance to respond to the Uncle Rons in their life.
Just with some different perspectives that often go unheeded and in many cases just unspoken in these traditions.
So, let's just start at the beginning.
In Matthew 5, 38, many of you know this.
Jesus says, You have heard that it was said, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.
If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
Now, there's ways for Uncle Ron to say, well, this is about individuals and this is not about society and things like that, but Jesus is talking about the kingdom of God.
He's talking about how Christians should react, and so if you are slapped by an evil person, if they want your stuff, then let them take it.
Turn the other cheek.
Many Christians over time, as I'll get into, have used this set of verses To outline a theology of nonviolence, a theology of pacifism, and a theology that resists war at all costs.
Of course, Jesus, the Savior in question, was arrested by the state, did not resist.
When Peter put up a fight with his sword, he said to put it away.
And he allowed himself to be executed by the state in order to redeem humanity.
He was, in some senses, a political martyr.
He was obviously a religious martyr.
We can get into that at another time.
The point is, the Savior that one talks about kneeling toward when they say that, I kneel for Jesus or at the cross and I stand for the flag, is a Savior who allowed himself to be executed by the state.
Now, his followers took this very seriously, so the Apostle Paul, as tradition goes, was martyred in Rome, and the Apostle Peter was supposedly martyred upside down.
When we get into the early Church, I always teach my students that to be a martyr was the highest calling in many Christian communities, and so when we get to the 2nd century and 3rd century, We actually have bishops and other leaders—I mean, bishops is a sort of a loose word at this point in history—but we have Christian leaders, in essence, telling people that they should not readily volunteer themselves for martyrdom.
I mean, you really had people who were enthusiastic about dying for their faith, and so they were sort of a little bit too ready, and some of the leaders had to say, hey, hold on a minute, let's not do that, okay?
Now, if we get into some of the other early Christian leaders and thinkers, we do see somewhat of a complex picture, but there are clear elements and clear articulations of theologies of nonviolence.
Now, I think from a scholarly and historical perspective, I'm of the mind that there was not a unanimous sort of staunch pacifism in the early church, and there are some people who believe that.
If you read John Howard Yoder or others, you will find that view.
I think as a scholar, I'm willing to say it's somewhat complex, and there are some conflicting ideals in the early church, which is spread all over the Mediterranean about violence and war.
Nonetheless, for the Uncle Rons out there, there were very strong expressions of resisting war and violence.
And so, let me just quote from an article by J. Daryl Charles, Pacifists, Patriots, or Both?
Second Thoughts on Pre-Constantinian Early Christian Attitudes Toward Soldiering.
And, you know, Charles takes the same approach that I just said, in that there was kind of a mix of theologies when it came to war and violence in the early church.
Nonetheless, Charles points this out.
What is conspicuous about early patristic literature is how little the subject of Christians in military service surfaces.
The earliest sources contain no allusions, per se, to Christian participation in the army.
Characteristically, they reinforce what one might expect.
Christians, as a social subset, are known for their peaceable, contented, and conciliatory nature.
Thus, for example, Justin Martyr, who is a first century figure, notes, We who formerly murdered one another now refrain from making war even upon our enemies, but for the sake of not telling lies or deceiving those examining us, we gladly die confessing.
Christ!
Tatian wishes to emphasize that the Christian life is one of simplicity and do not wish to be a king.
I'm not anxious to be rich.
I decline military command.
I am free from a mad thirst for fame.
Athenagoras mirrors Jesus' teaching on non-retaliation.
We have learned, he says, not to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to those who smite us on one side of the face to offer the other side also, and to those who take away our coat to give likewise our cloak.
And Irenaeus, another early church figure, stresses the same.
Quote, therefore we have no need of the law as a pedagogue, nor an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
To him who counts no man as enemy but all his neighbors and therefore cannot even put forth his hand to revenge.
What unites the early fathers, the article states, in their writings is their depiction of a distinctly Christian lifestyle.
A lifestyle that mirrors a clear and unmistakable bias toward peaceableness as well as vigilance that is heightened by the fear of idolatry.
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