Recently
by Laurence M. Vance: War,
Christianity, and the State
The Fourth
of July is supposed to be celebrated as American Independence Day
— the day when the thirteen original colonies seceded from the British
Empire and its oppressive taxation, spying, regulating, and attacks
on due process (sound familiar?).
As John
Adams wrote to his wife about celebrating the nation’s independence:
The Second
Day of July 1776 [the date the resolution of independence was
approved by Congress], will be the most memorable Epocha, in the
History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated,
by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn
Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with
Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires
and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other
from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported
with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and
Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration,
and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom
I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that
the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will
tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it,
which I trust in God We shall not.
There is one
thing that Adams forgot to mention: adoration of the military. The
Fourth of July is now nothing but Military Appreciation Day Number
2.
Military Appreciation
Day Number 1 is Memorial Day. This holiday was first observed in
honor of Union soldiers who died during the War to Prevent Southern
Independence. It was initially called Decoration Day because the
tombs of the dead soldiers were decorated. Originally celebrated
in select localities, the holiday was first widely observed on May
30, 1868, because of an earlier proclamation by General John Logan
of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans.
New York, in 1873, was the first state to officially recognize the
holiday. After World War I, the holiday was expanded to include
U. S. soldiers who died in any war. It is now just a day to honor
all things military.
Military Appreciation
Day Number 3 is Veterans Day. This holiday began as Armistice Day
— a day to commemorate the signing of the armistice on the 11th
hour of the 11th day of the 11th month that ended fighting on the
Western Front in World War I, “the war to end all wars.”
A few years after World War II, the holiday was changed to Veterans
Day as a tribute to all soldiers who fought for their country. Veterans
Day has now become a day to honor, not just those who have served
in the military during wartime, but those who have served during
peacetime or are serving now. It is now just a day to honor all
things military.
Independence
Day is now wholly given over to praising soldiers, thanking veterans,
reciting ridiculous slogans and poems about the military, and heaping
glory, laud, and honor ad nauseam on the troops.
Nothing confirms
this more than an e-mail that was forwarded around the country beginning
the week before the Fourth of July. It begins:
Happy 4th
of July!…. Let’s get this started NOW! So it will be out there
on the fourth!
After the Pledge
of Allegiance, which no one should waste
his time reciting, there are these three statements:
For all of
our other military personnel, where ever they may be.
Please
Support all of the troops defending our Country.And God Bless
our Military who are protecting our Country for our Freedom.
Thanks
to them, and their sacrifices, we can celebrate the 4th of July.We must never
forget who gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which
we should be eternally grateful.
Wherever they
me be? Like I have said on several occasions, most Americans don’t
care where the troops go, how long they stay, and what they do when
they get there. Defending our country? Are there any U.S. troops
that are actually defending the country? It seems to me like they
are all overseas somewhere or on ship sailing where it has no business.
God bless our military? How blasphemous to ask God to bless the
greatest force for evil in the world. Protecting our country for
our freedom? U.S. soldiers don’t protect anyone’s freedom — just
ask this
former solider. The military doesn’t protect our freedom; it
stands by while our freedom is eroded and taken away. Thanks to
the military we can celebrate the 4th of July? The U.S. military
has never had anything to do with celebrating the 4th of July. Even
the first Fourth of July was not in any way dependent on the U.S.
military in any way. The Fourth of July celebrates the Declaration
of Independence, not the day the Revolutionary War ended. Never
forget who gets the credit? It is God who gets all the credit for
any freedoms we had or still have. It is the God of heaven that
we are eternally grateful for, certainly not the U.S. military —
employees of the U.S. government. The greatest threat to freedom
has always been our own government, not some foreign country or
terrorist organization. And as James Madison said: “If tyranny
and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting
a foreign enemy.” Since the U.S. military is not strictly used
for the defense of U.S. borders, shores, coasts, and skies, it is
nothing more than the president’s personal attack force staffed
by mercenaries willing to obey his latest command to bomb, invade,
occupy, and otherwise bring death and destruction to any country
he deems necessary.
The three statements
are followed by this poem:
I watched
the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.I looked
at him in uniform;
so young, so tall, so proud.
With hair cut square and eyes alert,
He’d stand out in any crowd.I thought
how many men like him
had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil;
how many mothers’ tears?How many
pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
NO, FREEDOM ISN’T FREE!I heard the
sound of Taps one night,
when everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.I wondered
just how many times
That Taps had meant ‘Amen.’
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.I thought
of all the children,
of the mothers and the wives,
of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.I thought
about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea.
Of unmarked graves in Arlington .
NO FREEDOM ISN’T FREE!
Right, freedom
isn’t free; but wrong, freedom isn’t provided by the U.S. military.
I have asked the same questions as those in the poem: “How
many died on foreign soil?” “How many mothers’ tears?”
I too have thought about the children, the mothers, the wives, the
fathers, the sons, the husbands, and the unmarked graves in Arlington.
The conclusion I have reached is this: What a senseless, unnecessary
waste of life for any U.S. solider to die on foreign soil or be
buried in an unmarked grave.
The poem was
followed by these four statements:
Enjoy Your
Freedom and God Bless Our Troops.When you
receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our
servicemen.Of all the
gifts you could give a U.S. Soldier, prayer is the very best one.Only two
defining forces have ever offered to die for you. Jesus Christ
and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your
freedom. You might want to pass this on … as many seem to forget
both of them.
I will enjoy
the freedom I have left, until the government takes it away. I will
not ask God to bless
our troops. I will say a prayer for our servicemen, but it will
be a prayer that they come home and stop fighting unjust foreign
wars, not a war
prayer. Perhaps the most nauseating thing in this e-mail is
the last statement that equates soldiers with Christ. As I have
said elsewhere:
Do soldiers imitate Christ when they bomb and shoot, when they invade
and occupy, when they plunder and pillage, or when they maim and
kill?
So, until Military
Appreciation Day Number 3 comes around, happy Military Appreciation
Day Number 2.
July
4, 2013
Laurence
M. Vance [send him mail]
writes from central Florida. He is the author of King
James, His Bible, and Its Translators, The
Revolution that Wasn’t, Rethinking
the Good War, The
War on Drugs Is a War on Freedom, and Social
Insecurity. His latest book is War,
Christianity, and the State: Essays on the Follies of Christian
Militarism. Visit his
website.
Copyright
© 2013 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in
part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
Republished with permission from: Lew Rockwell