War, Conscience and Killing with 'Absolute Certainty'

The guest piece below was written by a colleague, Rev. Craig M. Watts, who is Co-Moderator of the Executive Committee of Disciples Peace Fellowship and minister of Royal Palm Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Coral Springs, Fla. I thought Huffington Post readers would appreciate this critique of outrageous comments by Llario Pantano.

At the CPAC conference in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 10, failed North Carolina congressional candidate Llario Pantano blamed diversity and tolerance -- what he called "political correctness" -- for making our military troops question what they're doing and sending them home morally damaged. "The military is hurt by political correctness because the young men and women that we send out to go find that bad guy and kill him have to be grounded in an intense state of absolute certainty," he told the crowd. "There can't be gray ... if you take away the certainty of absolute Biblical truths, you leave them nothing."

Apparently, Pantano, who was accused of murdering two Iraqi civilians during his marine deployment in 2004, hasn't actually read the Bible enough to notice that biblical truth itself can make some soldiers sensitive to killing in war. A pillar of biblical faith is refusing to grant "absolute certainly" to any human authority, whether it be civilian or military. Yet in the name of opposing "diversity and tolerance [that] weakens the spirit of troops," Pantano wants soldiers to refuse to entertain the possibility that the will of God in war might be something other than the will of the U.S. government or the will of its commanding officers. He also seems to think that the capacity for moral discernment weakens the spirit.

"Fundamentally this is a Christian nation, and that has been denied," Pantano insisted. We don't talk about it. We don't want to offend because we have to be tolerant, we have to accept everybody else's worldview. It's time to start offending. It's time to start standing for something."

I'm perfectly willing to offend when offending is necessary and I, too, believe we need to stand for something. But not what Pantano stands for, which is a morally bankrupt military based on absolute human authority. Not even all conservative Christians would agree with him, since they don't trust government interference in religion, but perhaps Pantano thought he could speak for Christians, since most of the rightwing Christian groups boycotted this year's CPAC event.

Neither the U.S. nor its military is Christian. The very notion of a "Christian nation" is biblically and theologically untenable. But in the name of this dubious idea Pantano wants soldiers to dismiss their pangs of conscience and offer unquestioning obedience to their very human commanders. VA research on moral injury as a wound of war indicates the actual experience of war can shatter unquestioning and morally unexamined behavior no matter how certain a soldier may have been at the time.

Apparently Pantano thinks if the nation were "Christian," soldiers would never need to ask whether or not a war is truly just. Soldiers can fight with the assurance that leaders in a "Christian nation" do what God would have them do. They would certainly not have to reflect on the teachings of Jesus, such as "love your enemies" and "turn the other cheek." Instead, they are free to "go find that bad guy and kill him ... in an intense state of absolute certainty," as if it were always obvious who the bad guy is. Any independent ethical reflection confuses matters and compromises resolve. The important thing is for soldiers to offer loyalty without limits and to kill without doubting. That is the way to make sure soldiers don't "come back broken" from war, according Pantano. All they have to do is dispense with their conscience altogether.

Absolute certainty can lead to behaviors that are absolutely wrong. Prior to his conversion the apostle Paul was absolutely certain he was right to persecute Christians. He later spoke of a "zeal that is not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2). Absolute certainty has been in the heart of many a suicide bomber. The religious nationalism promoted by people like Pantano and his Tea Party supporters both harms and insults the military, which teaches ethical thinking and principles about the moral conduct of war in the military academies and basic training. It appears Pantana wasn't paying attention during that phase of his training. He also defames the conscientious Christian soldiers who do their best to serve God and country.

Rather than calling for "absolute certainty" from soldiers, we need to encourage them to develop a strong, informed and discerning conscience of the sort that will lead them to resist any action that violates teachings about the moral conduct of war, even if this means disobeying a direct order. Moral responsibility does not stop where the demands of those in authority begin. Whether one is a pacifist or an adherent of the just war tradition, unquestioning obedience based on absolute certainty is not something that should be given to those who command wars.

 

Comments

[kellygreen]

05:28 PM on 02/21/2011

Thank you.

This country needs more Christians who are willing to speak out against, and stand up to the moral bankruptcy of this unholy fusion of Evangelical fundamentalism and political authoritarianism.

[ThinkCreeps]

05:27 PM on 02/16/2011

The apostle paul was supposedly converted just after the death of the alleged Mr Christ, which would put him in the rather unlikely position of persecuting christians before they were invented.

[DrSnuggles]

02:51 PM on 02/16/2011

It sometimes amazes me that someone like Pantano has an audience bigger than the other inmates at the asylum we need to lock him in.

[cayuse]

09:53 PM on 02/15/2011

Thank you. Finally a Christian who speaks of the New Testament and not the Old Testament.

Roman's by Paul also speaks of why the 10 commandments does not work, why Christ taught DEED and GRACE the teaching of the Gospel's.

I missed the fact that Paul was involve in feeding Christians to Lions, thanks again. If not for GRACE and "the last shall be first" it would be very serious. You are right that each person must become righteous or right acting in or out of uniform. Then and only then will these wars stop.

Each GI swears to uphold the Constitution (just like the President and Congress) against attacks Foreign and Domestic. It was this swearing that made me turn against the Viet Nam war. Hold my consciousness and Christ above any duty.

[ninetailedfox]

08:07 PM on 02/15/2011

I believe all that believe that Jesus died for their sins are christian, point blank period end of story. Most christians want to use the No true scotsman fallacy, but when people say they are christian, I take their word for it, and when they do crimes against humanity, I am no longer shocked by it, in fact, I expect it from most christians. Even some of the so called liberal christians arent as liberal as they seem. For example, some liberals wont even acknowledge Paul, because they realize he wrecked christianity.

[cayuse]

09:58 PM on 02/15/2011

Christ, GOD on earth, died that you became the Son of GOD, him. I am afraid so many miss the WORD of Christ. Romans to me summarize the DEED and GRACE and leaves behind the Old Testament, not that Christ did not.

9
¶ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of this.
10
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12
¶ Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

[dbrett480]

06:33 PM on 02/15/2011

I don't agree with Pantano's logic when it comes to this issue, but he makes a valid point when it comes to war-time killings. This happens during war and to accuse soldiers of murder while fighting a war is ridiculous. They are not trained as police officers, but trained as soldiers. Let them do the job they are trained for and not ask them to follow an unrealistic use of force standard in a war.

[cayuse]

10:03 PM on 02/15/2011

Praise the Old Testament. Just do not call yourself a Christian. It is righteousness or right action the Deed

Nothing killing is made off. Especially if you become the GRACE that all people are Your Spirit too. We are the one Spirit. The light and energy within all atoms the Universal Spirit

[UnderTheHedgeWeGo]

02:48 PM on 02/16/2011

I doubt that Dr. Brock is suggesting that one pause to consider the morality of the situation before returning fire or firing first on a well defined threat to you and your companions. The issue is very different when you occupy a country where the enemy and noncombatants are indistinguishable except when they are pointing a weapon in your direction (one of the reasons I think we shouldn't be there in the first place). It is easy to see EVERYONE as a part of the problem and to become indiscriminate in the application of force or to "kill'im all and let God sort it out".

Even more important is passively accepting that we should be there in the first place. There are no shortage of American who think the government can't do anything right except for starting wars and buying weapons, at both of which they are infallible. Question your leaders, even if they TELL you there acting under God's direction.

[dbrett480]

04:29 PM on 02/16/2011

The issue of whether we should be in Iraq (we should never have gone) and the use of force spectrum that soldiers use is two completely separate subjects. War is dirty and for political leaders at home to charge soldiers who work the on the front line with war crimes is ridiculous. My concern is making sure our soldiers return home safely, not with how we make Iraqis like us.