In the last several days, the Christian faith has been appealed to as a major motivation for the War with Iran. Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth sees the war against Iran as a conflict between Islam and Christianity. In a recent briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth quoted a verse from Psalm 144: “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” This is in line with his Christian Nationalism, a defective version of Christianity. I believe that this nationalism is a distortion of the gospel message because it conflates the teaching of Jesus with the goals of national or international governments. It is a heresy. It began to permeate Christendom with the “conversion” of Constantine and has reappeared at various times in history (the Crusades,[i] the Spanish Inquisition, the conquest of the Americas, Manifest Destiny, Nazi Germany, and on and on). It is a betrayal of the message that Jesus taught and demonstrated. Jesus taught love for our enemies, not hatred. He told his disciples not to take revenge against their rivals, he told Peter to put away his sword, for those who live by the sword will die by the sword. He taught that “an eye for an eye” should give way to generous love. (Matthew 5:38-42).
Pope Leo XIV waded into the public debate in his Palm Sunday mass: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” In a special blessing at the end of Mass, Leo said he was praying especially for Christian believers in the Middle East who are “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannot live fully the rites of these holy days.”
Although I strive to follow Jesus, I am not a Roman Catholic. Nevertheless, I think Leo XIV was right on in what he says about Jesus and war. Jesus never approved of war in the Gospels. Our Lord denounced the “rulers of this world” who committed great evil yet claimed it was good. We are NOT to follow their example. (Luke 22:25-26). Jesus showed his followers a better way. The early church sought to be peacemakers and denounced war as an expression of greed. For the first three centuries, up until the time of Constantine, the church was almost universally pacifistic. They affirmed they would die for their faith, but they would not kill for it.i
Some have tried to harmonize Christianity with war through Just War Theory, a series of criteria that must be met before a war is “justified”. The war against Iran utterly fails to meet these criteria: (1) freedom for the Iranian people could be a “Just Cause” but this goal was quickly abandoned; (2) “Formal Declaration” was not met because Congress never gave the legally required authorization nor did the United Nations; (3) “Civii[an Immunity” was not respected as shown by the bombing of the girls’ school in which over 150 little girls were killed; and (4) “last resort” was not followed as the United States broke off the diplomatic negotiations that Trump himself had labeled as fruitful.
Therefore, during this Holy Week, I invite those who claim the name of Jesus for war to reread the Gospels to see what it means to follow the Prince of Peace.
[i] Decades ago, Wheaton College (a conservative Christian academic institution) eliminated the Crusader as their mascot, rightfully deeming it a bad symbol for Christianity. Campus Crusade for Christ eliminated “Crusade” from their name for the same reason. Secretary Hegseth has two Crusade tattoos on his body.
Lindy Scott 