Matt Duss, over at The Guardian has some policy analysis worthy of attention. What happens when a developmental orientation focused on a fundamentalist approach inspires foreign policy? What happens when this thinking becomes contagious through the (ahem… viral) delivery system of our current media?
Speaking about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hannity declared “we need to take him out”. Then he asked Warren whether he was “advocating something dark, evil or something righteous?” Amazingly, Warren affirmed Hannity’s wrath, saying that stopping evil “is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers”.
Duss nails it here:
… it’s alarming to hear Warren deploying his spiritual influence in support of the ultranationalist ravings of someone like Sean Hannity.I contacted Warren’s office for clarification about his statement, to find out where exactly the Bible says that “God puts government on earth to punish evildoers” like Ahmadinejad.
Could Pastor Warren be referring to Romans 13? Evidently so.
But Romans 13 concerns the power of civil government to punish criminals, and has nothing to do, as far as I know, with invading foreign countries or assassinating foreign leaders.In the years since the 9/11 attacks, Americans have been inundated with a steady stream of images and quotes from Osama bin Laden and other Islamic extremists offering religious justification for violence. Many have asked why more moderate Muslims haven’t publicly condemned the misuse of their faith to justify war and murder.
And perhaps the most elegant point of all.
Warren’s statement provides an opportunity, and a challenge, to American Christians to do the same.
Fundamentalism, in all its forms, inhibits our Way since it is merely an attached view that sees itself as absolute.
Now I’ll practice letting go of the subject of this post.