God of Battles
The terrible events in the Balkans in recent years have caused more than one person to reflect in my hearing on the murderous effects of religion. Even our own Anzac Day has its detractors for the same reason. The association of organised religion with warfare, even if it’s only a military parade at a Service of Rembrance, strikes some people as completely inappropriate - if not a good deal worse.
What they would make of the considered opinion of Count von Moltke in the last century I wouldn’t like to think. It was his view that war was one of the most precious legacies of the Lord to his people, since warfare was good for you. It gave splendid opportunities for heroism and self-sacrifice which any decent Christian could only applaud as coming from the God of Battles Himself.
But not these days. There’s not much that’s heroic about ethnic cleansing (surely one of the sickest terms ever invented) in Kosovo. And religion has played its part in the disasters of history, right up to the present day and hour, in the Balkans and elsewhere. But before blanket condemnations of religion are handed out, you might like to ask why. Why is religion so often a part of the lethal cocktail of human history?
Clearly religion is not always lethal. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Little Sisters of the Poor, Christian Aid, and many other persons and agencies have been good for humanity - including humanity belonging to many different religions. Furthermore, we don’t see people in New Zealand bombing and strafing one another despite the fact that many of them are deeply religious and adhere to differing faiths.
But I lie! Did I not - along with my little friends, of course - throw (very small) stones at the local Catholic kids just because of their faith? Well, yes and no. I didn’t know anything about their religion, I just knew they belonged to the wrong tribe. And that I think is the root cause of the trouble wherever it occurs. Religion is a tribal marker and always has been. It’s one of the ways individuals and groups find an identity that gives them a sense of their value. My god is my god. In my tribe we have our own god dedicated to our interests. You find your own. Furthermore, although I myself am not allowed to take your lands, your wives and your livestock, if my god’s honour and welfare require it, then that’s just exactly what I should do. Thus a British football hooligan is a naturally pious creature, deeply devoted to his god (read idol) whether it’s called Arsenal or Manchester United.
Many of the great tribal conflicts of the past have sought their idols’ blessing, whether that idol be Christianity or Islam, Communism or Capitalism, Catholicism or Orthodoxy or Protestantism. Tribalism is almost subtle. It takes a holy faith, empties it of its true reality and substitutes itself instead. Like some appalling virus it takes over a life giving faith and turns it into a death dealing idol - and you don’t even notice the change until it’s too late.
It’s not generally religion which ruins people, but people who ruin religion - and then use it to ruin others as well. The terrible tragedies in the Balkans, Chechnya, Ireland, Tibet and elsewhere are almost always about tribal conflicts dressed up (and justified) by high-sounding ideology. But at the bottom they are usually about the very things religions everywhere try to deal with: fear, jealousy, greed, love of violence, pride, and many more.
Even the God-given faith of the Chosen People was not immune. Not for nothing was Christ Himself so scathing about the tribal faith of some of His fellow Jews. It’s a warning everyone should take to heart. However much we may love our own ’nation, tribe or language’ God is not its guarantor, and we should never make the good the enemy of the best.
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