A "Mission from God": The Violation of the Separation Between Church and State

In 2003, George W. Bush gave a call to French president Jacques Chirac and stated, "The Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled...This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins." He saw the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a "mission from God."

Putting this into perspective alongside the human rights abuses that occurred during this invasion, this statement is truly appalling.

The United States Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” and the very first clause in the Bill of Rights calls for a separation of church and state. This separation allows people to freely practice their religion without oppression from a religious government and has served as an important element of our nation for many decades.

George W. Bush has been described by many as the most religious president in many years. This is not necessarily a fault. I, myself, am a Christian and am proud of my faith. It is honorable to hold so tightly onto your beliefs.

However, it becomes an issue when one lets these beliefs justify invasion, murder and crime abroad and at home.

George W. Bush allowing for his faith to determine his international politics, particularly when that brings other foreign lives into the equation, is an incredibly large moral issue and undermines the separation of church and state.

Regardless of one's political view, the president of the United States is called to maintain a separation of church and state and prevent the dominance of one religion from becoming the dominant governing body.

In Charting the Moral Life, a chart on moral agency is presented. It describes character formation as:

1) the good person and the good society

2) moral virtue

3) the ethics of being

and charts moral decision making and action as:

1) right choice and action

2) moral value and moral obligation

Birch and Rasmussen state that "moral agency" is a term describing what is necessary for humans to act "morally."

"It means we are those kinds of creatures who are able to perceive various courses of action, weigh them with a view to various considerations, choose among the actions on the basis of the considerations, and act on the choices. It also means we can be held accountable for our choice and actions."

Thus, every human has this ideal of moral agency. However, not all Americans shape this moral identity by the Christian faith. The United States is incredibly unique in the fact that it serves as a home to many different religious groups.

In fact, Americans aged 18 to 29 can be considered the most religiously diverse age group in the nation. 54% are Christians, 36% are religiously unaffiliated, 2% are Jewish, 2% are Muslim, 1% are Buddhist and 1% are Hindu.

https://youtu.be/Iemw8vqt-54

This means that when a decision such as invading another country is made under the pretense of a "calling from God" it puts the Christian faith in a very bad light to nonbelievers.

President Bush continually referred to the war in Iraq as a "conflict between good and evil." Yes, it is true that the war on terrorism is honorable and necessary. Terrorism, in any form, serves as a threat to both American safety and Iraqi safety. However, there is a difference in fighting the evils of terrorism and calling Iraq, as a non-Christian majority nation, "an axis of evil."

This puts the war into the context of a religious war of Christians vs. Muslims when it should be United States vs. Extremism. In 2001, Bush used the term "crusade" in reference to the war on terrorism. Due to the historical context of this word in the Christian world, this rubbed a lot of Muslims the wrong way.

https://youtu.be/NsjgjM56HRw

Several days later Bush stated, "The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them" to clear the air.

However, the rhetoric of the days prior still stuck out and Muslims believed the war was really a war on their faith.

"It also pointed up the vast gulf between two world views. In Washington, the violent attack spawned ringing vows to defend American values. In much of the Muslim world, it was viewed as a desperate call to America to rethink its support of Israel and, more subliminally, of authoritarian Mideast rulers who deny democracy to ordinary Muslims." -The Wall Street Journal

This further plays out in the fight for democracy. While Bush says that this is "God's gift to every human being in the world," Iraqi religious extremists see democratization as an Americanization of their government. Regardless of which one believes is true, there is evident religious rhetoric driving both of these conflicting arguments.

This invasion was also seen by many Americans as an act of superiority over Iraq. This is equally as dangerous. God's love and compassion resides over all nations just the same. One people group is not superior to another people group and our Christian faith is not an excuse to, under the name of God, brutally kill innocent men and women abroad.

This idea is evidenced throughout scripture many, many times.

"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility." -Ephesians 2:14

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." -1 John 2:2

"Do we not all have one Father ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?" Malachi 2:10

Therefore, it is pertinent that American leaders, yes uphold their own faith and values, but do not use this faith as an excuse to ruin the lives of innocent human beings abroad. This is not doing a service to the Christian faith, the values and morality of the president or the Christian mission.

It puts the Christian mission into a context of belittlement, death and destruction and will not bring more members into the faith, but rather continue to push them away.