Rudyard Kipling"
āWhen you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldierā
General Douglas MacArthur"
āWe are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.ā
āIt is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.ā āOld soldiers never die; they just fade away.
āThe soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.ā
āMay God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .ā āThe object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
āNobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
āIt is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Pope
Francis I should be a strong defender of persecuted religious believers
of all faiths. The world is in dire need of such leadership. Religious persecution is the gravest human-rights abuse of our day,
both in its global reach and the numbers affected and in its
implications for regional stability and world peace. When Congress
enacted and President Clinton signed into law the International
Religious Freedom Act in 1998, the United States became a world leader
in the defense of religious freedom, with the high point of American
leadership being a negotiated end to a religious conflict in South Sudan
that had taken some 2 million lives. But it is a world leader no more.
Washington has abdicated that role even as religious repression is
intensifying internationally.
Ongoing religious persecution should be a major concern of the Catholic
Church. In sheer numbers, Christians are the most persecuted religious
group, suffering under the remaining militantly secular Communist
regimes, under Islamist regimes, and under some nationalist regimes. And
these persecutors of Christians typically persecute other religious
minorities as well. Over just the last few days, an Egyptian Copt was arrested for
evangelizing and was tortured to death in police custody in Libya; a
Christian village in Pakistan was stormed and set ablaze by a mob
incensed by rumors of blasphemy against Islam; five Christians were put
on trial in Iran; and Christians and their churches in Sudan were under
siege by the Khartoum regime. Over the past decade, some two-thirds of
the Christian population of Iraq has been killed or driven out of the
country by targeted extremist violence against 70 of their churches and
many other atrocities. The fate of Syriaās defenseless Christian
community now seems grim. It is likely that, before long, Egypt and
Lebanon will be the only countries in the Arab Middle East with
significant Christian populations.
Pope John Paul II, as a young bishop, helped draft Vatican IIās historic declaration Dignitatis Humanae,
and he later made its seminal principle of religious freedom ā for
Catholics and non-Catholics alike ā a central theme of his papacy. There
has been no turning back: Catholicism now embraces religious freedom
and pluralism, and ecumenical and interfaith undertakings, formerly
anathema to it, are now commonplace.
Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI also defended those threatened by
severe religious persecution. They prayed and stood up for the rights of
persecuted Christians of all traditions, calling their heroic witness
the āecumenism of the martyrs.ā They apologized for historical Christian
persecution of the Jews and for insufficient Church action to stop the
Holocaust. John Paul intervened with Roman authorities to secure
approval for the building by Saudi Arabia of what is now among Europeās
largest mosques. Benedict correctly observed that at present āChristians
are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account
of its faith,ā and he compellingly argued that this situation was a
āthreat to security and peace, and an obstacle to the achievement of
authentic and integral human development.ā
However, this papal commitment to defending the persecuted has yet to
infuse the whole Church, much less influence the larger world. The
international community is doing far too little to shield from
execution, imprisonment, and other severe treatment religious minorities
who cannot speak up for themselves. Pope Francis I should build on his two predecessorsā endeavors to
bring aid and comfort to those who suffer for their religious beliefs.
He should encourage the bishops to educate the faithful about the
ongoing persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. Sunday
prayers could make specific references to the Catholic bishops and
evangelical leaders in indefinite detention in China; to the Christians
languishing in North Korean detention camps merely for possessing a
Bible; and to the Nigerians, Iraqis, and Egyptians whose churches have
been repeatedly targeted in jihadi attacks and even blown up during
worship services. At Mass, we prayed for earthquake victims in Pakistan,
so why arenāt we praying for Asia Bibi, the mother of five who is on
death row for violating Pakistanās draconian blasphemy laws?
In
his tireless advocacy for the oppressed Eastern European churches, John
Paul showed that action is also required. In the Middle East, the
cradle of Christianity, the persecution of Christians and other
minorities has been exacerbated by the Arab Spring. Americans should
appeal to their elected officials to apply the United Statesā
considerable influence to protect the rights of Christians in this
region, as well as of similarly afflicted Mandeans, Yizidis, and
Bahaāis. A decade ago in South Sudan, a genocidal assault against
Christians and traditional African believers was halted with the help of
the U.S. government after just such an American faith-based campaign.
Church-organized
human-rights groups and justice-and-peace commissions became common
features in Central America, Chile, and elsewhere in Latin America
during the military dictatorships of the 1980s, and they were
indispensable to advancing rights and freedoms. We need similar groups
in many Middle Eastern, Asian, and African countries today. If the
promise of Dignitatis Humanae is to be fulfilled, it is crucial that the laity be trained to document religious persecution and other human-rights abuses.National Review ā Nina Shea is the director of the Hudson Instituteās Center for Religious Freedom and co-author ofPersecuted: The Global Assault on Christians, just out from Thomas Nelson.
He should encourage the bishops to educate the faithful about the
ongoing persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. Sunday
prayers could make specific references to the Catholic bishops and
evangelical leaders in indefinite detention in China; to the Christians
languishing in North Korean detention camps merely for possessing a
Bible; and to the Nigerians, Iraqis, and Egyptians whose churches have
been repeatedly targeted in jihadi attacks and even blown up during
worship services. At Mass, we prayed for earthquake victims in Pakistan,
so why arenāt we praying for Asia Bibi, the mother of five who is on
death row for violating Pakistanās draconian blasphemy laws?
