July 12, 2005
FIRST CRUSADES:
The Export of Democracy: Jefferson's ideas presaged the Bush doctrine. (CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, July 12, 2005, Opinion Journal)
Some argue to this day that there can be Christian or Muslim or Jewish democracies, but Jefferson was insistent that democracy meant religious pluralism, and consequently the separation of church and state. His Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, which banned the imposition of any religious test or the raising of any religious tithe, is the basis of the all-important First Amendment to our Constitution. There might perhaps have been a Protestant democracy in the Americas, stretching like Chile down the East Coast, and hemmed in by the ocean and the mountains, but in order to have a multiethnic and multiconfessional electorate on a larger scale, it was essential that secularism be inscribed at the beginning.It was also necessary that democracy be "for export," and that it be able to defend itself. "May it be to the world," wrote Jefferson in his last letter, on June 24, 1826, "what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government." It cannot be said that Jefferson himself was entirely consistent on this--the Haitian revolution filled him with dread, even if that slave revolt induced Napoleon to offer the sale of the Louisiana territory--but he did identify with democrats in other countries and did believe that America should be on their side. His long friendships with Lafayette, Paine and Kosciusko are testimony to the fact.
The most successful "export" was Jefferson's determined use of naval and military force to reduce the Barbary States of the Ottoman Empire, which had set up a slave-taking system of piracy and blackmail along the western coast of North Africa. Our third president was not in a position to enforce regime change in Algiers or Tripoli, but he was able to insist on regime behavior-modification (and thus to put an end to at least one slave system). Ever since then, every major system of tyranny in the world has had to run at least the risk of a confrontation with the United States, and one hopes that the Jeffersonians among us will continue to ensure that this remains true.
What makes America so distinctive is actually somewhat hidden in there, just one short word. I've got a copy of George Bush's new favorite book, The Aquariums of Pyongyang for the first person to identify it.
MORE:
Onward Christian Soldiers: "First we get the military, then we get the nation" (Jim Walsh, City Pages)
It is the day before Independence Day in the Year of Our Lord, 2005, and our men and women in uniform are fighting overseas for our God-given freedom. That's what a few thousand worshipers have come to hear about during the 10:30 morning service at Grace Church, the casinolike "independent evangelical" complex that sits amid the rolling hills of Eden Prairie. The arena-sized parking lot is filled with newish cars and trucks, including a souped-up Lexus adorned with American flags, flag decals, and 1280 The Patriot bumper stickers. Parked next to that is a sedan whose lone sticker testifies, "Mary Kay: Enriching Women's Lives."Before the service, worshipers take to the Divine Grind, the church's coffee shop. The counter is manned by well-scrubbed teens clad in aprons and denim shirts embossed with the Divine Grind logo. Many of the customers have their own type of uniform: Old Glory ties, shirts, and skirts. A few busy techies in headsets and Grace-logo shirts scurry about with walkie-talkies, getting ready for the day's program. The subject, according to the listing in the "Faith and Values" calendar of the Star Tribune, is "Righteousness Exalts a Nation."
The 4,400-seat church, which rivals anything the Hennepin theater district has to offer, is nearly full. On the stars and stripes-plastered stage, a full orchestra and choir create a din of song and faith--the backdrop to a historical pageant. Two massive video monitors broadcast the morning's actors/parishioners, who portray Christopher Columbus, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and other founding fathers, who speak of Jesus Christ, country, and family. The lone woman is Abigail Adams, whose message is, Stand by Thy Man.
When the opening program finishes and the orchestra swells into its umpteenth rendition of "God Bless America," the video monitors order, "Congregation Please Rise." Then visiting pastor Ken Parker addresses his herd. "God has raised up, in this second part of the Earth, as Christopher Columbus said, a nation that was basically founded on Christian values," begins Parker.
He invites all first-timers backstage after the service, where he and the other pastors will provide refreshments and personal insight into the Lord. "We have a gift for you," he says, and as he prays into the microphone and the orchestra plays softly, helpers move through the church with gift baskets that resemble large, vintage beanbag ashtrays.
Parker then introduces the day's guest speaker: Bob Dees, leader of Campus Crusade for Christ Military Ministry (www.milmin.com). The theme of Dees's sermon is advertised on the screens: "Faith in the Foxhole and Hope on the Homefront: Liberty in Christ." Dees is a retired general and former Microsoft executive. His hair is browner than you'd guess for a man his age, and apparently bulletproof. Accompanying him to the stage is his wife, Kathleen, whom he calls a "good army wife" because she has stood by him for 31 years and moved their family 23 times. He clasps her by her shoulders, then gently guides her back to her place in the front row. She never says a word.
"We are a ministry to the armed forces of the United States, and to the armed forces of the world, seeking to win the nations of the world and the militaries of the world," begins Dees. "We have several ministries. One is to the enlisted members of all the defense forces of the United States. We touch every recruit that comes through the armed forces of the United States. And then we seek to evangelize and disciple them through their careers, making them ambassadors in uniform.
Evangelicals Are a Growing Force in the Military Chaplain Corps (LAURIE GOODSTEIN, 7/12/05, NY Times)
There were personal testimonies about Jesus from the stage, a comedian quoting Scripture and a five-piece band performing contemporary Christian praise songs. Then hundreds of Air Force chaplains stood and sang, many with palms upturned, in a service with a distinctively evangelical tone.Posted by Orrin Judd at July 12, 2005 12:59 PMIt was the opening ceremony of a four-day Spiritual Fitness Conference at a Hilton hotel here last month organized and paid for by the Air Force for many of its United States-based chaplains and their families, at a cost of $300,000. The chaplains, who pledge when they enter the military to minister to everyone, Methodist, Mormon or Muslim, attended workshops on "The Purpose Driven Life," the best seller by the megachurch pastor Rick Warren, and on how to improve their worship services. In the hotel hallways, vendors from Focus on the Family and other evangelical organizations promoted materials for the chaplains to use in their work.
The event was just one indication of the extent to which evangelical Christians have become a growing force in the Air Force chaplain corps, a trend documented by military records and interviews with more than two dozen chaplains and other military officials.
Figures provided by the Air Force show that from 1994 to 2005 the number of chaplains from many evangelical and Pentecostal churches rose, some doubling. For example, chaplains from the Full Gospel Fellowship of Churches and Ministries International increased to 10 from none. The Church of the Nazarene rose to 12 from 6.
At the same time, the number of chaplains from the Roman Catholic Church declined to 94 from 167, and there were declines in more liberal, mainline Protestant churches: the United Church of Christ to 3 from 11, the United Methodist Church to 50 from 64.
Other branches of the military did not make available similar statistics, but officials say they are seeing the same trend.
The change mirrors the Air Force as a whole, where representation is rising from evangelical churches.
Er... "self-government"?
Posted by: Just John at July 12, 2005 1:02 PMmonkish?
Posted by: R. Alex at July 12, 2005 1:09 PM"export"?
Posted by: Brandon at July 12, 2005 1:11 PMprotestant
Posted by: Brian (MN) at July 12, 2005 1:11 PM"blessings?"
Posted by: Peter B at July 12, 2005 1:12 PMBrother Orrin loves his guns. I'm saying "defend."
Posted by: Rick Perlstein at July 12, 2005 1:13 PM...enforce...
Posted by: Luciferous at July 12, 2005 1:14 PMreligious.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at July 12, 2005 1:17 PM"religious"
You are all too predictable, Orrin. Where's my book?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at July 12, 2005 1:19 PMnon-sectarian rather than secular.
Posted by: at July 12, 2005 1:19 PMpluralism
Posted by: jefferson park at July 12, 2005 1:22 PM...finally to ALL...
Posted by: Luciferous at July 12, 2005 1:25 PMforce
Posted by: Rick T. at July 12, 2005 1:26 PMRick: Last I heard, OJ was praising strict gun control.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 12, 2005 1:29 PMSystem
Posted by: Matt C at July 12, 2005 1:29 PMI'm going with "multiconfessional", although it's not short. If we weren't looking for one word, I'd go with "multiconfessional electorate", which is certainly what makes America unique.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 12, 2005 1:35 PM"Signal"
Posted by: BB at July 12, 2005 1:35 PMmultiethnic
Posted by: cjm at July 12, 2005 1:39 PMStarts with a "C", ends with an "n", rhymes with "schmistian."
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 12, 2005 1:46 PMRisk
Posted by: AC at July 12, 2005 1:58 PMapparently my use of somewhat was an overestimation.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 2:06 PMSlave, certainly makes us distinctive.
Posted by: h-man at July 12, 2005 2:07 PMsuccessful
Posted by: eam at July 12, 2005 2:08 PMtrue.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 12, 2005 2:10 PM"hopes"
Posted by: Fred Feuerbacher at July 12, 2005 2:19 PMIt's a really good book....
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 2:25 PMdetermined
Posted by: eam at July 12, 2005 2:27 PMI'll go with "insist".
Posted by: ratbert at July 12, 2005 2:27 PMthemselves?
Posted by: Mike Earl at July 12, 2005 2:36 PMinscribed
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 12, 2005 2:38 PMConfrontation
Posted by: RC at July 12, 2005 2:39 PMOr dread?
Posted by: RC at July 12, 2005 2:45 PMinsistent?
Posted by: David Cohen at July 12, 2005 2:47 PM"Jefferson"!
Posted by: Just John at July 12, 2005 2:55 PMtestimony
Posted by: Kevin Colwell at July 12, 2005 2:56 PMrights?
Posted by: flanman at July 12, 2005 2:59 PMChile.
Posted by: jefferson park at July 12, 2005 3:02 PMI know. Orrin!
Posted by: Peter B at July 12, 2005 3:04 PMI'd like to buy a vowel.
Posted by: jefferson park at July 12, 2005 3:05 PMWell, "arousing" hasn't been mentioned. (Calm down, Beavis, he means awakened.)
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at July 12, 2005 3:05 PMIdeas
Posted by: RC at July 12, 2005 3:06 PMdemocracy
Posted by: eam at July 12, 2005 3:11 PMconsistent
Posted by: eam at July 12, 2005 3:17 PMAfrica.
The vowel is obviously "A" (Aquariums.) So that leaves us either with America or Africa. The thing that makes America so distinctive is ... America ... Africa... Africa. First crusade is abolition.
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 12, 2005 3:30 PM
Crusades--no one has said it.
Posted by: AC at July 12, 2005 3:30 PMa figurative placing of a vowel
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 3:32 PMThe vowel is A? Able, Amendment?
Posted by: RC at July 12, 2005 3:35 PMThe longer this goes on, the less skill is involved...
doctrine
church
revolution
territory
These are all that are left. They're not my guesses, just offering them up to everyone:
presaged
Bush
Muslim
Jewish
separation
state
Virginia
Statute
Freedom
imposition
tithe
Constitution
stretching
East
Coast
hemmed
ocean
mountains
electorate
larger
scale
secularism
chains
ignorance
superstition
persuaded
bind
security
Haitian
revolt
Napoleon
Louisiana
democrats
friendships
Lafayette
Paine
Kosciusko
successful
use
naval
military
Barbary
States
Ottoman
Empire
piracy
blackmail
western
North
president
position
regime
change
Algiers
Tripoli
behavior
modification
tyranny
world
United
States
continue
ensure
remains
RC:
Correction: The longer it goes on the less skill is displayed.
our
Posted by: The Other Brother at July 12, 2005 3:53 PMchange
Posted by: Chris Durnell at July 12, 2005 3:59 PMYou don't know where your brother lives?
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 12, 2005 4:00 PMIt's outside the county.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 4:03 PMJoe,
I think he can drive here, but I'd bet my new book he doesn't know the mailing address!
Posted by: The Other Brother at July 12, 2005 4:03 PMOur? You're messing with us.
Posted by: RC at July 12, 2005 4:10 PMHitchens is becoming a US citizen. Doh!!!
Posted by: Luciferous at July 12, 2005 4:16 PMNo. He's not messing with us. But I get the idea that Orrin is particular taken with the word
1. because it was used (whether subconsciously or expressly) by Hitchens to refer to the Constitution of his adopted country. That is, OJ felt significant, this example of an immigrant assimilating to the point of not only his becoming American, but the Constitution of the United States becoming his and
2. because the word "our" also illuminates nicely that the Constitution belongs to the people (we wrote it and get to change it according to the rules we built into it) and not the other way around. We are the rulers, not the ruled . . . or, using the favorite word, our destiny is to rule; our destinies will not be ruled for us.
Is that what you had in mind, Our friend?
Posted by: george at July 12, 2005 4:24 PMgeorge:
Better than I could have said it.
Some of us are old enough to remember the Marxist Hitchens raging at the U.S. in the Reagan era. Now he's a neocon and an American. he'll be a Catholic within a decade.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 4:52 PMSince the Hitchens brothers are technically Jews, they have no business belonging to a heretical offshoot of Judaism.
Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger at July 12, 2005 5:15 PMThis about Hitchens has not changed and is unlikely to: he is a savage iconoclast. The ultimate boy-observing-the-emperor's-nudity. His life's calling, brilliantly executed.
Posted by: ghostcat at July 12, 2005 6:20 PMExcept that he's become a chief defender of the icons.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 6:23 PMTo whatever extent he's doing that, his motivation is to smash other icons. It's his nature. Dirty work, but someone, etc.
He does it with style, wit, and bottomless venom. Must be a father thing in there somewhere.
Posted by: ghostcat at July 12, 2005 6:50 PMUseful idiot.
Posted by: joe shropshire at July 12, 2005 7:16 PMDammit, why did I have to come so late to this post? I was reading Hitchens' column early this morning and I was struck that he said "our," thus implicitly considering himself an American because he has lived here and also believes in the American system. He is currently applying for American citizenship.
That said, Hitchens is no conservative and he'll never be a Catholic -- he despises religion too much.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at July 12, 2005 7:50 PMHe's just wrestling with God.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 7:54 PMgeorge:
Full credit and thanks to you for your perspicacity. My initial reaction was that The Other Brother is getting as much domestic flak about excessive bibliographic purchases as our fearless leader and that this was just an inter-fraternal scam to exchange books. Thanks to you, I now see I was blinded by that secular, rationalist part of me I try to shake, but simply can't completely expunge. Damn. I'll work on it, promise
Posted by: Peter B at July 12, 2005 8:13 PMI have to agree with OJ. Hitchens is heading straight towards Opus Dei. No doubt about it.
Posted by: H.D. Miller at July 12, 2005 9:00 PMWell, we can be sure that he won't stop along the way and dabble with being Anglican. No quarter-measures for Mr. Hitchens.
I wonder if he ever commented on his buddy Andrew's embrace of Kerry last summer and fall. I wonder if Andrew even remembers it.
Posted by: jim hamlen at July 12, 2005 9:13 PM"He's just wrestling with God."
He's certainly wrestling with something. He's certainly not a nihilist. And he slammed Mother Teresa and John Paul II as if it were somehow personal.
Posted by: ghostcat at July 12, 2005 9:26 PMSpeaking of Andrew
Brian Lamb had Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan on a C-Span program a while back. I learned more about America and Americans from listening to those two Brits than from any American.
Somebody in media should be smart enough to put those 2 guys in a room again and pummel them with questions. You wouldn't want to miss it.
Posted by: John J. Coupal at July 12, 2005 9:38 PMOJ:
He has likened belief in God to a totalitarian ideology and religious believers to useful idiots, because God watches you every hour of every day and you are never free of Him. In the next breath, he took the usual atheist tack of congratulating himself for not believing in comforting fairy-tales, saying that obviously it would be nice if God existed but he is strong enough to resist the temptation. He has also said he "can't stand" anybody who believes in God.
In other words, he's Harry -- although his faith in the positive efficacy of Bolshevism has faded while Harry's remains as strong as ever. I wouldn't bet on any more conversions from him.
On a different subject, did you see the look on that fan's face during the fourth inning of the All-Star Game when the burly umpire told him he'd just committed fan interference? I think he'd believed the ball was foul. Whoops...
Posted by: Matt Murphy at July 12, 2005 9:59 PMHitch ditched Marx, so he doesn't need to deny God anymore, but accepting Him takes awhile even after you acknowledge your old god failed. Orwell died just before he made it, but Whittaker Chambers got there.
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 10:56 PMI remember when Reagan died, Hitchens wrote the worst thing I've ever read written about anybody (not counting crazy bloggers or posters) and nobody called him out on it. I have refused to read or listen to anything by him since as it was utterly shocking. Was everyone afraid or intimidated by him? If I remember correctly Jonah Goldberg commented on how weird it was and said he had to think about it; the one and only time I've heard about it. Silence about the utter excoriation by Hitchens of a man most consider to be a hero.
I hope you're right Orrin.
Now his brother, I like. He is religious, intelligent, and down to earth; sounds so much like a regular guy.
Rage, rage against the dawning of the light...
Posted by: oj at July 12, 2005 11:20 PMHis brother by himself is a Tory bore. Together ... which is rare, indeed ... they are electric.
Posted by: ghostcat at July 13, 2005 1:14 AMOh...well, I noticed his using "our" and wondered if he'd become a US citizen, but didn't include it on words left to guessed.
Is he a citizen?
Posted by: RC at July 13, 2005 10:09 AMMatt, I don't think religious believers are useful.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 14, 2005 8:39 PMYet, you stay here.
Posted by: oj at July 14, 2005 8:51 PMJust markin' time till the atheist rapture, Orrin.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 15, 2005 4:31 PMAnd hiding out with the Crusaders, not your ideological soulmates in Europe. But you're more than welcome.
Posted by: oj at July 15, 2005 5:24 PMToo much Jew-hatred over there for my taste.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 15, 2005 8:19 PMYes, that's where Harryism leads.
Posted by: oj at July 15, 2005 9:25 PM