Jewish World Review May 8, 2003/ 6 Iyar, 5763

Marianne M. Jennings

Marianne M. Jennings
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The Divine, man, war, and leaders


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | The new archbishop of Canterbury is testy. In a rollicksome victory of church over state, Dr. Rowan Williams told Prince Charles how the cabbage is cut, or the scone is buttered, or whatever metaphor the Brits use when someone lays down the law. The bonnie prince has asked, when and if he becomes King Charles, that he not be crowned "Defender of the Faith" but rather, in a wave of the scepter to multiculturalism, "Defender of Faith." The Canterbury bishop issued a firm, "No!" and this tale, ". . . like it or not, [he is] Defender of the Faith and has a relationship with the Christian church which he does not have with other faith communities."

Bloody good for the archbishop. For five centuries, Britain's monarch has been "Defender of the Faith." The title and faith of the Anglican church have allowed Britain to survive wars, plagues, mad cow disease, and Diana.

PC (Prince Charles) whines that Britain is a multiethnic, multilingual, multireligious, multigender, multimistress country and, therefore, "the" offends. Britain attracts immigrants because its stalwartness draws those who live in lesser conditions and amoral societies. These immigrants leave deprivation of body and soul for the benefits of an Anglican-based, Stoic society. Oddly, upon arrival, they demand that the essence of the culture that drew them there be changed because its tenets offend. They want religion exorcised from the nation's history. Such cuts gut its strength.

More than just trite political correctness rears an ugly head here. Demands for correction of phraseology, surgically altered history, and isolation from faith put future generations at risk. Without an understanding of faith's sustenance, they are doomed to wobbly knees. Lacking faith's fortitude, they will suffer a leadership void.

Buckingham Palace may be marching toward nihilism, but #10 Downing Street's occupant has had his Damascus. In a compelling piece in The Times Magazine on Prime Minister Blair and the 30 days of the Iraq war, Mr. Blair acknowledges he experienced strain, saying "it really gets to you." He reveals that faith sustained him.

At the start of the war, Mr. Blair wanted to close his broadcast speech with "G-d Bless You," but his advisors protested, "You are talking to lots of people who don't want chaplains pushing stuff down their throats." Mr. Blair acquiesced in his advisors' demands, referring to them as a "most ungodly lot."

But, when the Times reporter showed the prime minister a chart that depicted the number of lives lost each day of the war, Mr. Blair's unleashed his restraint, "I am ready to meet my Maker and answer for those who have died as a result of my decisions." The archbishop of Canterbury has an elected Defender of the Faith to make up for a quiche prince.

This pressure to nix religion or reduce it to Pablum is not unique to the mother country. The United States has its own crown princes of atheistic and agnostic idiocy. In the days leading up to the war, the NPRers and Washington Posters stewed and fretted that Mr. Bush was dangerously close to the G-d line. They complained mightily about his state of the union address including, "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is G-d's gift to humanity." They clucked when Mr. Bush called Saddam "evil." Martin E. Marty scolded in Newsweek, "The problem isn't with Bush's sincerity, but with his evident conviction that he's doing G-d's will."

Such worries evidence a void in studies of religion and history. Punditry theories aside, G-d pretty much does side with the downtrodden and their defenders. Patrick Henry's stirring speech included, "There is a just G-d who presides over the destinies of Nations, and who will raise up friends. . . " G-d generally doesn't give aid and comfort to despotic maniacs with collections of pornography and orders for torture. He's no respecter of persons, but He does have a soft place in His heart for children. Seeing them in prison tends to bring Him around to the air craft carriers in the Persian Gulf.

Faith is a longstanding component of leadership, particularly during war. FDR on evil: "The world is too small to provide adequate 'living room' for both Hitler and G-d." Lincoln spoke of "this nation, under G-d" and worried that America was becoming "too proud to pray."

Rod Dreher, writing in National Review on U.S. military chaplains, quotes one serving in Iraq, "Evil definitely exists. What we are dealing with in this situation is evil." Another adds, "Courage is really fear that's said its prayers." G-d, faith, war, leaders and victory are inextricably intertwined. Balking at the thought does not make it less true.

So, as future kings denounce faith, textbooks eliminate references to religion and our Maker, and courts seek to take Him from the pledge of allegiance, an archbishop, a prime minister and a president have reminded us of Providence. Strike faith from the printed or spoken word, but it remains etched in heart and soul. When the going gets tough, the tough need G-d and faith, not generic multiculturalism with a heaping side of moral relativism acceptable to demanding, but diverse atheists.

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JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

04/28/03: Dixie Chickens
04/22/03: "Squaw"king over a peak
04/16/03: Pulling the old Johnnie Cochran
04/07/03: The other casualties of war
02/27/03: War and principle
02/20/03: Diabolical women
02/14/03: Deadhead poets and society
02/07/03: Misguided compassionate conservative
01/31/03: The Wisk "fix it!" mentality
01/24/03: There are only two types of people in the U.S.: Trial lawyers and their clients and those who have had to pay trial lawyers and their clients
01/16/03: "My ex is a minority, so I deserve special treatment"
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01/02/03: The year that was
12/26/02: Capital offenses, power and Harry Potter
12/20/02: Mundane superlatives cause trouble
12/09/02: Let the sacking begin
12/05/02: Amazing Grace that saved me from my CO2 emissions
11/27/02: Free speech, Harvard, and First Amendment looneys
11/25/02: Eminem culture
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10/28/02: What the snipers and Moose taught
10/22/02: Nobel Prizes and other ventriloquist acts
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10/14/02: Leaders don't change; followers do
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09/11/02: One year later, crass demands, greed, and litigation are back --- but rights are diminished
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08/30/02: The Shakespearean tragedy of affirmative action
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05/20/02: Some passion about Israel
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04/29/02: The irritation of the modern wedding
04/18/02: Claire's life
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04/09/02: The Clinton legacy: Politics of personal destruction
03/31/02: Oscars' subtle bigotry was embarrassing
03/22/02: Blame Oprah, Rosie, Sally, Ted, David
03/14/02: The costs of women's feeble choices
03/08/02: Botoxic faces
02/28/02: The dangers of organized philanthropy
02/25/02: Don't take the gold
02/14/02: Ease up on the brothers and sisters
02/11/02: Because I was courted
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01/24/02: Tolerance does not mean stupidity
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12/27/01: The Twelve Days of inconsistency
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11/01/01: Unlucky in sports
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08/13/01: Our masters: The animals
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07/13/01: Rage born of sublimation
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05/25/01: Baseball has not been so good to me
05/18/01: Clothes make the woman
05/11/01: Selective precaution
05/04/01: Grades: Equality of students, by students, for the students
04/27/01: The Horowitz revelations as seen by a college professor
04/20/01: First, let's kill all the tests
04/13/01: The continuing mistake of underpricing electricity
04/06/01: That pill, Julia Roberts
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03/23/01: The melt down of the academy
03/15/01: Columbine redux: Moral infants
03/09/01: The lessons of Tom and Nicole
03/01/01: Pardon the temporary outrage
02/23/01: In defense of homework
02/20/01: A Message for faith-based organizations: Don't take the money, just run
02/06/01: Enough already with the Clintoons
01/26/01: The challenge to be better than we have been
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12/15/00: In defense of rhetoric
12/06/00: The company we keep: Lawyers and elections
12/01/00: Liberals' art of trashing of women
11/20/00: Put me out of my misery
11/17/00: On being a statesman
11/13/00: When it's broke, fixing it wouldn't offend the Framers
11/08/00: ELECTION 2000: I SURRENDER
10/27/00: Al in the package? Memo to women: Choosing presidents and husbands
10/20/00: Ten things the gay community should understand
10/13/00: "You Have a Lump."
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09/29/00: The capacity for truth
09/22/00: Charity with strings and an agenda
09/15/00: The taming of the shrew: Gloria Steinem takes a husband
09/09/00: Why rich folk don't bother me none
08/28/00: Survival of the not-so-fit but conniving
08/25/00: Conventions: A study in contrasts
08/18/00: Resenting the accusations of racial prejudice
08/04/00: Women: Their own worst enemy
07/21/00: Hillary: Our longshoreman First Lady
07/21/00: SUVs: The root of all evil
07/14/00: The basketball gene and white men not jumping so well
07/07/00: I wanna be around
06/23/00: The liberal conversion
06/14/00: Sex and the City: The shallow but vulgar female
06/08/00: No excuses schools
06/02/00: Oh, Canada: Our Nutty Neighbors to the North
05/23/00: The new mollycoddling coach
05/16/00: On adultery and leadership
05/12/00: Taking your lumps
05/02/00: Elian: There's never a liberal around when you need one
04/25/00: Life's circle and tenderness
04/18/00: Womyn who want it both ways
04/11/00: The monsters we're raising with the ergo proposition
04/05/00: Endowing the Hooters Chair for Literature Appreciation
03/28/00: Dr. Laura: The passive/aggressive kid's mom
03/21/00: Dough and campaigns
03/14/00: The volunteerism of conscription and pomp
03/07/00: Hope and pray that religion remains a force in politics
02/29/00: Ditzes in TV Land
02/22/00: Cranky nitpickers make writing a [sic] experience
02/15/00: Those chameleon 60s activists
02/08/00: McCandidate McCain: Flirting with principles
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01/25/00: Stroke of the pen, law of the land: Clinton's Camelot
01/18/00: Off the Rocker Rorschach Test
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12/23/99: Confused fathers
12/14/99: Drop-kicking the homeless
12/07/99: Turtles and teamsters, side-by-side in Seattle
11/29/99: When conservatives behave badly
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11/18/99: The elusive human spirit and accountability
11/11/99: Succumbing to the intellectual child within with the help of crackpots and screwballs
10/28/99: Live by litigation, die by litigation
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09/21/99: The Diversity Hoax
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09/09/99: Selective censorship
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08/17/99: In defense of Boy Scouts and judgment
08/10/99: Ruining the finest health care system in the world
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07/20/99: "Why me?" How about "Why us?"
07/13/99: Bunk, junk & juries
07/06/99: An Amish woman in a Victoria's Secret store
06/30/99: That intellectually embarrassing Second Amendment
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06/22/99: Dems and the Creator coup
06/17/99: True courage is more than just admitting troubles

© 2002, Marianne M. Jennings