Good Guys Wear White, And So Do Bad Guys

Last month, I was deeply troubled by the report that the CIA tortured prisoners during the decade since the 9/11/11 attacks on the United States.  I can't say I was surprised, but I was troubled.  Primarily so, I think, because although they admitted that some practices may have been illegal, the primary defense from the top was that it was fair because it led to the capture of top Al-Qaeda leaders.  Since when was "the ends justify the means" a valid moral argument?  If this is becoming a valid and acceptable moral argument, then we as a people are in deep trouble.

Of course, the argument isn't a new one.  After all, our own United States joined the group of nations who have used weapons of mass destruction against civilians when they killed between 129,000 and 246,000 people in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Of course, the primary argument was to end the war sooner.  This may have been true, but does it justify the bombs?  Regardless of the outcome, an enormous number of noncombatants, including of course women and children, were killed and maimed.  I have a fundamental problem with the argument that the ends justify the means.  If the process of getting to a goal is tainted, is not the goal tainted as well?

Integrity is a notion that can't be overstated.  We think of integrity in terms of doing the right thing, but the base meaning of the word has to do with consistency and a whole mass working together as a whole.  Integrity means that the outer shell of a spacecraft doesn't have the smallest seam in it.  It means that the prison doesn't have a single unlocked door.  And it means that all of the actions taken to get to a goal are just as praiseworthy as the goal.  The ends do not justify the means.  First, because we never know the exact ramifications of our actions - what if no good comes of our evil means?  Then we're stuck with evil.  Second, because just how evil are we allowed to be in pursuing a good?  Who is to judge at what point the good outweighs the evil?  Third, because it's probably more accurate to think of life as a constant journey, not as a series of ends...where do you draw the lines between means and ends?

It didn't terribly surprise me that there was a lack of morality in the decision to torture prisoners.  It's a common misquote that "America is good because she is great, and if she ever ceased to be good, she would cease to be great" (Tocqueville is claimed as the author, but he did not write it).  Nevertheless, I think it's telling that the quote continues to be so prevalent.  People want the USA to be a "good" and upright nation.  They want to look to America as a bastion of freedom, liberty, and good morals.  Unfortunately, they're looking in the wrong place.  Please don't immediately assume that this is an America-bashing post - that isn't the point.  If you don't believe me, read to the bottom.

America isn't exactly the standard-bearer for the ethical high road.  While the point of this post isn't to accuse the USA of all sorts of moral failings, it requires a great deal of amnesia to ignore them.  Here in Texas we can't forget 1846, when American troops forcefully claimed a disputed territory with Mexico after the Mexican government refused to sell it.  After claiming that the Mexican army had attacked them on American soil, a declaration of war allowed American troops to invade and capture all the way to Mexico City.  Of course, we also can't forget how in 1776 we declared that "all men are created equal" and eleven years later declared that black people only counted as three-fifths of a person.  It took us 21 years to ban the slave trade, 78 years to officially end the practice of slavery, and 133 years for women to get the right to vote.

Today, we still have 122 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison, of which 46 are slated to be detained indefinitely because they are dangerous but there isn't enough evidence to bring them to trial.  Clearly, habeas corpus only applies within the United States.  The USA also provides unconditional support to Israel, despite their continued apartheid against the Palestinian people (opinion), possible illegal occupation and settlement, and possible war crimes.  This support angers nations worldwide that either support Palestinian statehood or are more impartial.  Americans have long been active in meddling in foreign affairs, to questionable moral standing.  Politifact analyzed 20 instances within 30 years of American military intervention and found that 3 clearly qualified as invasions because ground troops entered another country without international backing.  The number of apparent CIA attempted assassination attempts has been claimed to be as high as 50, and a number of them are public record.  Of course, we also know today that the government spies on its own citizens and even those of friendly nations.

It's beneficial for many to claim that the United States is either a "Christian nation" or that it was founded on "Christian values."  If these values included the forceful taking of land from the native inhabitants in the name of God, then I suppose that could be true.  After all, we're still taking and consuming everything in our paths today, but it's for ourselves rather than for God or destiny (quote).  We were founded not as a Christian nation, but as a nation of religious freedom.  However, it's helpful for Christians who are waging a culture war to claim a central place in American society, and it's helpful for political figures to claim that they are fighting to restore America to a Christian, moral place.

These arguments, however, are not only based in fiction, they are troubling.  Equating America with Christian values would mean that the rest of the world would view American actions as Christian, from those listed above to media lewdness.  Furthermore, waging a culture war to claim America as a Christian nation is a fundamental misunderstanding of our place in society as Christians.  One of Martin Luther's less-known doctrines, but one that apparently underlay his entire theological structure, is that of two kingdoms.  He argued that we are simultaneously citizens of two kingdoms, which he called the "right hand" and the "left hand."  In the left, it's a realm of active righteousness (doing good through works), government, law, and society.  In the right, it's a realm of passive righteousness (being good through grace), spirituality, and worship.

How do these three items fit
together, again?

We live in both of these realms at once.  As an author blogged recently, "Why on Earth would a Christian at any moment of history expect anything other than difficulty at combining faith and citizenship?"  Our role has never been to live in perfect harmony with society, and to expect that is to misunderstand the Bible.  I've always taken great meaning from the role of God's faithful in exile as Jeremiah exhorted - seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which God has sent us.  Not to consume or copy society, but also not to uselessly condemn and critique it.  Cultivate it, just like God originally commanded us in Genesis 1 (Andy Crouch).

My objective in working through this post, where I consider American moral failures, is to make the case that our proper citizenship is to stand with one foot on both sides.  It's not unusual for people to accuse me of being un-patriotic, but I'd like to think it's because I only have one foot in American citizenship.  My other foot is in God's kingdom.  From that perspective, I have no qualms about criticizing the actions and attitudes of my own nation.  America is not a Christian nation, it is a nation.  There's no doubt that she has done an enormous amount of good in the world, and that she has often stood for the right things.  There's also no doubt that she has often messed up big time.

When it comes to my citizenship in America, I choose to fight for and support the nation even though I often have sharp differences with it.  This is the nation of my birth, and I will defend it.  It's not a defense that overlooks wrongs, it's a defense that looks to right wrongs, make amends for mistakes, and go on a path for good going forward.  Sometimes it seems like we're moving the right direction, sometimes it seems like we're falling backward.  Regardless, however, my hope is not in the American government.  I want the nation to do right, but it's only half of my citizenship.  I don't expect the nation to become a place that I am in perfect alignment with.  I won't even fight for that, because this nation is about "e pluribus unum", not my way or the highway.  My more important citizenship and home is in the kingdom of God.

Ultimately, my freedom is not found in the stars and bars of the American flag, it's found in the cross of Jesus Christ.  He alone is freedom, and when I exchange His freedom to cling to American freedom, I'm exchanging something of true value for something that will let me down.  America screws up because of sin - the same reason people shoot up schools and commit acts of terrorism.  Our world needs a hope that comes from the Gospel found in the Bible, not the hope that comes from the white stripes that stand for "peace".  An earthly kingdom will always disappoint, but a heavenly kingdom will always save.  Come, Lord Jesus.