Wednesday, 02 May 2012
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No Greater Love: Idolatry in Patriotic Art
By Nic Don at Theopolitical
Nationalist Christians often conflate scriptures referring to Christ or to the church with concepts about America or her heroes. Now, this should not surprise anyone. Christianity is socially powerful; it’s natural that politicians and others who wish to enlist Christians in their cause will cynically twist scripture to their own ends. What should shock us is how eagerly some Christians buy into this abuse of scripture. I’ve reviewed before the American Patriot’s Bible, and numerous pieces of kitschy art. But here’s a piece that takes the idolatrous cake.
This is a piece from nogreaterloveart.com, called Armed with Valor.Ironic: The passage the site is named for is John 15:13, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus is being self-referential here. He is the one who exhibits the greatest love by laying down his life. What is more, while soldiers certainly make many sacrifices for their friends, loved ones and nations, their goal is certainly not to lay down their lives but to lay down their enemies’ lives. As General Patton famously put it, “Your job isn’t to die for your country, but to make some other poor bastard die for his.”
Ironic: The soldier is armed with valor, one imagines, but is also armed with an assault rifle. I imagine it’s somewhat easier to display valor when armed with an assault rifle. I imagine it’s also much more difficult to demonstrate love while holding one.
Sad: This piece was not composed by some propaganda department vying for Christian recruits. It was composed by a sincere Christian, who feels that the U.S. soldier exemplifies the great love of Christ. He is not referring to the general sense of sacrifice/honor/camaraderie that can be developed in wartime situations, either. He sees America as distinctly embodying Christianity. Here is another piece by the same artist:
This piece is called The Difference Between Us and Them. The different manifests itself in two forms: “secular” American images like the flag and the eagle, and “religious” images like the angel wings. But it’s all religious imagery, of course, and the eagle bridges the gap by being apparently a spiritual being, perhaps a stand-in for the dove of the Holy Spirit. Doves, of course, are images of peace while eagles are predators, hunters. The difference between us and them would appear to be that God supports us, and enables us to shelter the weak through our use of force.
What do you think? Am I reading too much into these images, or do they reflect a sincere conflation of God with country?
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Comments (8)
I haven't ever actually met anyone who genuinely conflates God with country, despite people saying it's a problem.
I think images like this can sometimes be corny and in bad taste, but I don't think there's a big problem beyond that.
And for the record, I do believe soldiers who fight for the glory of God do fall into the category of laying down their lives for their friends. That doesn't mean I think America is God. I just happen to disagree on the pacifist question.
The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they started mixing Christianity with the new nation's identity. Are Christians wrong when mixing Christ with an idealized national identity? Yes, but unfortunately Christianity was drafted and pressed into service a long time before our present age.
I've started praying in earnest for the Holy Spirit to bring revival. Revival is the only way to turn the ship around. Only God can free us from entanglement with the national identity
Psalm 44 (LINK) is a great expression of America's military ethos: In order to be successful, God must march with our armies.
That ethos also keeps the soldiers from turning into plundering, pillaging, raping maniacs like most of the world's non-Christian armies.
When we read pagan classics like Homer's Illiad, honor and glory (time, pronounced TEEmay, and cleos) are gained on the battlefield through material acquisition (pillaging and raping) and doing great deeds that people gossip and talk about (killing the most with the greatest finesse and brutality and destroying the most).
For the American soldier, honor and glory are purely spiritual and sacrificial, and lead to battlefield victory. The Christian ethos of the American soldier has made America's armies exceptional in character and almost impossible to beat.
I've been called names for my stance on this one. I'm not always supportive of a particular war, but, growing up with a father who spent 3 years in combat in the 2nd world war, I'm no pacifist either. I prefer to say I am always supportive of our troops, doing the crud work that many Presidents haven't had to do. And I worked as a nurse at the V.A. for 14 years, and let me tell you that many a Christian soldier could always be found who was livid over a given war, or reason for fighting at a particular time, and that certainly did not bring into question his patriotism. And for those who drag this stuff out during elections, dirtying up a candidate whose very few soldiers didn't like him, those are the folks who should have to go next time around, because it's like dad always said, "Unless and until you've been there, in the chaos, terror, and having to kill others you aren't even sure ought to be killed, then you need to keep it out of politics." All who've served in combat are brothers and sisters, and know it much too well, and get sick of people who never fought crapping on candidates for some kind of real or imaginary reasons that they have no right to serve politically.
These images are preaching "another gospel" not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" Ephesians 6:12
It is noteworthy that in the first 300 years of Christianity, there was a clear consensus that one could not be a Christian and kill another human being. Soldiers who converted laid down their weapons, and sometimes were martyred for doing so.
@BillSamuel - "It is noteworthy that in the first 300 years
of Christianity, there was a clear consensus that one could not be a
Christian and kill another human being."
Then why didn't John the Baptist tell the soldiers who came to him, to lay down their arms and quit? In Luke 3, John the Baptist, is telling people that the axe is laid to the trees and some trees were going to be cast into the fire. Some various groups ask him what they should do, one of those groups were soldiers. In verse 14, they ask John what they should do, and he tells them to be satisfied with what they are paid, and not to extort money from people. Why didn't he tell them they had to lay down their weapons?
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" Ephesians 6:12"
You quoted the above, but offer no context to the verse. In the verse right before the one you quoted, Paul says to put on the whole armor of God, so that we can what? attack? advance? take ground? fight the devil? None of the above. Paul tells us to put on the armor, so that we can stand against, the devil and his tricks.
we are given armor, not weapons. In Eph 6, Paul no where tells us we have an offensive weapon. the only "weapon" that we have is the Sword, which is the word of God. We have at least two options for this "Sword" you can view it as the Bible, since it is the inspired word of God, God wants us to use it to defend ourselves, maybe in the same way Jesus withstood the attacks from Satan by quoting the Bible. You can also view the Sword, as Jesus. Jesus is often referred to as the Word. See John 1, If Jesus is our sword, then it is Jesus who defends us, it is Jesus we use to withstand Satan. Jesus has died on our behalf, for our sins, so when Satan attacks us, we can stand up and say not so fast, I am saved by the blood, go away.
Either way you look at it, a "sword" is a defensive weapon, not an offensive weapon. A sword is for close combating, for when you are in the thick of it, and the enemy is upon you. It is not an offensive weapon. You don't place your swordsmen in the front, you place them in the middle, or the back of the army, and put spears, and weapons that can be thrown and attacked with in the front.
We are not called to combat the enemy in Eph 6:12. We are told to reconcile others to God, to be God's ambassador (1 Corinthians 5) not to fight in God's army.
I am an artist... so my opinion comes from that point of view. It would be best if we knew the intent of the artist or the person commissioning the image. From personal experience, I have had an painting with a similar theme discussed in this post, that was terribly misunderstood. My thought process was that God would help a wounded America... IF we pray. But because of some of the painting's imagery, people who just glanced at the painting and didn't absorb all of the symbolism, got angry and thought it meant to say that Jesus was endorsing America over other nations. And that was the last thing I meant it to symbolize.
I don't have a problem with mixing our occupations (even government occupations) with faith since we can worship and serve the Lord even with our jobs. And God can bless those jobs, even if it it isn't a ministry. The first image of the soldier, I think would have been better to not use a rifle that looks very intimidating... but that is just me not liking rifles. With the image of the police officer in this post, I would interpret it as the flag representing all of America... that the difference between the U.S. and other nations is that we are or should be like this officer: the eagle representing a strong and courageous side of the police officer who, to those they help and save (like this little girl) ... they sometimes feel as if this action/service was angelic work, through human hands.
It is a good debate though on what is appropriate and what isn't. I sure learned a lot as an artist when I tried something similar in my art. It was either a love it or hate it response.
i read that verse differently. Jesus didn't lay down his life for his friends, he laid down his life for his enemies; that's greater love than any man could have.