Tuesday, July 06, 2004
The Un-Patriot
I remember seeing The Patriot in theaters when it first came out, and I was really annoyed at the way it irresponsibly demonized the British. I still am annoyed by its portrayal of British soldiers locking an entire village of "traitors" in a church and then burning the church down. It sounds vaguely historically familiar because it did happen. Except it was WWII, with Nazis locking Jews in a synagogue. Historical revisionism, anyone? The Patriot was an exciting, entertaining movie, but I still walked away from it with an overall feeling of how pointless war is. And of how movie-makers will wildly elaborate on the truth just to give you a good show.
I watched it again on TV this weekend, and this time, there were other things that bothered me. I came away from it with what felt like a very un-patriotic reaction--especially on the Independence Day weekend.
The Mel Gibson character is portrayed as a man of faith. He is shown praying at quite a few points during the movie. He initially objects to the war, advocating peaceful methods of resolving the issues. But then his family is attacked, and he is drawn into the conflict--because it becomes personal. It becomes vengeance; he goes after the evil Brits who threaten his family.
I am always uneasy at the mixture of faith and patriotism. It gets too easily muddled. Yes, our country has a wonderful heritage of faith, but being American does not equal being Christian. I can't stand it when people apply scripture to America that refers to Israel. America is not the new Israel, and Americans are not God's chosen people. But that's another rant for another day.
The elements of faith in the movie got me thinking about a discussion we had in Bible study at Green Hills about Romans 13, and how Christians should respond to the government and its leaders.
In the historical context of Romans 13, Nero was the head of state. It's kinda hard to find a more anti-Christian leader than Nero. Yet Christians were asked to pray for and show respect to their leaders--even when that leader was someone like Nero. We are called to do the same. Whether the leader is Nero, King George, or George W. Bush, Romans 13 advocates submission and obedience to the state. Yes, yes, I know--duty to God always has priority over duty to the state. And submission and obedience do not mean blindly accepting everything you're told with no critical thought. But neither do they mean supporting the overthrow of governmental control because of "taxation without representation." If Paul asks the Romans to demonstrate submission and obedience to Nero, then how in the world is the Revolutionary War justified from a Christian perspective?
So in looking at the Revolutionary War, I can't help but think that anyone who champions it from a Christian perspective is sadly wrong-headed. I just can't reconcile it with Romans 13 and the attitude Christians are called to have toward the government. I guess it really doesn't matter that much, since the Revolutionary War is over and done with. I'm not advocating a return to the British Empire. And I'm still processing these thoughts. But it's unsettling (and kind of amusing) to me that this is what was kicking around in my head over the Fourth of July weekend.
I watched it again on TV this weekend, and this time, there were other things that bothered me. I came away from it with what felt like a very un-patriotic reaction--especially on the Independence Day weekend.
The Mel Gibson character is portrayed as a man of faith. He is shown praying at quite a few points during the movie. He initially objects to the war, advocating peaceful methods of resolving the issues. But then his family is attacked, and he is drawn into the conflict--because it becomes personal. It becomes vengeance; he goes after the evil Brits who threaten his family.
I am always uneasy at the mixture of faith and patriotism. It gets too easily muddled. Yes, our country has a wonderful heritage of faith, but being American does not equal being Christian. I can't stand it when people apply scripture to America that refers to Israel. America is not the new Israel, and Americans are not God's chosen people. But that's another rant for another day.
The elements of faith in the movie got me thinking about a discussion we had in Bible study at Green Hills about Romans 13, and how Christians should respond to the government and its leaders.
In the historical context of Romans 13, Nero was the head of state. It's kinda hard to find a more anti-Christian leader than Nero. Yet Christians were asked to pray for and show respect to their leaders--even when that leader was someone like Nero. We are called to do the same. Whether the leader is Nero, King George, or George W. Bush, Romans 13 advocates submission and obedience to the state. Yes, yes, I know--duty to God always has priority over duty to the state. And submission and obedience do not mean blindly accepting everything you're told with no critical thought. But neither do they mean supporting the overthrow of governmental control because of "taxation without representation." If Paul asks the Romans to demonstrate submission and obedience to Nero, then how in the world is the Revolutionary War justified from a Christian perspective?
So in looking at the Revolutionary War, I can't help but think that anyone who champions it from a Christian perspective is sadly wrong-headed. I just can't reconcile it with Romans 13 and the attitude Christians are called to have toward the government. I guess it really doesn't matter that much, since the Revolutionary War is over and done with. I'm not advocating a return to the British Empire. And I'm still processing these thoughts. But it's unsettling (and kind of amusing) to me that this is what was kicking around in my head over the Fourth of July weekend.
| posted by Barbara | 11:54 PM