“Does war alter our ‘grammar of assent’?
In times of peace, do we see ourselves as Christians (a solid, sure noun) who happen to be American (adjective, of secondary import)? Which is to suggest: we could be Christians who ‘happen to be’ Afghan or Iraqi. An alteration in our self-understanding, to be sure: but the center and pivot, “Christian,” would stand firm, the task and blessing accorded to peacemakers. And this, whether we live amid victims or victimizers: small matter, same vocation.
Wartime. And we are subtly or overtly urged: Alter the sense of who you are in the world. Lines are drawn; the culture of war exerts a huge, central claim. The cultural enlistment is a curse; we are urged to ignore the central teaching and example of Christ. ‘For the duration,’ we are to be Americans first and foremost — Americans who happen to be Christians.”
(Daniel Berrigan, The Kings and Their Gods: The Pathology of Power [Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008])
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