One narrative of American spirituality boomed over radio waves from the Republican National Convention last week.

In his address in St. Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had this to say about evil:
“Republicans believe that there is good and evil in the world. Ronald Reagan called out the Evil Empire. George Bush labeled the terror-sponsor states exactly what they are, the Axis of Evil. And at Saddleback (Church candidates’ forum), after Barack Obama dodged and ducked every direct question, John McCain hit the nail on the head: radical violent Islam is evil, and he will defeat it.”

Why did Romney say that?

During the same week Muslims began their Ramadan fast, this former presidential candidate narrowed a religion of more than a billion people to its violent minority.

And in a fury, his audience erupted into a chant: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

We sounded blood-thirsty and ready for more war.

If Romney was going to mention Islam, he could have used his status to solidify relationships with peaceful Muslim neighbors.

But seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, he — and we — remain easily drawn to hatred of enemies.

As another tragic anniversary passes, we’d all do well to ask ourselves a question: Why do we fight wars today?

If you want the answer, you’ll find it in the 2005 film “Why We Fight,” written and directed by Eugene Jarecki.

A warning: The documentary shows the charred, bloody corpses of Iraqi civilians piled up in a morgue, the result of what our leaders describe as precision warfare.

Just as disturbing as those images is the conclusion the film draws, which by its end is hard to dispute, as to why the United States fights wars in the first place: the military-industrial complex.

President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, made famous that term when he highlighted how the relationship between the military and the industries that support it can influence policy. In a speech he gave three days before leaving office in 1961, Eisenhower warned Americans that “in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

It’s worth quoting a chunk of his text:

“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. … This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.”

The film uses this speech as its launching point, and through interviews, including some with McCain, describes the evolution of this reality during the past half-century.

The trouble is, the complex network of corporate and military America is hard to see. And so when a politician like Romney plays on fear, we are ready to condemn a religion with him.

Instead of questioning our leaders’ motivations, we bang our chests.

Our spirituality, as clearly reflected in these moments as in churches, suffers.

And Eisenhower’s plea that we be “confident but humble with power” is forgotten.

Joe Orso works part time for the La Crosse Tribune and the Franciscan Spirituality Center. Opinions in this column are his own.

Advertisement