http://www.detnews.com/2005/editoria...D07-302335.htm
Evangelicals must rethink nationalism
By Fr. Robert Sirico
Pat Robertson speaks his mind on his television show "The 700 Club," often with an unpolished spontaneity that is missing from network news. But every now and then, this unvarnished approach causes an explosion that reveals more than we really wanted to know about the heart of evangelical politics in this country.
Thus did a firestorm of outrage greet Robertson's casual but sincere call for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Chavez, a sworn enemy of President Bush, often proclaims that U.S. officials are plotting to kill him. This charge, of course, is calculated to boost his flagging support within Venezuela, where his political power depends heavily on an anti-American posture.
There was not much room for misinterpreting what Robertson said: "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
Blood for oil anyone? Must Robertson live up to every possible caricature that the left has made of right-wing preachers?
This all must have been music to the ears of Chavez, who follows Fidel Castro's model of bolstering his own dictatorship be whipping up public fear of the United States as the great Satan. Rightly or wrongly, Robertson is perceived as one of the most influential voices among evangelical Christians, a group that is widely believed to have vast influence on Bush's foreign policy.
Finally, facing enormous pressure, Robertson did repudiate his statement. "Is it right to call for assassination?" he asked. "No, and I apologize for that statement." He went on to explain that he was considering this as an alternative to war, as if killing one or killing many were the only choices we have in dealing with a bad foreign leader.
But something very important is missing -- a moral rationale for the repudiation. And the problem isn't just Robertson. He is symptomatic of a larger problem that I fear has crept up within Christian right circles. Some believe they have a friend in the White House who protects and guards their interests, and generally does the Lord's work in foreign policy.
There is no question that Chavez is a dangerous and ruthless man. I've been to Venezuela and visited his political opponents in jail. I've talked at length to opposition leaders and openly rooted for Chavez to be dislodged from power.
Assassination, however, is contrary to the long-run interests of freedom in that country. As an elected dictator, even dubiously elected, he enjoys more legitimacy than a dictator who rules by explicit seizure of power. The ideological basis for his rule is widely, if sadly, shared in that society. Foreign-policy violence should be used only as a last resort and only consistently with the principles of just war (defensive, proportional, limited).
Evangelicals need to reflect on the history of institutions such as cultural exchange, moral example, diplomatic pressure and free trade as tools of social and political change. These institutions have roots in the Christian moral order, which calls for justice but also extols the merit of peace.
It is true that Christian moral teaching does not rule out the idea of killing tyrants, but only after every other alternative has been exhausted, and with some assurance that the cure would not prove worse than the disease.
Robertson has defended the idea of trading with China -- a position that was not widely accepted within evangelical circles. He argues that Christian missionaries stand a greater chance of influencing a country through mutually beneficial trade than through trade war and belligerence. I agree with him on this, and suggest that we carry the model further. What applies in the case of China is equally applicable in Venezuela.
Robertson's comments shocked many people who worry the Christian right is losing its soul in its support for increasingly uncritical nationalism. What is needed here is a time of reflection. Christianity does not regard every enemy of the nation-state as worthy of execution. It prefers peace to war. It respects the right to life of everyone, even those who have objectionable political views.
Faith and policy Fr. Robert Sirico is president of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids. Send letters to The Detroit News at Editorial Page, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit, MI 48226 or
letters@detnews.com.
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