An article by Gary Wills (one of my favorite intellectuals) in the current issue of the New York Review of Books asks a great question after making a great point:
There is a particular danger with a war that God commands. What if God should lose?
What is Prof. Wells trying to get at? If you guessed it has something to do with the Iraq War and the God Squad, you're right.
Here's the context.
That is unthinkable to the evangelicals. They cannot accept the idea of second-guessing God, and He was the one who led them into war. Thus, in 2006, when two thirds of the American people told pollsters that the war in Iraq was a mistake, the third of those still standing behind it were mainly evangelicals (who make up about one third of the population). It was a faith-based certitude.
Nothing good ever comes from certitude and absolutes, especially from the evangelical right. How can rational debate and dialog, so necessary to the health of our democracy, take place with people who are absolutely certain God is on their side and He is guiding America's political process? You can't. And that my friends is dangerous.
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