Picture the scene: a group of about 20 Christian pastors at the Oval Office, a couple of them with their hands placed on Donald Trump’s shoulders, praying for him during the second week of the US-Israel war on Iran.
As Trump closed his eyes and clasped his hands, the pastors prayed for “wisdom from heaven to flood his heart, his mind” and for divine protection for the president and his troops.
Now, how does that square with the suffering of millions of ordinary people affected by the disastrous ongoing war. Think of the 168 (including about 110 children) who lost their lives in an air strike on their primary school in Iran.
US–Israeli attacks on Iran have killed almost 2,000 people (including hundreds of women and children), injured 25,000, and displaced over 3.2 million from their homes. The strikes started during the fasting month of Ramadan and carried on over the Eid al-Fitr festivities. In retaliation, Iran fired drones and missiles, killing about 28 people and injuring over 5,000 in Israel.
Hundreds of millions of people around the world have been hit by price hikes and shortages arising from this unnecessary war of choice.
This is not the Christianity of the Gospels. It couldn’t be further removed from Jesus’ Beatitudes, the charter of his teachings: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God” and blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (justice)…
Unfortunately, Christianity in parts of the West, especially within the US, has been manipulated, even hijacked, by Christian Zionism, a totally different creature. This framing makes it easier to influence Christians to back the US and Israel, thinking that the post-1948 state of Israel is somehow equivalent to the Old Testament kingdom of the “chosen ones”.
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Some Christians influenced by Zionist thinking even believe Trump is doing God’s work of bringing “freedom” and “salvation” to those living under a repressive theocracy.
The Gospels, however, make it crystal clear that if we want to be part of the kingdom of God, we need to shun attachment to possessions, wealth and power. Do Trump and his cohort subscribe to that?
In reality, Israel and the US initiated this war in blatant violation of international law in their neocolonial pursuit of power and resources. Blinded by their own hubris, the leaders of these two nations did not expect Iran to launch retaliatory strikes at US assets and bases in the Gulf region and to choke the Strait of Hormuz.
After the genocide in Gaza, it is Iran, Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador that are now facing the might of Empire. Greenland, next? These are worldly wars and conquests, abusing religion to covet resources (oil and gas) and strategic control over victim nations. Israel itself has long-term designs for a “greater Israel” – witness its latest settler-colonial seizures of land in the occupied West Bank and southern Lebanon.
Some leaders, including present-day imperialists, find it easy to weaponise religion as a cover for naked greed, at home or abroad. This is nothing new: twisted interpretations of scriptures have been used over the centuries to justify imperialism and settler-colonialism, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, slavery, apartheid, racism, and the plunder of the resources and wealth of colonised nations.
The US-Israel war on Iran is the latest eruption of the present neoliberal world order. In this world order, greed, profits, strategic territorial conquests, critical resources and market share reign supreme, widening the inequalities in our world. Usually at the expense of ordinary people and the planet.
Driving this war is the US elite’s fear of loss of Empire and hegemony. The unspoken fear appears to be that China will soon surpass the US as the world’s most powerful nation. This, the US cannot stomach, hence its drive to control the oil and critical resources that its rivals need.
The US economy is built around the Military-Industrial-Media-Big Tech-Big Pharma complex, while ordinary Americans struggle.
Not everyone loses when war breaks out. Follow the money trail. Some companies, especially in the US, are reaping enormous profits from US government purchases, sending their share prices soaring. Those manufacturing fighter jets, stealth bombers and missiles and defence systems are doing roaring business. So too US oil and liquefied natural gas companies. And look at who is profiting from the (insider?) trading of shares in certain companies.
The real, if unspoken, scandal is how vast amounts of public wealth have been transferred to fewer and fewer hands, widening global inequalities. Often under the cover of religion.
Meanwhile, the war has conveniently diverted attention from another scandal that was brewing in the US: the Epstein Files.
UN experts warned in February that the files contain disturbing and credible evidence of “systematic and large-scale sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation of women and girls”.
“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” they said.
The files reveal a startling network of influential, overlapping and converging interests: top politicians, prominent business and tech figures, celebrities, even a “spiritual guru”.
As the late, irreverent comedian George Carlin once observed, “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it” – ordinary people are most definitely not members.
The elite personalities and multi-billionaires are among the beneficiaries and key drivers of the neoliberal world order. And they use religion, in this case, the Zionist version of Christianity or the “Christian values” of Western civilisation, as cover. This latest imperialist drive is now aimed at the strategic control of oil and gas today and the supply chains for critical minerals tomorrow.
But Iran is a step too far, as the US and Israel reach a stalemate, unable to win decisively, yet reluctant to agree to a humiliating ceasefire.
In a sense, this war marks the death throes of a fading Pax Americana lashing out against the emergence of a multipolar world. The decline is likely to quicken, as more and more nations shift to other currencies, reducing their dependence on the US dollar in international trade.
Little has changed. Within the Roman Empire, debauchery and moral decadence, ostentatious luxury, sexual excess and sadistic cruelty eventually contributed to its decline. Barbaric public spectacles and gladiatorial contests pitted beasts against persecuted people, gladiators against each other. This was ‘entertainment’, diverting the attention of the masses.
As Pax Romana (peace through military conquest) over-extended itself with war after war on its peripheries, the centre lost its grip through internal decay – political instability, economic crisis and corruption – that weakened its institutions. Sound familiar?
Ordinary people around the world – the Global Majority – need to stand up against the imperialist designs of the present-day collapsing Empire.
We need to build ties of solidarity with oppressed groups around the world, those victims of Empire who have long suffered from the rapacious accumulation of wealth, territory and public resources.
Abridged and amended version of an article first published in the Catholic Herald Weekly.
The views expressed in Aliran's media statements and the NGO statements we have endorsed reflect Aliran's official stand. Views and opinions expressed in other pieces published here do not necessarily reflect Aliran's official position.
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Only Modi has shown true leadership during these difficult times. He always remains cool and composed in a highly charged environment.