I was part of the Army culture for
quite awhile. Being Christian in
the Army is a synthesis of modern
American culture and what is
Biblical. While we can critique
the United States Biblically, we
can only win the culture by having
some ability to identify with it.
Although bringing the culture to
repentance is essentially the work
of the Holy Spirit…

As Paul Marshall recently wrote in a CT Sept 06 article entitled “The Problem With Prophets“:

“Political action will not deliver utopia, conquer sin, or change human nature. But it can make a difference between rampant crime and safe neighborhoods, between hungry families and economic security, between victory and defeat in war. And only those who have never been mugged, never been hungry, or never been at war will think these differences trivial.“

And, of course, you are correct, in an abstract and wholly unsatisfying way (at least for me).

The fate of Christianity is not tied to the West. On the other hand, as a son of the West, my fate and the fate of my children are inextricably bound to the fortunes of Western civilization.

To take a cavalier attitude toward your country, your soil, and your blood seems anti-incarnational at best. As you point out, these things are far from everything but they are also far from meaningless.

I realize that this is not what you have in mind, but that rather you are offering a balancing corrective to my comments.

Thanks for the links. A helpful discussion of just war is certainly in order.

And religiously, and therefore also politically, the West (insofar as it distances itself from Christianity) is its own enemy. And in the same way Islam is its own.

Our fight is not on the side of the West against Islam. Indeed, we are not fundamentally on the side of any civilization against any other. Rather, we are against all because we are for all… if you see what I mean. We oppose the West and we oppose Islam for their sakes. They are both our enemies, and we love them both.

But our weapons are not those of HomeLand Security or the U.S. Army or even of International Diplomacy.
Thank God.

That said, here are some thoughts worth considering on Just War and Terrorism: [1] & [2