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Anyway, those are considerations for a terrible day in the future, not an absurd day in the present, which yesterday brought me a message from the Christian Coalition of America.
Surely this would be a message consistent with the Prince of Peace, He who said: "Blessed are the peacemakers" and warned that those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. Well, this message wasn't that exactly.
It read: "Christian Coalition of America commends President George W. Bush for his unfailing and courageous support for the State of Israel in its latest war against the Israel-hating terrorist movement, specifically this time against Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists. .... If American fighter power is necessary to help Israel eliminate the Hezbollah threat in southern Lebanon, so be it."
So be it? Now, I happen to be sympathetic to the state of Israel, a plucky little democracy in a sea of extremists. I have a natural sympathy for the underdog, although I realize that underdogs and overdogs both have their fleas that make life difficult and troublesome.
But none of that compels me to think that the United States should intervene in the war that Israel is fighting with its enemies in Gaza and Lebanon. Not only is such a suggestion from a self-styled "Christian Coalition" startlingly at odds with the preaching of the Christ in the name Christian -- remember Him? -- it's also nuts, mad and crazy on its own terms. But enough of the carefully calibrated diplomatic language. This suggestion is lunatic.
What? Things are going so well for us in Iraq and Afghanistan that we can afford another war (with perhaps a conflict with Iran thrown in for good measure)? What? We can be the fair and honest brokers of the road map to peace when we have bombed the hell out of the people whom we want to use that map to secure a lasting peace?
Perhaps the Christian Coalition has taken those T-shirts that ask "Who would Jesus bomb?" a tad too literally....