“Moral and religious authority will always tip toward the blood of the martyrs, and military service is the only martyrological option available to Americans…In America, the weight of blood tips the scales of sacred authority toward the state and away from the church. The nation state is elevated above the church by the sacred authority of the ultimate sacrifice. Lacking its own, countervailing martyrological option, being willing to die for refusing to kill, the church is impotent in thwarting the sacred pretensions of the nation state. Without martyrs, and failing to demand potential martyrdom as a requirement of membership, the church lacks the moral authority for potent and sustained prophetic rebuke of the state.”

The above passage comes from a blog post written by experimental psychologist and theologian, Richard Beck, and it talks about how the U.S. military commands moral authority (even over the Church) because of the “ultimate sacrifice” it calls upon it’s members to make. I think Beck is correct here about most of the Christian church not making the same sort of martyrological demands of people for membership, which is why I like the radical flavors of Christianity that DO make demands of people, and I’m talking about sacrificial things here like: living a life of aggressive peacemaking and refusing to kill people to solve problems, and of course believing/understanding that trust is truly trust and love is truly love when one is exposed, uncertain, and vulnerable.

Tags:martyrdomnationalismnon-violenceRichard Becksacrificetrust