Two Questions for Muslims and Christians

Date Published: 11/19/2009

In the discussions and debates about whether Major Nidal Malik Hasan should be identified as a murderer or a terrorist, I have heard some assertions about Islam that have prompted me to ask myself two probing questions. As a Christian, does my loyalty to Jesus Christ take priority over being a citizen of the United States? As a Christian, am I required to kill other Christians if my country is at war with their country?

I expect the investigations of the tragedy at Ft. Hood will uncover a messy brew of Nidal Hasan’s motives: a radical brand of Islam colliding with mental instability, stress and moral confusion. My answer to whether he should be considered a murderer or terrorist is “both.” I am not a lawyer, so I don’t know what legal difference it makes; in any case he will face a court martial, undoubtedly be convicted (given the huge number of eye witnesses) and probably sentenced to be executed (public opinion will demand it). In contrast to states with capital punishment, however, the military seems to be much slower and more reticent to carry out a capital sentence, so how long it will take in this case is unclear. I am aware that the political atmosphere much prefers a simple, single, sinister motive. As these discussions have been unfolding, I have heard several times that the reason Islam is such a threat is that it teaches that loyalty to God supersedes loyalty to one’s nation. While the New Testament teaches us “be subject to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1), it is also clear that only Jesus is Lord, and “we must obey God rather than any human authority.” (Acts 5:29) Just this week, in preparation for the Festival of Christ the King, I have been meditating on Jesus’ trial before Pilate in which Jesus affirms that he is a king but his kingdom is not from this world. (John 18:36-37). As long as Pilate thinks Jesus has no political ambitions that would threaten him or the Roman Emperor, he is inclined to acquit him. It is the threat of a riot that changes his mind. What he can’t see is that the followers of this Jesus will ultimately be immune to the threats and power of Rome because their loyalty to Jesus is so secure. In that sense, Christians have always been dangerous to those who rule by force.

I am not suggesting that followers of radical Islam are equivalent to faithful Christians. Nor am I suggesting I know how to make all of this work in our daily realities. I am only asking if asserting that loyalty to country takes priority over loyalty to faith is not in conflict with Jesus’ call to discipleship. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 18:26-27)

Apparently Nidal Malik Hasan was troubled by contemplating American Muslims killing Muslims in other countries. This concern and his impending deployment seems to have had some influence on the timing of the shooting at Ft. Hood. Military discipline and responsibility cannot allow individual soldiers to decide whom they will fight and whom they will not. Once in the military, those moral and strategic decisions are in the hands of others. That doesn’t exempt the individual soldier from ethical and moral behavior. As the Nuremburg Trials made clear, it also doesn’t exempt the individual soldier from protesting and refusing immoral orders. But that is much different than the breakdown of cohesiveness that would result from individual soldiers making personal decisions about every order.

Since the time of Constantine, when the Roman Empire co-opted the church (Edict of Milan, 346 AD), Christians have killed Christians in the wars of Europe. In the Thirty Years War following the Reformation, Protestant Christians and Catholic Christians were killing each other to determine which parts of Europe would be Protestant and which would be Catholic. As might be expected in such moral messes, political rivalries sometimes got Protestants fighting each other and Catholics fighting each other. This may have some parallels to Shiite and Sunni Muslims killing each other historically and in our time. Reading the prayers from World War I makes it clear that German pastors believed God was on their side in a righteous cause that justified killing fellow Christians in the secular democracies. While not claiming the same defense of Christian Civilization, British and American soldiers believed God approved of their killing their German brother Christians.

In the skirmishes of the Cold War, many Christians in the West felt justified because they were opposing godless communism. With the rising threat of radical Islam today, this thinking easily justifies using force against radical Muslim terrorists, sometimes even demonizing all Muslims as a threat to Christianity and democracy. In that context, the reluctance of a few American Muslims to fight Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan (or elsewhere) seems unpatriotic if not traitorous. Apparently many Muslims serve well in the U.S. military, even deployed in Muslim countries, working out their citizenship and their faith, probably much as most American Christians do.

All of this brings me to my two questions. As a Christian, does my loyalty to Jesus Christ take priority over being a citizen of the United States? As a Christian, am I required to kill other Christians if my country is at war with their country? I am not proposing that I know the answers, and I certainly would not impose my thinking on those who are drawn in different directions. But I do think a respectful conversation that explores possible answers would benefit us all.