We love to remember our glorious wars - well, the ones we win, anyway
Monday's Christian remembrance service in Westminster Abbey, made no mention of loving one another. Certainly, no mention of loving our enemies and no mention of those who followed their conscience in 1914, followed the life and teaching of Jesus Christ instead of their God, King and Country and refused to kill.
The remembrance service was heavily represented by the armed forces personnel in the congregation and with their contributions in the order of service. Yet, they were the ones who brought the conflagration and the carnage. All those serried ranks of soldiers in the congregation with their patriotism, imperialism and militarism who brought ten years of ruinous world war. They drew the map of the Middle East to the present boundaries. Boundaries that have brought only disputes and conflicts since the West (actually, Churchill) saw control of the Middle East for oil as "the prize for the venture was world mastery itself." (quoted in 'The Prize: the epic quest for oil, money and power' - Daniel Yergin's Pulitzer Prize-winning book)
General Sir Richard Dannatt, former Chief of the General Staff or, war maker in chief and a committed Christian, read Isaiah 2 v 4 about how Israel's Yahweh "shall judge between the nations and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." Fine words but read by quite the wrong person, to give me the impression of hypocrisy.
For me, the new lie:
"... gave the most that man can give - life itself for God, King and Country; for loved ones home and Empire; for the sacred cause of justice and the freedom of the world. They buried him among the kings because he had done good toward God and toward His House." (inscription on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior)
"The old lie: How sweet and honourable it is to die for one's country"
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