My title is a German phrase translated into English as “God (is) with us”. Anyone with a religious tradition believes their God is with them, listening to their prayers and helping them out. I certainly do. I grew up in a Lutheran home. I enrolled in Lutheran catechism in the eighth grade to become a member of our church. My prayers were recited from memory or stiff, clumsy requests of a distant deity. Barbara Cruden, mother of my oldest friend, taught me a different way to pray. I asked her to say a blessing over our lunch meal with my three young children. Her prayer was so present in the moment, so spontaneous, so conversant, it was as if God was at the table with us. I was awestruck at her prayer’s beauty and power, demonstrating a very close and personal relationship.
Sadie Mann, a Mandan Sundance elder, taught me an additional way to pray. In a Native tradition, pipes are used as a portable “altar” by pipe-carriers to pray. One evening, Sadie called all the pipe-carriers to assemble in a line facing west as a huge storm was approaching the Sundance ceremony. We were to ask the Creator to have mercy on our encampment and spare us from damage. Sadie told us, “None of this thy will be done stuff. You tell him what you want!” Well, that was new to me. Since that time, I “tell him what I want” if I am clear in my intention and use “thy will be done” when I am uncertain what is needed.
Both of these women helped to expand and mature my conversations with and requests of God. I believe that I need to do all I know to do in any circumstance, then ask for Divine intervention to make up for my shortcomings and ignorance. Prayers of gratitude are needed, not just for answered prayers, but for Divine influence I didn’t know to ask for. That is why Pete Hegseth’s prayer and bible quote at the end of his press conference on March 2 and again on March 11 really pissed me off. His hubris, arrogance, and ignorance made calling on the Divine an attempt to justify and inspire for a violent cause. It was an attempt at righteousness. Hegseth, using his God’s name in the name of war, reminded me of “Gott mit uns.”
The phrase, Gott mit uns, was used historically as a military slogan, rallying cry, and motto to sanctify and inspire military violence. Protestant Swedish forces used it in the Thirty Years’ War of the 17th century. The Prussian army used it in the 19th-century Franco-Prussian War. German military garb, belt buckles, and banners embellished with the sentiment were used in WWI and WWII as slogans and propaganda to boost morale. It was popular with the Nazi Third Reich. These armies used the name of God to sanctify their military aggression. I suspect most participants in war, aggressors and defenders, believe that God is on their side. The victors can claim proof while the losers are left with doubt. Both sides believed they knew the workings of that which created the Earth.
I am not naive about war between the aggressor and defender. The current war with Iran reminds me of a basic military strategy spoken in a Tarzan television show in the 1950’s. On a journey, Tarzan needed passage controlled by an Oracle. The Oracle asked Tarzan, “What is the first thing you would do in having a war with an enemy who lived a thousand miles away?” Tarzan replied, “I’d make sure they traveled the thousand miles.” His passage was granted. Pete Hegseth prayed that God would protect the troops. Maybe the troops shouldn’t have been sent the “thousand” miles into battle. Even with a good strategy, there are definitely winners and losers in war. The problem for humans is that we can’t accept or settle on who won or lost. We seek revenge. However, “vengeance is mine, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19, Deuteronomy 32:35). When humans seek revenge, we take that responsibility away from God, effectively leaving the Divine out of our vengeful wars. Military claims that “God is with us” are propaganda because both sides are claiming divine sanctification and protection to inspire alignment with a secular war. Sometimes these secular goals are cloaked by calling it a “holy” war. Clearly, one side typically claims victory, but I don’t think God chooses sides. I think God is pretty frustrated with how humans wantonly choose between good and evil since we left the Garden of Eden.
I have the image of God sitting on a big cloud in the sky, as is often shown in classical Christian religious art. But my image has Him eating from a big bowl of popcorn as he watches what His humans are doing to each other and to His creation in His name. He hears His name used with hubris, arrogance, ignorance, hate, and judgment. (Judge not lest you be judged. Matthew 7:1) He just keeps eating the popcorn and watching the show. Every once in a while, a pitiful prayer floats up to Him. It is filled with despair and fear spoken by someone not knowing what else to do. A genuine need for divine intervention. A battlefield conversion or long-time believer, it matters not. I see Him setting aside the popcorn, brushing the salt of His hands, and responding to humble human need.
The “show” of modern warfare is a terrible thing to witness. Humans have always killed each other, but modern technology has made it an art form capable of destroying all humanity and poisoning the earth that God created. Armies just keep getting more clever at killing. But people and their civil governments are capable of reconciliation. Former WWII enemies have become good partners in economic, manufacturing, and cultural exchanges. Germany, Japan, and the US are now trading partners, investing in each other’s countries, and joint members of international organizations. This is after Pearl Harbor, atomic bombs, and vast carpet bombing on all sides. Vietnam and America are another example of former enemies moving forward in many forms of cooperation.
I am certainly no biblical or religious scholar, and an amateur historian. So I apologize for any shortcomings in this article. Many of my comments could be endlessly debated, argued, and fought over. Religious conflicts have caused wars since the beginning of formal religion and the desire for territorial gain and spiritual domination.
It would be good for us to remember that Jesus established Christianity in the face of Jewish opposition and the Roman army, the largest in the world at that time. Jesus had no military or political resources. It would also be good for us to remember that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all share the same spiritual patriarch in Abraham. All three of these world religious traditions share a common origin. Wouldn’t it be something if we celebrated our commonality rather than murdering each other over our differences?
