Monsters to Destroy by Ira Chernus

Author:Ira Chernus [Chernus, Ira]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781315633411
Google: CDJcnQAACAAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2007-01-15T05:05:40+00:00

A BIBLICAL MORALITY PLAY

In Christian tradition, an all-out war against sin would be a crusade. Bush did use the word crusade once, before learning that it offended Muslims and so would have to be dropped. But the concept remained, with a new meaning. “We don’t view this as a war of religion,” he insisted. “Our war on terrorism has nothing to do with differences in faith. It has everything to do with people of all faiths coming together to condemn hate and evil and murder and prejudice.” “We’re going to lead the world to fight for freedom, and we’ll have Muslim and Jew and Christian side by side with us.” This ecumenism certainly made good tactical sense. The war would be fought largely in predominantly Muslim lands; he had to do whatever he could to minimize the anti-U.S. backlash. A perception of the West once again crusading against Islam would be disastrous.11

Bush’s ecumenical rhetoric also allowed him to place the enemy, who spoke the language of Islam and presented themselves as pious defenders of the faith, outside the pale of true faith and religion: “These murderers have hijacked a great religion.… barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name.”12 He took it upon himself to define categorically what does and does not constitute authentic Islam, or authenticity in any religion. He made the U.S. the sole authority on true and false religion. This was a crucial part of the rhetorical strategy. Supporting U.S. policies had to become the test of any religion’s virtue and truth. All opposition to U.S. policies had to constitute sin, so that U.S. policies could be equated with moral virtue itself. This enabled him to depict the war as a battle against sin waged not just by the U.S. but by every imaginable form of genuine religion and morality.

Evil, like sin, “knows no borders, no boundaries,” Bush exclaimed. He did not shrink from the logical consequences: “In our world, there is no isolation from evil.”13 This was certainly a frightening image of an inexplicable, irrational, implacable evil—evil for its own sake—spreading throughout the world, everywhere its grasp could reach. Fear was the price he paid to create what sociologist William Perdue has called “an international morality play,”14 with its utterly simple plot of civilized humans versus monsters. All the world’s people were summoned to choose their roles. But the script would be written by only one nation—innocent America.

Since the script was built on the dualism of godly virtue against sin, it could more precisely be called a biblical morality play. Bush might have been summarizing the plot of the Bible when he said things like “This will be a monumental struggle between good and evil. But good will prevail” and “Our responsibility to history is already clear: To answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.” In biblical fashion, he insisted that there was no middle ground. Everyone would have to choose sides immediately: “The future of the world is at stake.

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