So last night I'm doing my laundry when I chanced upon a TV with CNN on with Larry King interviewing TD Jakes. Larry King asked TD Jakes whether he was opposed to war. I expected a so-called follower of Christ, you know the one that folk tell me said something in regards to turning the other cheek among other things, to make a bold statement in the vein of Martin Luther King Jr. and state his moral opposition to warfare. People still do know who he is and what he stood for now that we have a African-American president right?
He did not.
What Jakes said was that War is sometimes justifiable. Particularly in defense of one's country and countrymen.
Stop and think on that for a minute. TD. Jakes, perhaps one of the most prominent black Christians in the US, articulated a position, as a religious leader that it is OK, spiritually and morally to conduct warfare in defense of one's country and countrymen. Ladies and gentlemen is not the Taliban in Afghanistan expressing the exact same sentiments? Is not Al-Qaeda opposed to the US bases in "Muslim lands"? Are they not opposed to the oppression of Palestinians by Israel with the support of "foreigners"? Is there any difference between the fighter in Afghanistan who believes that his country and his people are being slaughtered and occupied by a foreign force just as moral as T.D. Jakes (assuming you think Jakes is a moral person)?
If one accepts Bishop Jakes position, then one must accept the Afghani's position and therefore reject any argument for any troop increase or presence in Afghanistan. The fighters in Afghanistan, by Jakes logic have the moral upper hand since they are defending their country.
Dr. King (and I suppose Ghandi) made the point clear war is like poking someone in the eye. eventually there are no more eyes to poke out. You'd think Bishop Jakes would have understood that, being so spiritually informed and all (*eye roll*).
(17 years of informed commentary)