Jesus and John Wayne

Last month, I read Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Kristin has written the most insightful and courageous book that I have read for some time. She explains how the evangelical church in America embraced militant masculinity, sanctified aggression and patriarchy in support of Christian nationalism and militaristic imperialism (read the book for a more detailed explanation).

Dozens of male cultural historians would have the knowledge and skills needed to write this book, but it seems that none had the insight or the courage to do it. The fact that it was written by a woman puts to bed the myth of Christian patriarchy that men lead and women follow. Some of American Christian culture spilled over here in New Zealand on the other side of the world, but I did not realise how deeply these ideas had penetrated, but the book explains a lot of what I have observed of American behaviour.

Having only visited the United States briefly on two different occasions, I have not really come to grips with its Christian culture, but I have always been puzzled by the political anger and love of military power displayed by some of the American Christians I encountered on social media. I have been baffled by the Christian support of Christians for unchristian politicians like Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump. After reading, Jesus and John Wayne, this all makes sense.

Who Americans choose for their leaders is their business, but what they do in the world affects us all, so I have always been troubled by American militarism. There seems to be a strong belief that problems all over the world can be solved by sending in the marines to establish American democracy (I was surprised reading Du Mez's book by how deeply complicit Billy Graham was in supporting this ideology). I have watched with concern one disaster after another.

• A foolish invasion of Vietnam because the people wanted to throw off French colonial power following World War 3.

• The cruel bombing of Cambodia and Laos that destabilised these nations for reasons that no one can remember.

• A twenty-year war against Aghanistan that killed many thousands of people and destroyed their land to punish them for the US military's failure to defend and protect New York.

• Numerous atrocities committed by security agencies in support of central american dictators.

• An invasion of Iraq that wrecked a reasonably prosperous nation and destabilised the entire region by undermining the balance of power.

• Overseeing the destruction of Libya, a nation that had the best healthcare and education system in Africa.

• Stirring up Islamic militants in Syria and helping them to start a civil war in a vain attempt to topple a democratically elected secular president that the US did not like.

• Providing military and logistic support for the Saudis to bomb and destroy Yemen, the poorest country in the world.

Each of these reckless invasions ended in disaster, but no political leaders took responsibility for the consequences of their decisions. Instead, they blamed their victims for rejecting the opportunity offered by the invading military forces.

What is most alarming about these bouts of militaristic nationalism is the vociferous support for these adventures came from the Christian community. And their silence about the atrocities committed is really distressing. Jesus and John Wayne explains why this response was inevitable.

The churches that adopted a culture of patriarchy and militant masculinity turned a blind eye to sexual immorality and family violence. These problems are now being bought into the light and the church is divided about how it will respond. Unfortunately, the other side of the coin, faith in military power and American exceptionalism continues unchecked. Militant nationalism is as strong as it ever was. This is scary for the future of the world.

The United States culture seems to be being torn apart and the only thing that seems to be able to unite it is another military adventure against a perceived external evil enemy. I fear that future leaders will deal with their nation’s serious, social, cultural and political divisions by doing what they have always done. I fear that a culture that has nothing left to offer to the world will impose it on it with military force.

If the thesis of Jesus and John Wayne is correct, the remains of the evangelical church will be cheerleaders for unleashing their nation’s enormous military power against the next imaginary enemy that they don’t understand.