Oh Annie, what won't you say?

Annie Spiro is one of the editors of the Daily Vidette, the student newspaper here at ISU. About a year ago, Annie went from being a cynical skeptic to being a born-again believer. It's a pretty cool story, and I'm overjoyed about her transformation.

Unfortunately, she has a tendency to use her faith in, well, less than scrupulous ways.

Take this recent editorial piece she wrote (see link). She spends a good deal of time talking about how Jesus forbid his followers from seeking revenge. You know, changing "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" into "turn the other cheek." And I think she says some very insightful things, particularly about the concept of a "safe" God:

But as those of us who have been Christian for any length of time well know, God's lessons don't always feel good. And, sometimes, He puts us in dangerous situations in order to keep us growing.Sometimes Christians die in the act of following God. When they do, they are honored and called martyrs.

Okay. So far, so good. But then she says something I find appalling:

There are those, especially in our political realm, who would say that the soldiers dying in Iraq now are dying in the fight to spread God's word. They certainly are dying to protect our "Christian" way of life, as well as to avenge those lost in the 9-11 tragedy.

Yikes. How did she get so off track so quickly? She turns the rest of her article into an invective against the war. Her main point: Jesus told us not to take revenge; the War on Terror is a war of revenge; therefore, Christians should not support the war.

C'mon Annie. It's not that simple at all.

First, this is not a war of revenge. Maybe some people see it as such, but it is not. In a way, yes, this is a war to protect our "Christian" way of life, in the sense that it is not a fundamentalist muslim way of life. You see Annie, those people we're fight across the world? They want nothing more than to overthrow the United States and institute Sharia law the world over. If that means killing every last man, woman, and child in the US, so be it. Annie, do you know what that means for you? You would be like chattel, given off to some man to be his novelty wife and baby maker.
There are good reasons to support the war in Iraq, Annie. Revenge doesn't have to be on the list. I know the liberals seem to be absolutely appalled at the thought that US soldiers should die for any cause, much less some other country's cause, but think of those purple fingers. The Iraqi people have been given a chance to actually take control of their own destinies for the first time in a very long while. Is that not worth something? Is it not worth anything to save these people from the sociopathic dictator who ruled them with an iron fist? Doesn't Christ support the plight of the downtrodden and the oppressed?

I'm not saying God is "pro-war." I think, especially in this case, that making rash statements about what God does and doesn't support, based on flimsy reasoning, is a very big mistake. Let's not put words in God's mouth, okay Annie?