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Troops killed as martyrs for God? Something startling in Edinburgh

Even as a teenager and then later as a visitor at the Scottish National War Museum atop Edinburgh Castle (see photo), I found the combination of honoring soldiers and the Chris-tian faith, or at least belief in God, to be shocking. Yet this time, for the first time, I had the opportunity to make an official visit and look closely at the inscriptions and photos. Addi-tionally, in the meantime I have acquired a knowledge of the sociology of religion, and with it the opportunity to compare how heroes are honored in other countries, cultures, and religions.

Now I also know that the belief that soldiers have died for God, that they will be re-warded as martyrs for good works, and that they will go to be with him is not a typical Scottish or British affair. Rather, it is something that is found worldwide regardless of re-ligion. Furthermore, at one time it was something that was the order of the day in all European countries. In Germany, inscriptions on innumerable and in the meantime occa-sionally overgrown and seldom cared for memorials and memorial stones for soldiers who fell in World War I are witnesses to this fact.

At the highest point of the hill upon which Edinburgh Castle stands, this phenomenon is very much alive. For those fellow countrymen with a connection to the memorial, it incites religious feelings. And a number of the reminders and inscriptions date from more recent times. The huge complex was opened in 1927 (see photo), deals mostly with World War II, and has as its most recent extension a memorial (better said, a chapel) that was added in 2003.

Just so that no one misunderstands me: The war against National Socialist Germany was largely a just cause. Also, as a German I thank all those countries whose citizens died so that Germany could be freed from Nazi dictatorship and that I can live in a Germany that is now free. However, the elevation of a just war to a type of religious war in the name of God, and the assertion that those who died would automatically find themselves in God’s presence – by the way, regardless of the faith to which they adhered – has to be rejected by Christian ethics.

Now to some details:

The large inscription in the west wing “Whether their fame centuries long should ring, They cared not overmuch, But they cared greatly to serve God and the King” (Henry Newbolt) or the Celtic inscription in the east chapel for the Scottish Corps: “My country, my honour, my God” (and under it a Celtic cross) may be dismissed as harmless and “God and king” looked at as an empty phrase. The shrines, angels, and religious symbols can also be booked under a rather general and diffuse religiosity; experts would tend to speak of a ‘civil religion.‘

Still, in the large chapel around the so-called ‘shrine’ there are angels who are wearing the coat of arms. The very large writing on the inner circumference of the chapel quotes from Wisdom 3:1+3 in the so-called Apocrypha: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God. There shall no evil happen to them. They are in peace” (see photo).

Unknown soldiers are honored with an allusion to the book of life referred to in the New Testament (Revelation 20:12, and often): “Others also there are who perished un-known; their sacrifice is not forgotten, and their names, though lost to us, are written in the Books of God (see photo). Four kneeling and praying angels (see photo) and the arch-angel Michael hanging from the ceiling (see Revelation 12:7-8) complete the religious ori-entation toward Christianity.

God is directly exploited when God in the first person says the following for the benefit of the Royal Air Force in the Hall of Honour: “I bare you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto myself,“ which is taken from Exodus 19:4 (see photo).

Still one more example is the comment in the guide which appeared in 2004 regarding a statue in the east chapel: “A statue in bronze, partly overlaid with gold and silver, with a background of carved and painted stone showing the rising sun, the land and the sea (Earth, Air, Fire and Water). The symbolic figure represents the Soul rising purified from the Flames of Sacrifice, the left hand grasps the broken blade – the end of war – and the right hand raises the hilt – now the Cross Triumphant – while the eyes seem to gaze be-yond the range of mortal vision and to find there ‚A new Heaven and a new Earth‘ (Reve-lation, xxi 1)“ Scottish National War Memorial: Official Guide. Norwich: Jarrold Publ., 2004. p. 26) (see photo).

Oh man, oh man, as if nothing had happened, the sword is made into a triumphant cross and secures the new heavens and the new earth for the army. Soldiers who have died can reckon with the fact that they will be rewarded by God for their sacrifice?! Have we learned nothing from history?

The German Armed Forces are Calling again …

Recently I had the honor to speak at a “Security Policy Think Tank Roundtable” regarding the “Implementation of Ethical Training and Advanced Education,” which took place in the German Army Academy for Information and Communication in Strausberg in the state of Brandenburg. In the notice regarding the Roundtable the following was stated: “The Evangelical ethicist Thomas Schirrmacher, who lives in Bonn, has called on ethicists and social ethicists to support and accompany the German Army (Bundeswehr) in its efforts to conduct ethical training. A good tradition of the Federal Republic of Germany is that the parliamentary army is in constant dialog with civil society, and one in which Christian as well as non-Christian ethicists belong.”

I have the opportunity to continue this dialog (my presentation can be found here) before international guests on June 3, 2009 (2:30 – 4:00 pm) in the former BT Chamber, Room C in Bonn at the Deutsche Welle’s Second Global Media Forum (www.dw-gmf.de). The topic is: “The Mutual Responsibility of the Armed Forces and Civil Society.”

Upon this occasion I would like to quote from the Strausberg Report (available in complete form here):

The German Army requires Ethicists!
Protestant Ethicists call upon colleagues to support the German Army in its concept of ‘internal leadership’

(Bonn April 24, 2009) The ethicist Thomas Schirrmacher, resident in Bonn, has called upon ethicists and social ethicists to heighten their support of efforts made by the German Army with respect to ethical training. A good tradition of the Federal Republic of Germany is that the parliamentary army is in constant dialog with the civil society, and one in which Christian as well as non-Christian ethicists belong.

Schirrmacher spoke in the framework of a “Security Policy Think Tank Roundtable” on the “Implementation of ethical Training and Advanced Education,” which took place in the German Army Academy for Information and Communication in Strausberg in the state of Brandenburg.

Schirrmacher accused many of his colleagues of occupying themselves too little with ethical questions within the army and for an army in action. It is naturally correct to occupy oneself generally with ethics in peacetime. However, it is in the everyday activities of the Germany army in its foreign deployments that it is decided how much our democracy differentiates itself from countries which simply utilize the military to accomplish its political goals.

A democratic parliamentary army begins with one of the largest ethical dilemmas that there is, one with which many do not want to get their hands dirty. This applies equally to theologians as well as to politicians. The protection of life and the prohibition against killing is one of the highest values that is known in our constitution and which (almost) all citizens share instinctively. Since there are, however, people on earth – countries as well as armies for civil war and terrorists who are ready to kill or already do kill, someone has to be prepared to potentially risk his or her life or if necessary to even end the life of the attacker. Without this dilemma we would not need an army, and an army would only be employed at that point where a threat to life is real – otherwise, for instance, the Red Cross would be sufficient in Afghanistan.

The monopoly on force which is in the hands of the state, according to Schirrmacher, only allows the state to rightfully maintain an army. There have admittedly been many war mongering armies in history which were contemptuous of human life. A rightfully maintained army can only be differentiated from a war mongering army if political and internal military orientation and structures ensure human rights protection and the goal of freedom.

According to Schirrmacher’s opinion, ethicists – Christians as well as others – may not be allowed to leave the German army out in the cold, and neither may politicians, who disguise highly dangerous operations as peace missions or humanitarian operations and do so in order to present before the public the appearance of not being a participant in a war.

In theory the German Army, with its concept of ‘internal leadership,’ has again confirmed through its Central Service Regulations 10/01 that globally it has the best prerequisites. Now it is left for these ambitious goals to be thought through, communicated, and put into practice.

As a representative of the military, Dr. Edwin Micewski of the Austrian Federal Army also spoke in addition to Schirrmacher at the Security Policy Think Tank Roundtable. Micewski teaches ethics at the Austrian Military Academy as well as at universities in the USA. Although in contrast to Schirrmacher he does not refer back to Christian ethics, but rather a deontology reminiscent of the Kantian tradition, he came to the same result relative to the initial dilemma that an army faces. He also calls for not putting a positive spin on this problem, but rather to pay particular attention to offering support to soldiers and officers in overcoming these problems.

Additional information:

• >Bonner Querschnitte 12/2009 – Issue 96 (in German)
• Photo download: Prof. Schirrmacher and Dr. Micewski at the German Army Military Academy in Strausberg