We have seen the consequences when religious extremism is used as a justification for war. For decades, groups in parts of the Middle East invoked extremist interpretations of Islam to justify violence against the West. Regimes like Saudi Arabia encouraged their people to consider anyone who doesn’t follow its doctrine to be infidels, giving rise to groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. In Iran, religion became the ideological engine to maintain political power. Ali Velshi takes a look this week at how an eerily similar ideology is taking hold at the highest levels of our government.
In Iran, state-sponsored clerics framed global politics as a civilizational struggle. In the United States, our Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has openly framed geopolitical conflict through the lens of Christian civilization. We have a long history of sending men and women into wars that the public doesn’t understand or support, but using Evangelical Christian Nationalism to justify the expenditure of blood and treasure is the same religious extremism that breeds terrorism and authoritarianism.
Six servicepeople were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait last week. Speaking to reporters, President Donald Trump nonchalantly stated, “Some people will die.” Even as our military is invoking Christian prophecy and other religious rhetoric to frame the deaths of our armed forces members, the overwhelming majority are middle and working-class, our Commander-in-Chief is dismissing their deaths. Neither is acceptable.
In his conversation with Velshi, U.S. Army Col. Jack Jacobs (Ret.) warns, “To the extent that you turn this into a religious war, you almost guarantee your own defeat.”
LISTEN: HOW TRUMP AND THE MILITARY ARE TALKING ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAN
WATCH: VELSHI AND U.S. ARMY COL. JACK JACOBS ON RELIGIOUS MILITARY RHETORIC
MORE FROM MSNBC’S ALI VELSHI