the media and killing in the name of God

I see we are now into "that" phase of our media coverage of the War in Iraq.

I read a piece in yesterday's paper about a Marine sniper who is credited with not less than 20 kills. He does his job well, and I don't doubt for a second that his targets were armed combatants. I would presume there are at least twenty armed men with bad intentions in Iraq at any given time.

But the media piece, which could have been written by any pro-war politician or military recruiter, made sure to include the soldier's rationale, being a Christian, for killing, citing God supporting David against Goliath (funny, he says he's a Christian, not Jewish, I wonder if anyone has explained to his what happened to the covenant about two thousand years ago...)

"It doesn't bother me. Obviously, me being a devout (his word, devout) Catholic, it's a conflict of interest (nice way to put it...a "conflict of interest"). Then again, God supported David when he killed Goliath, I believe God supports what we do and I've never killed anyone who wasn't carrying a weapon."

Nota bene: Jesus disarmed his disciples, even healing a soldier one of his followers had wounded.

I understand the pragmatic need for men such as this, just stop trying to make this a right, a good, a noble thing. It isn't. It is, to steal an old and much abused phrase, a necessary evil.

As a Christian, and a pacifist, I am disturbed the media is helping to raise the banner of "killing in God's name"...isn't that what the guys who hijacked the airplanes on September 11 thought they were doing? I agree the distinction that the people this one man kills are armed is real, but I thought killing was killing was killing was killing. The Right argued throughout the Sixties that "situational ethics" were garbage.

Now they employ them.

Killing a human being is still wrong.