FLIGHT INTO BIBLICAL FANCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504000007-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: February 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504000007-9
4
Colman McCarthy
Flight
Into
Biblical
Fancy
Too bad Ronald Reagan didn't stick
with the religion of his Roman Catholic fa-
ther. Then we could rely on the Vatican to
muzzle him the way it is currently moving
in on the liberation theologians out of
favor with the Curia. Reagan's errancy is
using the Bible to make Jesus a militaristic
supporter of America's nuclear-arms
buildup.
Speaking before the National Religious
Broadcasters Conference in Washington,
the president told the airwave pastors:
"You might be interested to know that the
scriptures are on our side in this." He
then quoted Luke 14:31 "in which Jesus in
talking to the disciples spoke about a king
who might be contemplating going to war
against another king with his 10,000 men,
but he sits down and counsels how good
he's going to do against the other fellow's
20,000 and then says he may have to send
a delegation to talk peace terms."
At this point, Commander-in-Chief Rea-
gan became the chaplain-in chief: "I don't
think the Lord that blessed this country as
no other country has ever been blessed in-
tends for us to someday negotiate because
of our weakness."
11.A.SHINGTON POST
16 February 1985
Reagan's flight into scriptural fancy was.
all that his fundamentalist audience could
have hoped for. Many are from the Bible
Belt-as in, if someone doesn't agree with
you, get your Holy Bible and belt him with
a quote.
That's what Reagan was doing with his
Luke 14:31. You're a heretic if you won't
turn the Prince of Peace into the Prince of
War. Or as the bumper stickers on all
those pickup trucks say, "God, Guns and
Guts Made America: Let's Keep All
Three."
Before the nation bows its head with
Ronald Reagan and worships the Golden
Nuke, a look at St. Luke's full text is in
order. Reagan profaned the meaning of
the parable. The next line after the king
seeking peace terms because he has the
smaller army is this: "So, therefore, every
one of you who does not renounce all that
he possesses cannot be my disciple."
The text is about the cost of disciple-
ship, in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's phrase. If
one is going to follow Christ, it will cost
plenty: if there is no renunciation of pos-
sessions, don't come. The point of the
parable is not that a follower of Christ
should get up a bigger army than the
Pharisees-or Soviets-but that a person
should weigh his decisions before making
them. By renouncing possessions, a per-
son is free to place total trust in God. In
the overall context of Christ's teaching-
and not Reagan's-the first thing he
would renounce is weapons. The last peo-
ple he would trust are politicians calling
for greater militarism.
Being ecumenical in his religious dopi-
ness, Reagan had an error for the Jews.
He spoke of "the relevance of religion in
the modern world" and referred to "the
huge Menorah celebrating the Passover
season in-Lafayette Park" last December.
Reporter Lou Cannon of The Post pointed
out that the Menorah is the ceremonial
candelabra used during Hanukah.
Reagan's ignorance about Judaism is
not new. In October 1983, he phoned an
official of the American-Israel Public Af-
fairs Committee to thank him for support-
ing the administration's efforts to keep
the Marines in Lebanon: "You know, I
turn back to your ancient prophets in the
Old Testament and the signs foretelling
Armageddon, and I find myself wondering
if -if we're the generation that's going to
see that come about." Armageddon is not
in the Old Testament, as Reagan the Bible
scholar says. It is'in the last book of the
New Testament - Revelations by St.
John the Apostle.
Oh, well, what's the difference? Even a
president can't be expected to get every-
thing right. It's the idea that counts. But
what is Reagan's idea in distorting religion
for his own political ends? The Founding
Fathers, seeking to protect pluralism,
warned repeatedly about the dangers of
mixing not only church and state but poli-
tics and piety. President John Adams
wrote that, "The government of the
United States is not in any sense founded
upon the Christian religion."
Now, 38 presidents later, here is Rea-
gan using the Bible as a justification for his
weapons binge. Perhaps he will get the
CIA to use it as Me nxt manual for t -
rorism in Central America. Reagan cheap-
ens religion with his " od Ts on our side"
sermons.
Religion is honored when it is separated
from party platforms and valued for the
moral force of faith and hope. It is dishon-
ored when it is Americanized and milita-
rized. Earlier presidents have done one or
the other. Reagan is the first to do both.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504000007-9