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Article: God on our side.(war on terrorism, United States)
- Article from:
- The Progressive
- Article date:
- November 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 The Progressive, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On September 11 at American University, my class on nonviolence met at the usual time, 8:30 to 9:45 A.M. The topic was the connections between religious faith and government warmaking, with an essay on biblical pacifism as the reading to be discussed. I brought to class a tape of "with God on Our Side," sung by Joan Baez and written in the mid-'60s by Bob Dylan.
Only a few students were familiar with it. The eight verses of the anti-war song trace pseudo-faith and militarism--the Indian wars, the Spanish-American war, both world wars--and end with variations of the same line: "You never ask questions when God's on your side." "You don't count the dead when God's ...