The Gods Of War

‘Ancient God Of War’ by P2son

The Goods On War

17 January – The pastoral text of Fr Reuter is this: This is a point which must be reaffirmed: War in God’s name is never acceptable! – Benedict XVI. Beneath the image Peterson writes: ‘Mars is known as the war God, but the God of the Old Testament inspires warlike behavior today.’ Your photograph, Peter, tells me that the male of the species is deadlier than the female. Inspired, now I can say that the symbol of war is this – ♂ – and no other. It is machismo that gives rise to it all, pun intended. The most warlike nations in history were those of the Greeks and the Romans, right? That’s why they have war gods: Ares for Greece, Mars for Rome. Victory is for the testosterone. Inspired by the ancient gods, we have modern gods of war, black and white and brown and yellow. We don’t have creative leaders anywhere in the world – did we ever? To war is easier than to lead. They believe that peace is an option but they don’t act on that belief. They don’t give peace a chance.

Still, war can be fought by warmongers misled by reason and by warriors misled by others. Recently, we have been witness to the birth of another warrior species: the suicide bomber. Modern invention, modern logic. If you can’t bring the mountain to Mohammed, bring Mohammed to the mountain and do your thing. Did you notice that most of them are males? This is pre-arranged, guaranteed sacrifice of self for the sake of war against the enemy. You don’t live to see victory – you die for victory.

Victory for what?

I remember when I was in college and I was against the Vietnam War that the United States brought to that Southeast Asian country, there was this news of the burning of a whole community; there was an inquiry on the pillage of the village, and the American in charge of the operation was quoted as defending it, saying, ‘It came to the point that we had to burn the village in order to save it.’ War in God’s name is unacceptable; war not in God’s name is unacceptable. In any size, shape or form, war is insanity.