Deceptions of Empire & the Anti-Imperial Gospel of Jesus
In the spring of 2003, near the end of my 31-year teaching career at the Claremont School of Theology, I began writing a book about 9/11, which would be published as
The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11. I have often been asked why I, as a Christian theologian, would write such a book.
[For a related commentary, see Ian Markham, “Did Bush Cooperate with Terrorists?” in
Zion’s Herald, November/December, 2004.]
The answer is that one of our main tasks as theologians is to comment on current events in light of the fact that our first allegiance must be to God, who created and loves all people, indeed all forms of life. If we believe that our political and military leaders are acting on the basis of policies that are diametrically opposed to the divine purposes, it is incumbent upon us to say this. This is especially the case if we live in a rich and powerful country, the policies of which affect the welfare of other peoples, even other species. This is all the more true if these leaders are claiming divine support for their policies, as did Vice President Cheney in sending out a Christmas card with the statement: “And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?” [1]
Accordingly, when I came to the conclusion that the Bush-Cheney administration had orchestrated 9/11 in order to promote this empire under the pretext of the “war on terror,” I decided that I needed to say so by means of summarizing the evidence for this conclusion.
I am also often asked how I first came to this conclusion. I did not do so immediately. For about a year and a half, I accepted the government’s conspiracy theory, according to which the attacks were orchestrated entirely by members of al-Qaeda. But I also accepted the standard liberal view, according to which the attacks were “blowback” for US foreign policy. [2] On that assumption, I began working on a book about the American empire.
Endnotes
1 Institutional Investors Hold the Key to Better Governance,
Financial Times, July 21, 2003.
2 CEOs: Why They’re So Unloved,
Business Week, April 22, 2002.
To request a free copy of the issue of
Zion’s Herald with the whole article, go
here.
