The War Prayer

The War Prayer by Mark Twain is a timely read, even though it originally appeared in Harper's Monthly in 1916, only after Twain's death.  Unfortunately, one of our greatest writers was all-too-understandably fearful of those who "lack all conviction", not to mention those "filled with passionate intensity."

Here's an excerpt:

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

You can read the whole thing here and view the movie made of this work, narrated by Peter Coyote and starring Lawrence Ferlinghetti as the Preacher.

 

"… only dead men can tell the truth in this world. You can publish it after I am dead." -Mark Twain

tags: war  prayer  church  religion  death  twain  bush  cheney  iraq  iran  hypocrisy  conservative  

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