Prophets, Pacifists, and Just War
Mac Brodt Tuesday, 1 March 2005
A review of The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders Confront Hitler's Gathering Storm, 1938-1941, by Joseph Loconte.
During a commentary aired last November on National Public Radio, Joseph Loconte lamented the poor quality of contemporary religious contributions to public debate, asserting that many religious leaders have marginalized themselves by their intimate affiliations with political institutions—the very political institutions they should be holding accountable. This problem extends to international affairs, where religious pronouncements on issues such as terrorism and the war in Iraq are often summarily dismissed by policymakers because the commentators so closely resemble mouthpieces of partisan politics. Religious leaders, on both the right and left, often appear enamored with their political allies and, therefore, retain little capital for honest, holistic dialogue. In Loconte's words, this compromised political witness is a betrayal of the best of the prophetic tradition—the "plaintiff cry of a Jeremiah."
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