Earlier today, a twice-elected U.S. President declared that “[a] whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
The declaration was consistent with the same president’s message of Sunday, in which he pronounced that today, Tuesday, would be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!”
He ended that Sunday stream of vile invective with “Praise be to Allah.” In context, that was pure and rank calumny for an Islamic population that comprises most of the targeted population.
The President’s determination to destroy Iranian civilization – including his obviously contemplated use of nuclear weapons — has been building, as he races to stay ahead of the maximalist rhetoric of Pete Hegseth and the maximalist strikes ordered by Bibi Netanyahu.
Several self-proclaimed followers of Jesus have rushed to the President’s side to publicly opine that his contemplated genocide is God’s will, but more thoughtful Christian leaders increasingly reject that inhumanity. As Pope Leo the XIV observed:
Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable! There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.
The rule of law, including international law, requires an appropriate moral basis. That basis need not be derived from any particular religion. It arises, rather, from a usually-common sensibility that is derived at least in part from and by reason. That moral sense is sometimes reflected in or explicated by religion, as also in philosophy, or in the arts.
As much as anything, it is that moral foundation that has enabled civilization to develop because it gives rise to rules, codified as law, that aim to secure regularity and predictability in organized life while still protecting fundamental freedoms. That order and predictability, in turn, enables progress in science, in technology, in democratic governance, and much more.
We simply cannot let it all collapse to enable the full expression of one petulant madman’s darkest impulse.
