“Glory in the highest and peace on earth” is the refrain of a popular Christmas carol. It’s wishful thinking. We sing Christmas carols, and elsewhere people are suffering and dying. Now right next to us, in Ukraine, which is still planning its vacation. Russia, which invaded Ukraine with the blessing of the local Christian Church, is preparing for the same holidays.

Although in almost all religions there is a golden rule not to do to others what we don’t like, it works poorly. The tension is inescapable, as religion and war appeal to deep archetypes and emotions, and kings, presidents, and generals have learned to manage them to their ends. This is why Putin has the audacity to shed crocodile tears when he meets mothers whose sons died in the war he started. And Cyril, the Orthodox Patriarch of Russia, saw a metaphysical meaning in it: the struggle for the eternal “salvation” of Ukraine.

Can God take the side of war? We don’t know anything about God. We only know human speculation about it. God is silent, but politicians, clergy and the military speak on his behalf. In the name of God or gods, people have been killing people for generations. Some people are horrified by it, others enjoy it sadistically. The new German-American film adaptation of the classic pacifist novel “In the Unchanging West” by Erich Remarque tells a harrowing story. It should be seen by those who embellish war and heroize its participants. Meanwhile, in battle, the fighters go wild and compassion dies on the battlefield with the dead.

Carry the yoke

The history of religiously motivated wars dates back to ancient times, but extends to the current war in Ukraine. The symbol is eight medieval expeditions under the sign of the cross in defense of the Holy Sepulcher in the Holy Land, the first great confrontation between Christian Europe and the world of Islam.

Original title of the text: “God with us or with them?”