“These people are clear in their minds about very little”The bishops have let it be known that they will not issue prayers for victory for our forces in Iraq.
Firstly we would remind them that they have no need to. Beautiful, Scriptural prayers, infinitely better than any prayer a modern bishop could devise, already exist in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662.
Secondly, the bishops might take note that these are not prayers for victory so much as for deliverance. The old Protestant Prayer Book recognises that war is not a vainglorious adventure, nor an occasion for national self righteousness, but a judgement of God on the nation. It assumes that this country has been forced to fight and it humbly petitions God not to look on our sins and deserts but to have mercy upon us and deliver us out of the hand of an enemy that has forced the battle upon us. It does not look for a magnificent victory but for an undeserved deliverance, which it calls victory because it would be silly to call it anything else.
Thirdly, there is no need for the bishops to couch their pacifism in such language. We know where their hearts are without that sort of talk.
Fourthly, these people have an agenda, whether they are clear in their minds what that agenda is or not. (These people are clear in their minds about very little.)
We have said it before and we say it again. Saddam Hussein is not arming to attack the West. He wishes to terrorise his oil producing neighbours with his weapons of mass destruction and then, as Caliph, lead the Moslem nations of the world in a final crusade to wipe out Israel. Meanwhile, by his grip on the world’s oil supplies, he will blackmail the west into remaining neutral, if not joining him – and Bush is not having it. The bishops sanctimonious agenda amounts to anti-Semitism.
As Hitler wanted Britain to stay neutral in the last war until he was strong enough to attack us, so Saddam Hussein wants us to remain neutral in this one until he is strong enough to take us on.
The Bishop of Guildford is reported in the Church Times as saying that while there is no doubt that the allies would win, praying for victory is not the way it should be couched.
That is dangerous talk. God decides the outcome of wars and the battle is not to the strong (Eccles 9:11). We did not know in the last war what the outcome would be. And we do not know now. But we had a duty to stand behind the judgement of our leaders that it was necessary as a Christian nation to challenge an evil dictator and back our armies in prayer for a God-given victory.
Joab for all his faults gave better advice than the Bishop of Guildford: “Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight” 1 Chronicles 19:13.
If our country needs a set prayer for the coming conflict, and we know that most of our readers do not use such prayers, we suggest the following from the old Book of Common Prayer. It is etched into the memories of many of us who remember the dark days of the last war (we retain the old spelling):-
In time of War and Tumults
O Almighty God, King of all kings, and Governour of all things, whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to them that truly repent; Save and deliver us, we humbly beseech thee, from the hands of our enemies; abate their pride, asswage their malice, and confound their devices; that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify thee, who art the only giver of all victory; through the merits of the only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
