Mark Twain's War Prayer

As we now go into Yemen, we need to remember that when we seek victories of war on foreign soil, this is what we are, in effect, praying:

O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them! With them, in spirit, we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.

The "War Prayer," written by Mark Twain, was written during the U.S. war in the Philippines in 1905; but was not published until 1923, thirteen years after his death.

How any Christian can hold that in his heart is beyond my understanding; even in self-defense. (In my opinion, "self-defense" means the minimum amount of force necessary to repel invasion).

Support the Troops: End the Wars.

One way we can do this on the state level is to demand that Gov. Strickland refuse any further deployments of National Guard troops from Ohio.