America's Military Fetish and the Church's Silence, with Ben Daniel, author of Grace Over Guns

Ben Daniel is the Senior Pastor of Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California, and the author of Grace Over Guns: Pursuing Peace in a Militarized World. In this conversation, Markus Watson and Ben talk about the quiet reverence for military power that has crept into American Christianity, what it cost Ben personally to stop standing for the national anthem, and why he believes the church's silence on militarism is a form of complicity. THIS EPISODE'S HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: Ben Daniel argues that American Christianity has developed an unspoken reverence for military power that borders on idolatry. The conversation traces how flags, uniforms, and anthems entered church sanctuaries and became fused with Christian identity. Ben shares the moment that led him to stop standing for the national anthem, and the backlash it brought from his own congregation. Markus and Ben discuss Dietrich Bonhoeffer's witness during the firebombing of Dresden as a model for costly, embodied pacifism. Ben makes the case that silence from the pulpit on militarism is itself a form of complicity. RELEVANT RESOURCES AND LINKS: Ben Daniel: Montclair Presbyterian Church Books mentioned: Grace Over Guns: Pursuing Peace in a Militarized World, by Ben Daniel Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War, by Glen Stassen The Log from the Sea of Cortez, by John Steinbeck RELATED EPISODES: Episode 234: Political Power and American Evangelicalism, with Tim Alberta, author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Episode 143: How the Church Can Respond to Immigration, with Karen Gonzalez, author of Beyond Welcome Episode 228: Dismantling the Myth of the White God, with Grace Ji-Sun Kim, author of When God Became White Send me a text! I’d love to know what you're thinking!Click HERE to get my FREE online course, BECOMING LEADERS OF SHALOM.