I haven't exactly been in or seen a war, conventionally speaking. (Does watching MASH count?)

But I've seen war from afar and by association -- I'm a citizen of a country that has declared war, on occasion helped save the world from terrible dictators and rogue nations, or saved groups of people from ethnic cleansing, but we've also dropped the only WMD nuke bomb ever, (and we have the largest stockpile of ready-to-war WMDs of ANY country in the world, why is that?) and most recently we (on dubious decisions taken by our elected leadership) invaded a sovereign nation on false pretenses and against the better judgement of our own citizens and the vast majority of other nations in the ENTIRE WORLD.

If it had turned out that this was all entirely justified and proven out in the end, that would be one thing. Would that it was. It was not. But the crazy thing is that a significant number of people (present barely elected leadership of our country excluded) already knew this in advance. I'm not proud to be one of them, I'm ashamed there weren't even more.

Yes, I am angry about this, and I feel shame and grief that my country's leadership has taken the road it has. Since day one I have been very confidently opposed to this particular war. It's time, and has been for a while, to chill out. Not back to cold war, just to chill out and use some words to talk about things.

I'm tired and jaded and don't want to get into an extended discussion of the politics of cold war or other war temperatures.

I'm not a pacifist. I believe in and am still learning about a reasoned framework for "just war" theory, that is, the theory of a cautious willingness for war that might at some extreme point be deemed just and necessarily, when it is the only viable alternative to be taken. Iraq was not, is not a just war, and doesn't play one on TV. It was an invasion of a country that did not pose a direct threat to us, in violation of accepted international law, based on what later were confirmed to be false evidence and pretenses. That is a plain fact and is not disputed.

There are many wars going on in our world. Almost none of them are cautiously undertaken as unavoidable but "just" wars. Most wars are about greed, power, revenge, money, pride, hate, and refusal to seek compromise.

There is an argument to be made for cooling down the inappropriate and unproductive distrustful relationships between antagonistic individuals, groups, and nations who forget that they share the same things in common... coexistence, (and if, as I would argue, created by the same creator, then brotherhood and sisterhood on a fundamental level); fear; love; joy; desire for health and peace and safety; love of family and community; aspiration for a good life; in some cases a desire to know and follow God by whatever means that are known; a desire for peace; and a sense for justice and fairness, even if subjective. Obviously this is not a comprehensive list, but you get the point.

Humans may not get along but we're essentially the same and if you agree we were made, we'd probably agree we were made for the same overall purposes.

So why are some of us significantly more eager than others to plunge headlong into conflicts that cost hundreds of thousands of human lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, when we have not exhausted the alternatives? And especially if a leader were to profess to a faith in and following of Jesus, where is the biblical basis for preemptive war in this particular case?

I'm baffled, and waiting but not expecting to ever hear this case. 

As a Christian (someone who seeks to know and follow Jesus as the central thing in life) and an American, born in Wisconsin, who lived in the Middle East and South Asia half my life and in the Mid West the other half, I have a sometimes atypical but as it turns out not necessarily uncommon nor extreme perspective on what it means to participate as a contributing public citizen and as a person of faith.

(To state the obvious, every last one of us is a person of faith.  Primarily we differ in what we place our faith. On the big questions of life and origin, we can prove very little scientifically. So we choose by faith to believe in some framework, sometimes based on evidence or intuition or arbitrary preference, and  and we choose to spend our time, money, aspirations, creativity, and brain cycles on things that fit that framework. Nobody in their right mind accuses us of always being perfectly consistent; but essentially, if you get to know us a little, you'll be able to see more or less where we place our faith.)

I'm coming to see that not every one of us faith-based-citizens, however, is a public citizen. And for those who are making an attempt, there are many degrees. For example it is apparently quite possible to render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's (think emporor, not pizza or salad) and leave it at that, keeping a low profile on serious issues of morality, justice, truth, evil, and accountability.

But I'm coming to believe that for someone who is a Christian (seeks to know and follow Jesus as the central thing in life) it is not possible to sidestep a public involvement in society. The gospel accounts of Jesus' teaching and example don't leave room for that.

I've been in shock and awe these past few years to see the assumed posture that many professing Christians imply should be the posture of all Christians. I've been surprised by Christians on both the "left" and the "right". Conservative, liberal, fundamentalist, all those labels which have lost most objective meaning.

I've been surprised at the absence of respectful and legitimate spaces to hold thoughtful dialog about these complex issues and how our faith speaks into them. The level of closed-mindedness, blame, assigned motive, anger, intolerance, disrespect, misinterpretation, miscommunication, and even ignorance, by self proclaimed Christians, have been embarrassing and at times downright shameful. I don't claim to have an optimistic outlook that this is going to change anytime soon. And truth be told, I've felt my own blood boil sometimes, a recognition that whether or not my response is justified, I too am capable of intolerance, blindness, and bias.

And perhaps above all I've been disappointed by the scarcity of basic Biblical foundations in the political leanings of some influential professing Christians who have a fairly prominent voice. If nothing else, our convictions should come from a wholistic and careful view of scripture. You know, elementary stuff (not that it's easy, but at least it's not ambiguous) like love your neighbor, love your enemy, go out of your way to serve the needs of the poor, think of the needs of others first before your own needs.

This blog subject is one place where I'd like to share one person's perspective on what it might and "should" look like to participate as a public citizen and person of the Christian faith. A hopefully Biblical perspective.

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about these things."

This blog vein — Poly Ticks — is inspired by the following word components.

Poly

• polyester (artificial fabric) 
• more than one
• more than usual; excessive; abnormal

Ticks

• light marks used to call attention to an item
• any of numerous small bloodsucking parasitic arachnids

Tics

• habitual spasmodic muscular movements or contractions, usually of the face or extremities

Politics

• the methods or tactics (or art or science) involved in managing a state or government
• the interrelationships among people in a society