During the war in Vietnam many songs were made famous. Some were just a statement about a generation, some were specifically about the war.
Here are the lyrics from a song a friend of Missy Higgins wrote, her name is Nerina Pallot.
I’ve got a friend who’s a pure bred killing machine.
He said he’s waited his whole damn life for this
I knew him well when he was 17, now he’s a man who’ll be dead by Christmas and…
So, everybody’s gone to war
But we don’t know what we’re fighting for,
Don’t tell me it’s a worthy cause
No cause could be so worthy
If love is a drug I guess we’re all sober,
If hope is a song I guess it’s all over,
How to have faith when faith is a crime,
I don’t want to die
If God’s on our side then God is a joker
Sleeps on the job his children fall over
Running out through the door and straight to the sky
I don’t want to die.
For every man who wants to rule the world
Will be a man who just wants to be free
But do we learn that what should not be learned
Do they define a cure for this disease
So, everybody’s gone to war
But we don’t know what we’re fighting for,
Don’t tell me it’s a worthy cause
No cause could be so worthy
If love is a drug I guess we’re all sober,
If hope is a song I guess it’s all over,
How to have faith when faith is a crime,
I don’t want to die
If God’s on our side then God is a joker
Sleeps on the job his children fall over
Running out through the door and straight to the sky
I don’t want to die.
I, I-I, I
I, I-I, I
Don’t want to die
I-I don’t want to die
So, everybody’s gone to war
But we don’t know what we’re fighting for,
Don’t tell me it’s a worthy cause
No cause could be so worthy
If love is a drug I guess we’re all sober,
If hope is a song I guess it’s all over,
How to have faith when faith is a crime,
I don’t want to die
If God’s on our side then God is a joker
Sleeps on the job his children fall over
Running out through the door and straight to the sky
I don’t want to die.
I, I-I, I
I, I-I, I
Don’t want to die
I-I don’t want to die
I’ve got a friend, he’s a pure bred killing machine,
I think he might be dead by Christmas.
She said in The Sun (21/4/06) of the song –
The (Iraq) war had just begun and I knew people who were going out there to serve, people I went to school with. I am anti the occupation of Iraq but the song was a personal response – from a purely selfish point of view, I just want the people I know out there to be okay. And for them to come home soon.
No Guarantees 
hmmm and those friends of hers may not be extensivly pro- Iraq War… just young men doing their jobs.
No matter personal views on war, I have a lot of respect for the soldiers who give their lives to serve their country.
Just been reading an interesting perspective on the whole “war & Christianity” thing – David Murrow (a Yank) ties in the demasculinisation (phew – big word, do you like it?) of the church with the “Christian” anti-war movement. He identifies something inherently masculine in the male response to a call to take up arms and serve/protect etc. Yet when these men are confronted with a supposedly Christian anti-war movement they perceive this to be a challenge to their masculinity (I guess on a subconcious level) – adding to a general lack of male interest in modern Christianity.
Something I think worth some further exploration – should the church/Christians be so quick to jump on the anti-war bandwagon? Afterall the Bible is full of God-ordained military action, isn’t it?
(Murrow wrote about this in an interesting book, “Why men hate going to church”.)
🙂
Andrew
My issue is that Christians are too slow to jump on the anit-war wagon. Just about every right wing evangelical American (and Aussie?) would struggle with some aspects of arguing the anti-war angle. It’s mainly relegated to the ‘hippy lefty’ type who argue the ‘Non-violent’ anti – war issue. Blame it on Augustine! He started this who ‘Just war’ thing. In fact if I could upload my assignment on all this I would. Aghh maybe I will email it to you Andrew….you don’t have to read it…who reads other peoples assignments really, but if you want it, it’s yours.
Just for the record, I thought some of the sentiment in that book about getting in touch with your masculine side by beating each other up was …well I think my mother would tell me off for swearing in here again, but it was not good! (What was that book, every man in the Church read it just about…???)
What do we do with “Turn the other Cheek?” With “Pray for those who persecute you”?