When I saw the title of the recent movie "Machine Gun Preacher," I immediately assumed that it might be an interesting study in religious violence. From what I understand, it tells the true story of a Pennsylvanian ex-con & Hell's Angel, Sam Childers, who converted to Evangelical Christianity, got his life together, and became a preacher. On a relief trip to Uganda and Sudan, he witnesses the atrocities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and decides that he can't simply return to life in the US. From then on, he spends most of his time living in Sudan, building orphanages, rounding up abducted children, and gunning down the LRA. A Christian preacher who kills to protect children, and is motivated to do all this by Jesus Christ? Childers was quoted as saying "I found God in 1992, but I found Satan in 1998 in Sudan," by which he means Joseph Levy. (www.emmanuellevy.com)
The movie briefly addresses the question of using violence to stop violence, and in one scene a character suggests that Childers must be aware of the fine line between his actions and the violence perpetrated by LRA leader Joseph Kony. On the other hand, many laud Childers as the only group that holds their ground when the LRA moves into the area. They are currently the only NGO who conducts armed rescue missions into LRA territory.
The LRA itself is a much more complicated study of religious violence. It is a movement led by charismatic leader Joseph Kony that directly copies a failed earlier movement by Ugandan traditional healer and "Messenger" Alice Lakwena. Both movements are motivated by "the Holy Spirit" to use whatever means necessary to instate a new government based on the Ten Commandments. But in order to do this, the LRA kidnaps children and forces them to be child soldiers (killing other children and their parents), commits mass rapes, and forces little girls to be sex slaves.
On the LRA's side, it's difficult to say how much religion plays a role, since their actions are so mixed up in nationalism and geopolitics. I think that for them, religion provides Kony with a means to pull his army together, and an "unselfish" reason to fight and pillage. But in all I think it's a complicated issue that merits further enquiry. Here are some links related to the movie, Sam Childers, and the LRA. The user comments on the last one are particularly interesting.
http://www.emanuellevy.com/comment/machine-gun-preacher-true-story-of-sam-childers/
http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/106/article_1807.asp
http://www.christianpost.com/news/machine-gun-preacher-real-life-sam-childers-more-unbelievable-55857/
I think this is incredibly interesting. In a sense you have two evangelical Christian groups fighting against each other. Though one is arguably, as you state, using Christianity as a cover for their motives.
ReplyDeleteI like the quote at the end of the third article, "This movie is not about Sam Childers. It’s about you. What are you going to do?"