What to Remember about Viet Nam

Can a Christian salvage anything out of the rubble of the Viet Nam experience (an experience that was, we must always remind ourselves, enormously more devastating for the Vietnamese than it was for us)?

The answer is yes. Once Americans get over the trauma of having been on the losing side of a war for the first time, Viet Nam may not look like quite the debacle it is currently made out to be. After all, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, and Russia, as well as our own southern states, all lost wars and recovered. Granted, the price paid for the lessons learned is decidedly inflationary. But it could have been much higher. It could have been the price of nuclear warfare.

Americans should remember that the Viet Nam conflict brought the issue of war and peace to the fore as nothing else has in American history. Although the nation still has little agreement on what constitutes a just war and on when to intervene militarily in the affairs of other countries, vast numbers of people have become more sensitive to the immediate factors that bear on those great moral decisions. Wars for causes that do not involve any direct threat to important national interests will now be a lot harder to sell to the citizenry. The danger now is that politicians may be too cautious and fail to act even if national survival might be at stake.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is one of humility, and there should be plenty to go around. Even the most powerful nations cannot act as if their power were unlimited. Pride indeed goeth before a fall. Virtually all Americans must share blame for the Viet Nam war. Ulterior motives were to be found among both hawks and doves. In accord with President Ford’s appeal to avoid recriminations, no more specifics need be mentioned. Suffice it to say that the deception that drew America into the war got its come-uppance when shortly after noon on April 30 the flag of the Provisional Revolutionary Government was raised over the presidential palace in Saigon. And let those who saw the fall of Saigon as a “victory” be reminded that what was left of a free press there ceased that same day. There is no more dissent from left or right in Viet Nam.

To what extent should Americans feel guilty about having pulled out? Surely at least in a sense the nation went back on a promise. From another perspective, however, it is doubtful that any nation ever helped another to the extent that the United States aided South Viet Nam: more than 56,000 Americans killed and another 303,000 wounded, plus a financial investment of about $150 billion. No reasonable person really would define a political commitment in everlasting terms. America agreed to help those South Vietnamese who wished to resist the Communists, not to fight the whole war for them. America’s allies realize that, whether or not it is expedient now to say so publicly. In the end, it appears that South Viet Nam could have been “saved” only if the United States had acted as if it were defending Hawaii rather than a sovereign ally.

Christians are still left with some hard questions as to how Communism can be contained and whether the use of force is proper. Certainly justice must always be demanded, and one of the immediate imperatives is for the Church to call forcefully for the release of American missionaries imprisoned in Viet Nam. Also desperately needed is wider proclamation of the basic spiritual values that lie at the heart of the American republic but that get little foreign visibility in comparison to the materialism we export. If American Christians had invested in the evangelization of Viet Nam just 1 per cent of what the Pentagon spent in fighting the war there, the conflict might never have occurred. Fortunately, some significant missionary work did take place, and the hundreds of evangelical churches in Viet Nam deserve, now even more than before, the prayers of God’s people everywhere.

Again in the wake of Viet Nam, American Christians have the opportunity to seize the cultural initiative in a new way. They can begin by extending love to the comparatively few thousands of refugees, and then following through with a fresh implementation of biblical mandates. The Viet Nam experience, despite the adversities, provides an unparalleled spiritual opportunity. If American Christians avail themselves of this opportunity, the blood will not have been shed in vain.

Dollars For Disobedience

The American Lutheran Church has the dubious distinction, apparently, of being the first denomination officially to make a cash grant to a “gay” caucus within its ranks. Lutherans Concerned for Gay People, headquartered in Salt Lake City, proudly announced in its February–March newsletter that last December it had been approved for a grant of $2,000 by the board of the ALC’s Division for Service and Mission in America. The group, which includes both gay and non-gay members from the three largest Lutheran bodies, had its budget for 1975 increased by more than one-third by the grant. The money is to be used to expand distribution of the newsletter, to advertise in periodicals, and “to assist in providing a visible gay presence at major church conventions.” The media representative of the American Lutheran Church confirmed the essential accuracy of the newsletter’s report.

Other denominations, such as the United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Association, have previously given grants to gay organizations, but not to gay caucuses working within their own denominations.

Doubtless gay Lutherans will invoke Martin Luther’s stance for conscience and against Rome. A minority battling for public recognition in the face of strong and widespread opposition naturally tugs on the heartstrings of many Christians. However, Luther’s appeal was not to himself but to the authority of God as revealed through his Word. Because the Scriptures speak strongly and repeatedly against the practice of homosexuality, most Christians are nonplused by the presence of gay activism within the churches.

Lutherans and other Christians should indeed be concerned for gay people. Jesus Christ died for all persons regardless of their sexual orientation. The practice of homosexuality, like the practice of heterosexuality outside marriage, can indeed be forgiven by God, and therefore by his people. But forgiveness requires acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Undeniably the Church has been wrong to the extent that it has failed to distinguish between God’s love for homosexual persons and his condemnation of homosexual practices. But we cannot correct that wrong by contradicting God’s verdict on the practice.

Lutherans Concerned for Gay People recognizes that there are “gays who are celibate.” We submit, on the basis of Scripture, that this is the only morally defensible sexual pattern for gays who cannot or will not have a sexual relationship through marriage to someone of the other sex. It is, for that matter, the only scripturally sanctioned pattern for the millions of heterosexuals who are not married or whose spouses are ill, injured, or absent.

One wonders how long it will be before similarly outlandish church caucuses are formed to advocate public acceptance of promiscuity before marriage, adultery, incest, pederasty, and bestiality. We suppose a proviso would be that such behavior be voluntary on the part of those involved. Otherwise we cannot imagine how the gay Lutheran call for “a greater understanding of human sexuality in all its manifestations” can stop with the crusade “to remove discrimination against gay women and men wherever it exists.”

For a major board of one of the country’s major denominations to identify through its budget with an organization promoting blatant transgression of the revealed word of God is a sign of a sinking back to the level of official immorality that prevailed when Christianity emerged. Concerned members of the American Lutheran Church will know how to express their outrage at what their denominational officialdom has done without any prompting from us. Members of other denominations should beware of similar moves to gain official endorsement of immorality.

Gifts For Graduates

From Muncie, Indiana, comes word that thanks to the initiative of local churches, every graduating senior at a local high school is being offered a gift of religious literature. The graduates get to choose from among six Bible and New Testament versions, or if they don’t want any of those they can pick a book appropriate to their own personal faith. It’s a beautiful idea!

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.