Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Politics and Religion
Nazi Cursing of, and by, Russia

Nazi Cursing of, and by, Russia

Last updated on: July 4, 2023 at 8:50 pm by Ted Peters

Nazi Cursing of, and by, Russia 2023-07-04T20:50:53-07:00 Ted Peters

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Nazi Cursing of, and by, Russia

PT 3304

What is the relationship between cursing and war? Cursing the enemy precedes and accompanies aggression. Cursing justifies aggression. That is my observation. Cursing provides a litmus test to forecast that original sin is about to break into actual violence.

Perhaps the favorite of our curses over the last three-quarters of a century is to dub our victims “Hitler-like” or “Nazi-like.” Hitler’s Nazism is the most evil scourge we’ve experienced in recent history, and this scourge was cleaned up because of the military might of the Allies. When we dub our enemy “Hitler-like” or “Nazi-like,” are we asking for redemptive violence?

The myth of redemptive violence justifies one’s role in war. No matter how much violence we perpetrate, we want to feel justified. That’s the human condition. Does analysis of Nazi cursing shed any light on the current situation in eastern Europe?

This is an exercise in public theology. We’ll look at the war in Ukraine through the lenses of theological categories such as sin, self-justification, and scapegoating.

Cursing the enemy justifies aggression

Cursing consists of describing the enemy as evil. This justifies perpetrating violence against the evil enemy. Some call this, “demonizing the enemy.” After all, whenever you and I engage in violence we want to be justified. [Photo of injured woman by Al Jazeera]

President Vladimir Putin curses Ukraine. This cursing justifies his invasion of that country. Putin’s curse designates the Ukrainian government as Nazi-like. In a televised speech on the eve of his invasion of February 23, 2022, President Putin announced a “special military operation” whose “goal is to protect people who have been abused by the genocide of the Kyiv regime for eight years.” Ultimately: “We will strive for the demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine, as well as bringing to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against civilians.” Putin is a good person. He is justified in “bringing justice” through the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine.

Is there any truth to Putin’s claims? No. Zach Beauchamp at Vox reports that there is no ongoing genocide in Ukraine. While there are government-aligned fascist militias in Ukraine, ones that have risen in influence since the pro-Western Euromaidan uprising in 2013, the Ukrainian government itself is not even close to a Nazi regime. The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish; he speaks proudly of how his Jewish grandfather fought against Hitler’s army.

As if playing volleyball cursing, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky spiked a “you Nazi” curse back at Putin.

Now, my sympathies are definitely with Zelensky and the wounded woman in the photo. He and his country are the victims. He and his country have justice on their side. But, justice can be a tricky thing, because both perpetrator and victim claim justice. So, we must press on with our analysis.

President Joe Biden refrained from cursing

In a previous Patheos blog post, “Are We Going to War with Russia?,” I contended that President Joe Biden was doing his best to avoid conflict. My evidence was the salient lack of cursing in his rhetoric. Here was my logic.

Proposition One. When an individual commits premeditated murder, the killer curses before killing.

Proposition Two. When a U.S. president plans to invade a foreign country, he (or she) curses the enemy in advance.

Proposition Three. To date, we have not heard President Biden curse President Putin.

Conclusion. Therefore, President Biden earnestly wants to avoid war with Russia.

The White House leadership sought through peaceful means to forestall war in Ukraine. The war has come despite this self-restraint.

Americans now cursing Russia

Even though President Biden could hold his tongue, other American leaders have let loose. “Assassinate” Putin, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has publicly advocated, citing the attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1944.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, joined the Nazi cursing volleyball game by describing President Putin as “a bad person who doing bad things.” And, yes, Putin is also Hitler-like.

Now, I resonate with what Speaker Pelosi has said. I want to curse Putin in the same way. But, my task here in this post is only to turn on the light, so to speak, to watch how sin operates on both sides of the firing line. This is one task of the public theologian. This means I have to hold my tongue. Yuck!

The Public Theologian on Sin and Hypocrisy

You and I do not ordinarily engage in sin in the name of what is evil. [1] Rather, we draw a line between good and evil and place ourselves on the good side. The victim of our aggression gets placed on the evil side. This makes us feel justified when we perpetrate violence. We perpetrate violence in order to eliminate evil from the world and to champion what is good. Yep! All wars are fought for peace. That’s the paradox of human sinning.

When the public theologian turns on the light, what is happening gets illuminated. Illumination does not prevent sinful aggression, to be sure. But it does permit us to see the hypocrisy.

It’s now time for just war theory.

▓

Ted Peters is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus seminary professor. He is author of Short Prayers and The Cosmic Self. His one volume systematic theology is now in its 3rd edition, God—The World’s Future (Fortress 2015). He has undertaken a thorough examination of the sin-and-grace dialectic in two works, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans 1994) and Sin Boldly! (Fortress 2015). Watch for his forthcoming, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.

▓

[1] Theologian Roger Olson wants to distribute the blame for aggression on America as well as Russia in his Patheos blog. That’s not my objective here. My objective as a public theologian is to shine the light of what we know about sin on the situation in order to illuminate the role of cursing in self-justification and scapegoating. This may have predictive value.

Catholic

Contemplative

Eastern Orthodox

Evangelical

General Christian

Politics and Religion

progressive Christian

About Ted Peters

Ted Peters is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus seminary professor. He is author of Short Prayers and The Cosmic Self. His one volume systematic theology is now in its 3rd edition, God—The World’s Future (Fortress 2015). He has undertaken a thorough examination of the sin-and-grace dialectic in two works, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Eerdmans 1994) and Sin Boldly! (Fortress 2015). Watch for his forthcoming, The Voice of Public Christian Theology (ATF 2022). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

February 24, 2022

Short Prayers 22: Small

Next Post

February 25, 2022 Short Prayers 23: Nature

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Afterlife America in Crisis Ancient Alien Apocalypse Art Artificial Intelligence Astrobiology Astrotheology Atheism Big History Buddhist Catholic Christian Nationalism Christmas Comparative Theology Death Ecology Ethics ETI Evangelical Evolution Existential Questions Free Will General Christian Hermeneutics Hindu https://www.patheos.com/blogs/allsetfree/2020/12/sins-we-need-to-talk-about/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Christians+For+a+Better+Christianity&utm_content=43&lct Interreligious Islam Jewish Justice Latter-Day Saints Literature Literature and Theology Lutheran Methodism Mormonism Nonreligious ontology Orthodox Pagam Prayer progressive Christian PT 6 Dignity Public Theology Race racial justice Religious Liberty Romance Satan Scapegoat Science & Religion Science and Religion social justice Spirituality SR 8 Transhumanism Systematic Theology Taoism Ted Peters UAP UFO Uncategorized War

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, what does the seed represent?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The kingdom of God The Pharisees Sin Wealth