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
Evangelical
Guest Essay by Theologian Ted Peters: Is America Suffering from Moral Injury?

Guest Essay by Theologian Ted Peters: Is America Suffering from Moral Injury?

Last updated on: January 9, 2021 at 10:02 am by Roger E. Olson

Guest Essay by Theologian Ted Peters: Is America Suffering from Moral Injury? 2021-01-09T10:02:14-05:00 Roger E. Olson

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.

Guest Essay:

Is America Suffering from Moral Injury?

Ted Peters (American Lutheran Theologian)

During the storming of the Capitol on Epiphany, January 6, 2021, one QAnon activist, Ashli Babbitt, was shot to death by police. She had tweeted the day prior to the assault, “It’s all I dream about and pray for! What is dark will come to light!” (QAA Podcast) Ms. Babbit died as a martyr to the light of truth.

QAnon’s conspiracy theory regarding an anti-Trump deep state is said to be a mistake by critics. It is a colossal lie. A dangerous lie. Roger E. Olson contends that this lie is a “mass delusion about voter fraud.” It leads to social hysteria. (Olson) Such hysteria leads to death.

America is engulfed in a conflict of interpretations between those upholding conspiracy theories over against…whom? Those who believe there is a conspiracy to promulgate conspiracy theories? Or, the rest of us who believe the truth? It’s nice to be confident that we believe the truth while those others are subject to false narratives. Even so, with Pontius Pilate we might pause to ask: what is truth? (John 18:38)

Now we are ready to ask this question: is America suffering from moral injury? I answer: no and yes.

On the one hand, no. America is not suffering from moral injury in the same sense America’s soldiers suffer. Many veterans returning from the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan bring PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) home with them as a prize of war. Within this group of PTSD victims, we find some suffering from moral injury. The majority of those suffering from moral injury commit suicide. In recent years, the suicide rate has risen at times to 20 per day. This means more of America’s soldiers die at home from suicide than from battle in the war itself.

Moral injury expert Jonathan Shay lists three prerequisites to moral injury. (Shay)

There must be a betrayal of what is morally correct.
Someone who is in a legitimate position of authority must do the betrayal of what is morally correct.
The betrayal must occur in a high stakes situation.

Who is the authority who betrayed these soldiers? Their immediate military supervisors? The Pentagon? The President? The American people? If Americans were more morally sensitive than they are, Americans would ask: what have we done to our own precious men and women that they would want to commit suicide? This question goes unasked.

Let me dig a bit deeper. Once moral injury takes hold of a soldier, here is what happens. The soldier’s moral universe disappears. It is not simply a matter of acting immoral when shooting civilians, torturing the enemy, shredding human bodies with mortars and machine gun fire, or engaging in some other atrocity.

It is more than that. One’s very standard of morality seems to evaporate. Trust in the cosmic and eternal standard of justice vaporizes. It disappears. Once the eternal standard of justice disappears, so also does the person’s soul. Your and my soul are centered on the eternal, whether we think about it or not. The loss of one means the loss of the other. Without a center, our personality disaggregates into meaninglessness and suicide follows.

That’s moral injury in the classic and most tragic sense. Families who have lost a returning soldier to PTSD leading to suicide feel profoundly the horror of moral injury.

Does America suffer moral injury in this sense. No. But, might it be the case that America is suffering moral injury in the sense of a dulling of zeal for what is correct. Like a gasoline tank with a leak, might America’s high-minded resolve for justice and compassion be dribbling away into a pool of explosive potential?

Now, let’s ask: is tolerance for unabashed self-interest replacing social solidarity? Is this the kind of moral injury America is suffering after four years of White House incompetence, malfeasance, lies, deceit, corruption, and disorientation? Certainly in my lifetime the Trump era gets the prize for betrayal of what is correct on the part of an authority where the stakes are high. The prerequisites for moral injury at a national level are present.

Yet, America is not even close to committing national suicide. Why not? Because the moral universe is thought to remain in order. Keep in mind that immorality all by itself does not cause moral injury; rather, it is the loss of the moral universe followed by the loss of the soul that causes moral injury.

Have America’s leaders lost their soul? Apparently not. They march on undaunted, confident that they are on the right side of democracy and everything else that is correct.

Immediately after Capitol police restored order on January 6, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell announced with as much pomp as he could muster: “the United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation….The clockwork of our democracy is carried on.” (McConnell) There is no sign here that the senator’s moral universe has been lost, or that McConnell’s soul is de-centered. I wonder why?

America is not suffering from moral injury. But truth is.

SOURCES

“McConnell: They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed.” CNN News; https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/07/mitch-mcconnell-riot-certification-capitol-floor-speech-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/congress-certifies-electoral-college-vote/

Olson, Roger E.“Social Hysteria: A Suggested Explanation of a Social Phenomenon,” Patheos (January 7, 2021) https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2021/01/social-hysteria-a-suggested-explanation-of-a-common-phenomenon/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BRSS&utm_campaign=Evangelical&utm_content=259 .

Peters, Ted. Sin Boldly! Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. Minneapolis:. Fortress, 2015; 252-262..

QAA Podcast; https://twitter.com/qanonanonymous?lang=en.

Shay, Jonathan. “Casualties,” Daedelus 140:3 (2011) 179-88.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 7, 2021

Social Hysteria: A Suggested Explanation of a Common Phenomenon

Next Post

January 11, 2021 False Right-wing Political Appeal to Ancient Christian Heretic Pelagius

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Against Liberal Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 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 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct sequence of events in the End Times?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, false prophet rises from earth, mark of the beast given False prophet rises, dragon cast to earth, beast rises from sea, mark of the beast given Mark of the beast given, dragon cast to earth, beast rises, false prophet rises Beast rises from sea, dragon cast to earth, mark of the beast given, false prophet rises