WE'RE AT WAR WITH IRAN

It could be a quick devastating war, or it could be a prolonged devastating war with consequences none of us can even imagine.

Cruise missles against a night sky. Photo by Anton Petrus

As you’re probably aware, the United States and Israel have begun a war with Iran. Full scale. No holding back. Very much for real.

Forget the Constitutional demand that the President go through Congress before declaring war, by the way. There’s no more even pretending now. The Constitution is little more to them than an administrative hindrance. Congressional debate is like a joke to those guys.

And now we are where we are. We are at war with Iran. The average American might not realize the forces that have been unleashed here. It could be a quick devastating war, or it could be a prolonged devastating war with consequences beyond what any of us can even imagine.

Thousands of mothers and fathers are grasping their children now, trying to reassure them. Soldiers are dying who have no idea why we’re doing this. People who don’t have a political bone in their body are rushing into bomb shelters, praying for safety. Among the leaders involved, there are no good guys in any of this - only various gradations of the spiritually blind.

The coming days will see many tears. On the other side of this - and that’s a huge theoretical - we must be willing to do things differently. And truly mean it. None of our hearts will be untouched by what is unfolding now. The drama of these days will either purify the human race, or it could end it. Our addiction to war is literally killing us.

In the words of John F. Kennedy, Jr., “Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.” We must learn to wage peace as effectively as we now wage war.

I saw, when I was running for President, how the pseudo-sophisticates in American politics and media treated the very idea of a Department of Peace. They treat such an idea with condescension and smirks, as though the merchants of war are the only grown-ups in the room. I saw widespread ignorance of the fact that peacebuilding is even a thing, much less with statistically proven results at preventing and reducing conflict. In truth, if we’d had a Department of Peace playing peace games over the last few years rather than just a Department of War playing war games, we would have a different world today.

I’m thinking this morning about a quote from President Franklin Roosevelt called I Hate War, inscribed on the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC:

“I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.”

From the United States supporting Israel’s continued war on Gaza, to war between Russia and Ukraine, to the madness in Sudan - and now this: an actual war with Iran - humanity is testing our fate. We cannot continue this way. In the words of A Course in Miracles, there is a “limit beyond which we cannot miscreate.”

All of this is happening, of course, at the same time that Trump seems to be revving up to rig the 2026 midterm elections. I will have much to say about that, of course. It’s genuinely overwhelming. But as tempting as it might be to put our heads in the sand, friends do not let friends sit this out. These indeed are extraordinary times. Let’s thank God that we are extraordinary people. We do not serve Him, or each other, by pretending we are anything less. May our prayers, our thoughts and our behavior now reflect the inner greatness that is God’s gift to all of us. The times are dark, but we are filled with Light.