Reply #18: I had a class once with a former Marine.

[knitter4democracy]

The prof got up and asked us to debate the bombing of Hiroshima. Considering it was an evangelical college, it wasn't surprising that most everyone who first spoke up defended the attack. I spoke up against it, citing Hiroshima and the research I had done on it. That's when the former Marine started yelling at me.

Because I was upset that my country, supposedly the moral high ground, had vaporized innocent babies and civilians, he screamed at me that I hated my country, that I should leave America, and that I was a horrible person who hadn't fought for my country and wanted troops to die. I fought back, citing my family's WWII history, that I had travelled and seen how the Third World lives, and that our founding fathers and mothers had fought and died for my right to question my government. That's when he called me a Commie, and that's when I called him a fascist.

He scared the prof, he scared a lot of the other students in the room, and even his buddy sitting next to him was red and nervous. He scared everyone--how was that godly? Screaming threats at people in a full classroom just because he thought that no one should ever question our government or questionable parts in our nation's history?

I'm just sayin'--what about the other people in the room? What would Jesus do? Knock an enemy out or love him?