If you spend any time on “Christian Twitter,” you have doubtless encountered the term “Post-War Consensus.” If you’ve spent any of the past several days on Christian Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen the ongoing kerfuffle in which various people who are all supposedly conservative are quick to anathematize each other. With accusations of “neo-Nazi” flying left, right, and center, a step back from the fray and an examination of the role WWII plays in the American mythos is warranted.
The Now-Infamous Interview
On September 2nd, 2024, Tucker Carlson interviewed historian and podcaster Darryl Cooper, also known by the moniker Martyr Made. In this interview, Cooper revealed that he had been researching for a podcast series on WWII. In this discussion, Cooper and Carlson both discussed how the fervor with which popular narratives surrounding WWII are believed borders on fanatical, pointing out that one can face serious consequences for believing histories of the period that critique the popular narrative. Both men discussed the questionable character of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, characterizing him not as some unassailable moral paragon, but as a complex man with both strengths and glaring weaknesses. This set off a firestorm in which many charges of moral turpitude were thrown, and obviously, faithful brothers were smeared as “neo-Nazis” for agreeing with their analysis.
This visceral reaction against many who suddenly found themselves the subject of friendly fire from men in the same trenches begs the question: “Why?” Why is the narrative of WWII unquestionable, and why are people I consider friends suddenly attacking me? Furthermore, does critically examining the events of WWII necessarily make one a “Holocaust-denier,” or “neo-Nazi?” The answers to these questions lie in how the Post-War Consensus (hereafter “PWC”) fits into the civil religion of modern America.
A Religionis Civilis
The term “civil religion” can refer to a state-mandated religion that suffuses all of political life with a particular religious worldview. In the sense which we are examining, however, civil religion refers to the mythical self-conception which a people hold that binds them together with a shared set of historical experiences and their interpretations. While on the subject of definitions, consider the following from R. R. Reno’s book Return of the Strong Gods:
“[the Post-War Consensus is] a powerful consensus in favor of fluid openness [which] was embraced by the left and right in recent decades.”
That is, the PWC is the notion that equality is the highest good in a society, and this is a shared notion by both left and right.
The PWC forms the axle around which the modern American civil religion turns. Let’s put things in analogous Christian terms. In the beginning, the Founding Fathers created the United States of America. When they created the land of freedom and equality, they saw that it was very good. Now the promises of freedom and equality were intended for all men, but sin had entered the world, and so a deliverer was needed. Abraham Lincoln was sent into the world to unite the country and bring freedom and equality to all, fulfilling the Founding Fathers’ wishes, or so it seemed. His reign would come to an end and the people would realize that true freedom and equality had not been bestowed on all men.
Suddenly, a wicked man named Adolf Hitler arose threatening freedom and equality everywhere. As the chosen people, America defeated Hitler, and the children of that generation brought about a new turning when they came of age – the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, through the work of faithful martyrs such as Martin Luther King Jr., true freedom and equality were achieved, and America could finally begin its reign as a land open to all guarding the hard-fought prize of freedom and equality for all.
Now, you are likely thinking to yourself that this sounds very silly and that nobody actually holds WWII and its surrounding history as a religious tenet. While this is true in the simplest sense,most American Christians subscribe to the “American civil religion,” which colors how they conceive of themselves, their countrymen, and their place in the world. It is not a parallel heretical cult or anything of that sort, but it is an ideology. For the American civil religion, the Founding serves as a creation myth, the pre-WWII epoch serves as an “Old Covenant Era,” and the post-WWII epoch serves as a “New Covenant Era.” While many other parallels could be drawn, the above should suffice for our purpose.
Help! I’ve Been Shot by Friendly Fire!
The American civil religion is not enforced at the barrel of a gun, nor is it a properly administered state religion. It does, however, permeate the self-conception of most Americans. Thus, when a core belief of one’s religion is assailed, viz., that WWII was a necessary, black-and-white conflict, it creates a great deal of cognitive dissonance, which is manifested in our friends lashing out at us, calling us names that could lose us our jobs, etc.
We, as Christians, must realize that WWII’s mythos is a core belief that was and is instilled in every public school student. Therefore, is it any wonder that people lash out when you question this core belief? The reaction many of us have to the deity of Christ being called into question, or the veracity of the Scriptures being assaulted is the same reaction that questioning the mythos of WWII produces for many.
We, as Americans, should take pride in the great stories of heroism that our fathers wove on the beaches of Normandy and Okinawa. It is good to honor our fathers for their bravery. As Christians, we can also recognize that WWII is not as cut-and-dried as it may seem on first glance, especially when one considers that many American WWII vets, including General George S. Patton, wondered if their wartime sacrifices were made for a righteous cause, given the way the world unfolded following the conflict.
In re-examining the history of WWII, as we approach a time in which there are no living veterans of the war, and as the children of those veterans begin to pass, and the conflict passes out of living memory, let us do so in a charitable and patient spirit. There will be those who lob unfair accusations. There will be those who question your Christian bona fides. We must maintain a joyful attitude that is not arrogant or boastful, but that delights in the truth. So dig into the deeper history of WWII! (An excellent place to start is Pat Buchanan’s Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War.) In your engagement with history, be willing to take flak for contrary opinions, but let us not forget the gentle strength to which Christ our Lord calls us.
