But our testimony rests on an inherent contradiction. Even though we claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace surveys and polls consistently show that evangelical Christians constitute the most militant demographic in American society.

Revealingly, evangelical militancy is not a new phenomenon. Evangelical zest for international warfare can be traced at least to the Spanish-American War of 1898. One of the early instances of American interventionism that military adventure was widely supported by evangelical churches and leaders. The famed Josiah Strong, the popular leader of the Social Gospel Movement, was one of the many ministers of the time who incited militarism among the faithful by giving sermons in which he provided theological justification for American interference on the Cuban island.

Next came the Philippine-American War which was sparked by the refusal of the US government to grant independence to the Philippines, an American territorial possession at the time. The Filipino people rebelled and the result was a brutal and protracted conflict in the course of which US forces committed depredations and atrocities on a massive scale. Some historians estimate that nearly one million Filipinos perished during the war. If this figure is correct, the death toll claimed more than ten per cent of the whole population.