{"id":925,"date":"2008-05-26T01:30:22","date_gmt":"2008-05-26T08:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=925"},"modified":"2008-05-26T01:30:22","modified_gmt":"2008-05-26T08:30:22","slug":"the-war-prayer-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=925","title":{"rendered":"The War Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Washington Monthly<\/a>:
\nIn 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called “The War Prayer.” His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too inflammatory for the times. Twain agreed, but instructed that it be published after his death, saying famously that, “None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.
\nO Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells.
\nHelp us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead.
\nHelp us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain.
\nHelp us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire.
\nHelp us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief.
\nHelp us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it.
\nFor our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!
\nWe ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.
\nAmen.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Happy Memorial Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Washington Monthly: In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called “The War Prayer.” His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected it, thinking it too inflammatory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[309],"class_list":["post-925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-mark-twain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-eV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":448,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=448","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":0},"title":"The War Prayer","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/28\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Washington Monthly: In 1904, disgusted by the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War, Mark Twain wrote a short anti-war prose poem called \"The War Prayer.\" His family begged him not to publish it, his friends advised him to bury it, and his publisher rejected\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art\/Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Art\/Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3566,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3566","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":1},"title":"The Top One Repulsively Conservative Hollywood Moment Of 2011 (So Far)","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/2\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Andrew Breitbart's BigHollwood web site is a notoriously puerile destination for Tea Party true believers. 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And increasingly, those affirmations are taking the form of inadvertent admissions that marriage is not within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2709,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2709","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":3},"title":"How Do You Solve A Problem Like Glenn Beck?","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/15\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Glenn Beck has managed to elevate himself to a unique position in American demagoguery. He descends from a genetic family that includes Father Charles Coughlin, Morton Downey Jr., and Rev. Jim Jones, with a little of Tammy Faye Bakker's trademarked tearyness thrown in. He has broadened his reach by virtue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11423,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11423","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":4},"title":"Fox Nation vs. Reality: Giving Workers More Freedom Is ‘Devastating’ To Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/4\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Congressional Budget Office just released their latest set of economic projections for the next decade and the data provides some good news for America's workers. But never let it be said that Fox News would receive such information and honestly present it to their woefully deceived audience. The headline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=219"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox Nation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/FoxNation\/foxnation-reality-obamacare-jobs.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1469,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1469","url_meta":{"origin":925,"position":5},"title":"Prayer For Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/20\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Psalms 31:18 Some repulsive, extremist right-wingers have been promoting an overtly hostile message that they culled from the Bible. It is a blatant threat to President Obama and his family. I'm sure they think it's funny. 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