Faith by Sheldon Vanauken

"In God we trust" our coins proclaim.
Only, what God? what holy name?
The great Apollo, lord of light?
Wisdom, though of the triple helm?
Jesus, loving his enemies?---
The Christ who healed the cop's slashed ear?
Is there, I wonder, a lord of bombers
That don't turn into butterflies
In shaken skies above Vietnam?
A god whose heaven is falling flame?
Old Mars would do, or some beast-name---
Moloch perhaps or the Lord of the Flies.
"In God we trust"---and in his name
Devote our billions to his claim.
Credo: we believe in, not
---Not the owl and not the light,
And not in Him whose "Father, forgive"
Haunts still the blood-stained centuries.
Ours is a different, darker spell,
The pattern of a pentagon:
Conjuring the power but not the glory.
Is there a god of murder to proclaim?
---In his name.

This was a poem in one of Vanauken's fictional works, a character who was deeply angry and bitter about the Vietnam War.

I'm ashamed to admit that I can't take a stance on what looks like will be war against Iraq. I've been staring at the "NO IRAQ WAR" emblazoned in red, white and blue signs for months, but I blame it on ignorance, on not knowing enough about the facts, or enough about the Bible's principles on pacifism or "just war" or smiting the unrighteous.

Anyone have any thoughts or can point me in the right direction?