You'd think the Pope's words would carry weight, seeing as the Secretary of War loves the Crusades, which the Catholic Church was the main driver of initially. But in reality, the Secretary's allegiance is to a tiny sect of Evangelicalism that is, to put it mildly, extremely hostile to most people on the planet.
My favorite part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (the Secretary's faith) isn't their desire to kill idolators, homosexuals, adulterers (oh the irony!), witches, and blasphemers. It's their figurehead, Douglas Wilson. After he writes a pamphlet and gives speeches about how Southern slavery was a good thing that made all races love each other than any other time in history, and denounces detractors as "abolitionist propagandizers", he says he's not a racist. After he says women shouldn't have the right to vote or serve in the military, he says he's not a misogynist. After he says he'd like sodomy to be made illegal again, he says he's not homophobic. He is the poster child for 1984's Doublethink. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And this is what's informing the thought-leaders in the US administration.
> And this is what's informing the thought-leaders in the US administration.
More like them choosing what to listen to. There are a lot of pacifist preachers around. Why don't they ever catch these people's attentions?
The 'thought-leaders' don't form their beliefs around their spirituality. They form their spirituality around their beliefs. They choose what's convenient to them, so that they can claim divine authority to justify their bigotry and the atrocities they commit.
First of all - of course it does, many publications have reported on it too and it made headlines. You can say it didn't make HN's front page, but don't say it didn't make headlines.
Second of all - popes have made more or less clear comments about "jihadist violence" for decades now - in a way, it's nothing new, pope condemning violence in some part of the world is just what he does on Sundays.
What is new is a "christian" country waging war "in the name of Jesus Christ", to the extent that is happening right now. Secretary of Defence saying that everything is preordained and if missiles fall on infidels then clearly it's gods plan. The pentagon preacher saying that since the bible ordered israelites to kill entire cities to purge them of sin, then obviously a missile killing 100+ schoolgirls is part of god's plan too, in the scale of things described in the bible it's hardly a blip.
That's why the Pope is speaking out in a way that few other popes have spoken out before. The previous wars in the middle east have killed 1M+ people but the portrayal as "holy war" is new(or returning, depending on how you look at it).
Where the current Iranian government is slaughtering its own citizens. It is also fairly well known, and generally not disputed, that women, and non-binary people are slaughtered at whim, abused, even beaten to death in the street by the murderous Morality Police in Iran.
They literally fund recognized terrorist groups as well, and no one not even Iran disputes this. And yes, many Islamic and Middle Eastern states state so as well.
Yet there's a weird collection of people running around, screaming about how Iran is apparently immensely innocent of... well, everything and anything ever. I can only presume that any actuon the Trumo cabal take, is just immediately presumed bad.
Which is of course absurd. Even a broken clock is correct, twice a day.
And if you're non-binary, or support non-binary people, or if you are a feminist, you'd be insane to behave as of the current Iranian regine is "good" or "innocent" in any way. There isn't even the tiniest comparison to how you are treated in the West, or the US compared to Iran. In Iran, basically, you're dead, or rotting in jail until you die.
That doesn't make this war correct. But there is a vast difference between speaking out against military aggression, and supporting Iran. These are two different things.
Iran, the state is terrible. The world will be a far better place if it is replaced with a new regime. And no, that doesn't make the war right.
See how easy that is?
It's called nuance. Not black and white, binary thinking.
Ah well. It only takes one person to appear as 1000s today, so grain of salt.
Yeah, that's exactly what people against this war say, I don't know why your straw man them. Iran regime killed 7k people over a month and a half, and imprisoned 30k. Iran is almost at US level when we count population percentage in prison, and well, well beyond when we count execution, with an average of 600 a year (when Texas only had 600 in 50 years). This still isn't a great reason to declare war. MBS regime killed well over 70k over the last 14 years, and those are exhaustion death. His regime makes slaves work until death, which, in my opinion, is way, way, waaaay worse than dieing from a bullet, and has the same execution rate than Iran (a bit more). I still don't call for an attack in Saoudi Arabia.
And if the goal was to overthrow the Mollahs and the IRGC, why not wait for Khomenei natural death and avoid martyring him? The IRGC is tightly tied to the Khomenei clan, and no Khomenei main branch member is a Mollah, so the succession would have been a disaster under normal circumstances. The US war just robbed Iran a chance at a natural regime change.
There are dozens of equally "bad" regimes out there. The point is that invading them and/or killing a ton of their people is not the solution. Iraq: made things worse. Lybia: made things worse. Afghanistan: didn't make things any better. And this even before we discuss whether working inside a framework of agreed rules for international relations, instead of just doing whatever we feel like, is a good thing even for the "alpha nation".
Iran is obviously not innocent (nobody is), but their population is currently being hit for no particular reason beyond "Israeli vibes". That's not a broken clock being right, that's a broken clock telling the wrong time.
Trump's crusade to save non-binary Iraninian feminists seems to be going quite badly. I'm not sure he planned it out that well. But it's the thought that counts.
I’ve spent dozens of hours reading about the conflict on social media. I don’t think I’ve seen a single western account, outside of schizophrenic conspiracy theorist anons, saying that Iran is some paradise that can do no wrong.
From the quotes in the article it sounds pretty simple. These are words that everyone can understand. Of course, the fascist right is attempting to 'inform' the public at a level where even two-syllable words are a bit too complicated. But maybe the general public also should attempt to be at a level a bit higher than cattle.
I am not christian so pardon me if I am wrong but wouldn't that be the catholic (pastors?) who can preach this message in the the words people understand and I suppose (internet influencers/people online?) will come to sum it up.
Also Pope has to be diplomatic, he can't say for example things like "Trump sucks" words people understand but there is a subtle undertone in the message which convey that.
Hell no, we're already ruled by functionally illiterate [1] morons, dumbing down the discourse further is the very last thing we need. Stupidity should be made shameful again.
[1] Using the words of Trump's own biographer, Michael Wolff, here.
You'd think the Pope's words would carry weight, seeing as the Secretary of War loves the Crusades, which the Catholic Church was the main driver of initially. But in reality, the Secretary's allegiance is to a tiny sect of Evangelicalism that is, to put it mildly, extremely hostile to most people on the planet.
My favorite part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (the Secretary's faith) isn't their desire to kill idolators, homosexuals, adulterers (oh the irony!), witches, and blasphemers. It's their figurehead, Douglas Wilson. After he writes a pamphlet and gives speeches about how Southern slavery was a good thing that made all races love each other than any other time in history, and denounces detractors as "abolitionist propagandizers", he says he's not a racist. After he says women shouldn't have the right to vote or serve in the military, he says he's not a misogynist. After he says he'd like sodomy to be made illegal again, he says he's not homophobic. He is the poster child for 1984's Doublethink. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And this is what's informing the thought-leaders in the US administration.
> And this is what's informing the thought-leaders in the US administration.
More like them choosing what to listen to. There are a lot of pacifist preachers around. Why don't they ever catch these people's attentions?
The 'thought-leaders' don't form their beliefs around their spirituality. They form their spirituality around their beliefs. They choose what's convenient to them, so that they can claim divine authority to justify their bigotry and the atrocities they commit.
Pope Leo XiV also condemned "jihadist violence" but that didn’t make for a headline.
Yes, because that quite literally isn’t “news”. Western leaders including the pope have condemned jihadism for decades.
First of all - of course it does, many publications have reported on it too and it made headlines. You can say it didn't make HN's front page, but don't say it didn't make headlines.
Second of all - popes have made more or less clear comments about "jihadist violence" for decades now - in a way, it's nothing new, pope condemning violence in some part of the world is just what he does on Sundays.
What is new is a "christian" country waging war "in the name of Jesus Christ", to the extent that is happening right now. Secretary of Defence saying that everything is preordained and if missiles fall on infidels then clearly it's gods plan. The pentagon preacher saying that since the bible ordered israelites to kill entire cities to purge them of sin, then obviously a missile killing 100+ schoolgirls is part of god's plan too, in the scale of things described in the bible it's hardly a blip.
That's why the Pope is speaking out in a way that few other popes have spoken out before. The previous wars in the middle east have killed 1M+ people but the portrayal as "holy war" is new(or returning, depending on how you look at it).
Good read on why this situation is new:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/apr/...
Hanging a comment here, not directly replying.
Indeed. I see things like this:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jan/27/i...
Where the current Iranian government is slaughtering its own citizens. It is also fairly well known, and generally not disputed, that women, and non-binary people are slaughtered at whim, abused, even beaten to death in the street by the murderous Morality Police in Iran.
They literally fund recognized terrorist groups as well, and no one not even Iran disputes this. And yes, many Islamic and Middle Eastern states state so as well.
Yet there's a weird collection of people running around, screaming about how Iran is apparently immensely innocent of... well, everything and anything ever. I can only presume that any actuon the Trumo cabal take, is just immediately presumed bad.
Which is of course absurd. Even a broken clock is correct, twice a day.
And if you're non-binary, or support non-binary people, or if you are a feminist, you'd be insane to behave as of the current Iranian regine is "good" or "innocent" in any way. There isn't even the tiniest comparison to how you are treated in the West, or the US compared to Iran. In Iran, basically, you're dead, or rotting in jail until you die.
That doesn't make this war correct. But there is a vast difference between speaking out against military aggression, and supporting Iran. These are two different things.
Iran, the state is terrible. The world will be a far better place if it is replaced with a new regime. And no, that doesn't make the war right.
See how easy that is?
It's called nuance. Not black and white, binary thinking.
Ah well. It only takes one person to appear as 1000s today, so grain of salt.
Yeah, that's exactly what people against this war say, I don't know why your straw man them. Iran regime killed 7k people over a month and a half, and imprisoned 30k. Iran is almost at US level when we count population percentage in prison, and well, well beyond when we count execution, with an average of 600 a year (when Texas only had 600 in 50 years). This still isn't a great reason to declare war. MBS regime killed well over 70k over the last 14 years, and those are exhaustion death. His regime makes slaves work until death, which, in my opinion, is way, way, waaaay worse than dieing from a bullet, and has the same execution rate than Iran (a bit more). I still don't call for an attack in Saoudi Arabia.
And if the goal was to overthrow the Mollahs and the IRGC, why not wait for Khomenei natural death and avoid martyring him? The IRGC is tightly tied to the Khomenei clan, and no Khomenei main branch member is a Mollah, so the succession would have been a disaster under normal circumstances. The US war just robbed Iran a chance at a natural regime change.
There are dozens of equally "bad" regimes out there. The point is that invading them and/or killing a ton of their people is not the solution. Iraq: made things worse. Lybia: made things worse. Afghanistan: didn't make things any better. And this even before we discuss whether working inside a framework of agreed rules for international relations, instead of just doing whatever we feel like, is a good thing even for the "alpha nation".
Iran is obviously not innocent (nobody is), but their population is currently being hit for no particular reason beyond "Israeli vibes". That's not a broken clock being right, that's a broken clock telling the wrong time.
There are dozens of equally "bad" regimes out there.
"There are dozens of murderers out there. Who cares if Bob murdered"
The point is that invading them and/or killing a ton of their people is not the solution.
I literally said this, so thanks for agreeing with me.
Iran is obviously not innocent (nobody is)
No one is innocent! John has speeding tickets! Therefore, Bob killing people isn't a big deal!
--
The entire point of my comment was that supporting Iran by saying it is "good" or "innocent" is insane, whilst conversely, "war isn't good".
Are you arguing against this premise?
Trump's crusade to save non-binary Iraninian feminists seems to be going quite badly. I'm not sure he planned it out that well. But it's the thought that counts.
I’ve spent dozens of hours reading about the conflict on social media. I don’t think I’ve seen a single western account, outside of schizophrenic conspiracy theorist anons, saying that Iran is some paradise that can do no wrong.
[flagged]
How’s this HN related?
Tech is used for war.
It was posted on hn. You (and I) are writing our comments on hn.
Not works the common people would grasp. Politicians need to learn to speak in words people understand.
Bit of a strange criticism for someone who historically mostly speaks Latin.
From the quotes in the article it sounds pretty simple. These are words that everyone can understand. Of course, the fascist right is attempting to 'inform' the public at a level where even two-syllable words are a bit too complicated. But maybe the general public also should attempt to be at a level a bit higher than cattle.
The Pope is not a politician.
a timeless troll like this is a rare treat
I am not christian so pardon me if I am wrong but wouldn't that be the catholic (pastors?) who can preach this message in the the words people understand and I suppose (internet influencers/people online?) will come to sum it up.
Also Pope has to be diplomatic, he can't say for example things like "Trump sucks" words people understand but there is a subtle undertone in the message which convey that.
Hell no, we're already ruled by functionally illiterate [1] morons, dumbing down the discourse further is the very last thing we need. Stupidity should be made shameful again.
[1] Using the words of Trump's own biographer, Michael Wolff, here.