Whose side was God on?

[E_just_E]

I think that each person thought that his/her God was on his/her side, because it was the "right" one. Unless they thought that they were fighting for the "wrong" side, which I find hard to believe...

 

[James B White]

I'm interested in postwar southern views, reconciling the loss with the former belief that God was on their side. Here's another sort of along that line.

From DeBow's Review at https://books.google.com/books?id=0as5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA267
"When I complained, in a conversation with you [O.O. Howard], that you had suddenly, without looking to consequences, liberated 4,000,000 of negroes, and instead of shouldering the burden yourselves, now call
upon us in the bankrupt, devastated condition of the South, to educate them and provide for the thousands of colored people that you have pauperized—you replied that all this was the ' work of God!' Now, General, I must very respectfully differ from you on this point. I cannot consent to hold God responsible for what we conceive to be the bad acts of any political or religious party... We must therefore, wait for better fruits before we can accept your mission as a Divine one."

 

[Pat Young]

For Catholics in the North, God was on the side of peace, which means God lost.

 

[James B White]

For Catholics in the North, God was on the side of peace, which means God lost.

I'm curious; could you explain a bit? I picture northern Irish Catholics enlisting without religious qualms, unlike say Quakers. Was there a northern Catholic anti-war movement? Did it align with the Peace Democrats or was it on separate principles?

 

[Pat Young]

I'm curious; could you explain a bit? I picture northern Irish Catholics enlisting without religious qualms, unlike say Quakers. Was there a northern Catholic anti-war movement? Did it align with the Peace Democrats or was it on separate principles?

If you look at the months leading up to war, Catholic churches were praying for the avoidance of war. Unlike Protestant denominations, which had split into Northern and Southern denominations (Baptists, Methodists, etc.) Catholics remained a united church. Catholic lay leaders tended to decry both abolitionists and fire eaters as equally dangerous and sinful.

It was only after war broke out that some Catholic bishops began to identify with the Union military cause (Bishop Hughes being the most well-known).

Catholics are not pacifists like Quakers.

 

[damYankee]

I'm going to be checking this thread. I suggest that unless God speaks to you on a regular basis, that we try to frame this as how the people of the Civil War saw these issues.

I'm always a bit nervous when someone claim God is speaking to them.

 

[damYankee]

Man is a strange creature, if his endeavors are successful it is because he is a genius, if his plans fail it is Gods fault, or the devil did it, it is seldom the fault of "the plan."

 

[Rob9641]

I'm interested in postwar southern views, reconciling the loss with the former belief that God was on their side. Here's another sort of along that line.

From DeBow's Review at https://books.google.com/books?id=0as5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA267
"When I complained, in a conversation with you [O.O. Howard], that you had suddenly, without looking to consequences, liberated 4,000,000 of negroes, and instead of shouldering the burden yourselves, now call
upon us in the bankrupt, devastated condition of the South, to educate them and provide for the thousands of colored people that you have pauperized—you replied that all this was the ' work of God!' Now, General, I must very respectfully differ from you on this point. I cannot consent to hold God responsible for what we conceive to be the bad acts of any political or religious party... We must therefore, wait for better fruits before we can accept your mission as a Divine one."

That's a very interesting quote. Doesn't really tell us how Confederates reconciled their losing with believing that God was on their side, but it does explain how this speaker, at least, came to believe that the South had been unjustly victimized when their slaves were set free. Not that I agree with the speaker, but he does explain his feelings well.

 

[OpnCoronet]

It depends upon how deeply into or out of, human affairs God decides to interfere, his wonders to perform. It is his decision, he consults no man in this decision. It is all(God's action, or interference depending upon ones view)according to his purpose to save as much of mankind from themselves as possible.
No one can know, for certain, that the CW or any man made war was to his purpose.. But, If, one believes so then, of course its outcome can only be assumed to be to God's purpose


P.S. as for me, the outcome of the war, had so direct an effect on the history of the 20th Century, I find it hard not to see the hand of God involved in some inscrutable way.

 

[Potomac Pride]

God is always on the winning side. Didn't you know that?

 

[7thWisconsin]

Like the reasons for enlisting and staying evolved, so did religious views. In both the north and the south, preaching takes several distinct phases. First, there was the flush of unshakable belief that God was with the righteous cause. In the south, this seemed validated by early victory. In the north, the stunning difficulty provoked some serious soul searching. Will Ray notes attending a series of meetings while convalescent with his wound in which the preacher connected the suffering of the war with the wickedness of the nation. In the mid war there was very much a crisis of faith. At the end of the war in the South, there was a crisis of faith and morale provoked by the possibility that God's people had indeed sinned grievously in defying authority, and it contributed to the plummeting morale during that last awful winter. To research this, look for collections of historical sermons, like you'd see in a church history or preaching class.

 

[Dave G]

I had a history teacher in high school that settled this question.
"God is on the side with the most men and the most guns."

 

[Drew]

God is always on the winning side. Didn't you know that?

"God is always on the side of the larger battalions," is I think the original quote. Napoleon Bonaparte?

 

[R. Alex Raines]

"Our president and many of our generals really and actually believed that there was this mysterious Providence always hovering over the field and ready to interfere on one side or the other, and that prayers and piety might win its favor from day to day."
Confederate artillerist Edward Porter Alexander

Where did he say that? I am suddenly seized by the desire to read the source.

 

[robert hayden]

It wasn't so much whether or not God was on your side so much as whether or not you were on God's.

I can't think of any nation that went to war without thinking "God's on our side", with the possible exception of the Nazi's.

 

[robert hayden]

"God is always on the side of the larger battalions," is I think the original quote. Napoleon Bonaparte?

or perhaps on the side of the best shots !

 

[unionblue]

I had a history teacher in high school that settled this question.
"God is on the side with the most men and the most guns."

If that were always the case, there would be no United States, but perhaps there would be the 'Protectorate of America' within the British Empire.

 

[Rebel from Finland]

God is on the same side with most artillery pieces.

 

[unionblue]

God is on the same side with most artillery pieces.

If that were strictly true, then Moses would not have been able to lead his people out of Egypt.

 

[alexjack]

If that were always the case, there would be no United States, but perhaps there would be the 'Protectorate of America' within the British Empire.

Sounds good to me!