Patriotism vs. peace

The wars which our country is involved in have caused division in opinion across the nation. I was sick of hearing all of my friends argue when they had no historical or quantitative basis to their arguments. We all came to a conclusion that we didn’t support the government’s decision to wage war with Iraq, but never came to a consensus over how to deal with the issue. I tried to do some online research to look into the argument in a more in depth fashion but this made me more confused than ever because both sides had strong points and weaknesses in their argument so I looked to the Bible for some type of guidance on what may be the right way to look at the issue of being patriotic and respecting authority even when the government is involved in wars we don’t all support. I have always been a believer in the Bible and had a personal relationship with God so I thought this would be a great way to find a good way to view the issue but it wasn’t as simple as I thought.
Just as the seating arrangement in class I found myself trying to stand by my religious beliefs and my political position. The problem with this doesn’t really come from the way I interpret the Bible, but the way I feel others see me as a believer. In class I felt as though by sitting where I agree with a fair amount of science other believers would see my stance as an injustice to the religion but I don’t perceive science really interfering with my religion so for me this really shouldn’t be the case. As the only religious person involved in the argument with my friends I was expected the same; being a strong patriotic stance due to versus in the Bible such as Romans 13: 1-3. This isn’t really a fair expectation though because with further research I found other versus in the old testament that speak of epic battles of the Israelites against peoples trying to subdue them and their flee from Egypt.
The way I have come to look at this is through the context of the situations in the script. Much like any other religions and everyday forms of media single versus can be taken out of context or applied wrongly to different situations, sometimes even contradicting the original form they were in. I feel that skepticism of authority is good in many ways but respect and the manner in which one is a skeptic really dictates the Biblical correctness of ones views and actions. I feel that the stance one takes must be justified but we are all entitled to have our own stances relentless of belief, laws, or any other program that points us in a certain direction. I want to live my life accordingly and worry less about what others think like the class seating arrangement and more about what I truly believe; whether it be empowering the government through patriotism, disagreeing with certain institutions or living my everyday life.