This article examines the deaths of Norman Morrison & Roger LaPorte, young men who chose self-immolation as the way to express their opposition to the Vietnam war. The author reviews various reasons that were put forth as to whether or not these acts were rational or Christian. He makes a particular attempt to show how the deaths were in fact occasioned by repression by President Johnson, saying that the president respresents the consensus of the American people and by consensus, Americans approved of the Vietnam war.