Tag Archives: terrorism

Don’t give in to xenophobia

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xenophobiaXenophobia is literally the fear of foreigners. The term also includes irrational dislike of those from other countries, prejudice against those who aren’t our countrymen. It’s a condition that has existed since the dawn of time.

In today’s America, xenophobia is in full bloom. We’re scared of foreign terrorists. We’re worried about illegal immigrants. We’re afraid of refugees.

As Christians, we can’t give in. If we do, we end up hating ourselves, for Christians are foreigners wherever we live in this world. We of all people must be compassionate and understanding toward those not like ourselves.

  • We can protect ourselves against terrorism without hating entire nations of people or harassing those who don’t practice our religion. (And there’s been no evidence of terrorists entering the U.S. via our southern border. There’s been no known cases of terrorists among the refugees that have come to this country. Don’t believe the lies you hear in political ads and speeches)
  • We can address a broken immigration system without forgetting that immigrants are people, people like us, most of whom come seeking a better life for their families. Some are murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. So are many citizens of the United States. Go ahead and hate the problem; don’t hate the people that are a part of it.
  • We can show caution in accepting refugees even while showing Christlike compassion. Hospitality is a Christian virtue; it’s interesting that the word in Greek is philonexia, quite literally “a friend of foreigners.”

Don’t give into xenophobia. It’s the very opposite of everything we stand for as Christians.

Pray for Argentina

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protestRecent events have reminded us of how limited a view of the world U.S. news media give us. While the terrorist attacks in France dominated headlines, bigger attacks in Nigeria went virtually unnoticed.

Because of that, I’m fairly confident that most who read this will know next to nothing about the drama unfolding in Argentina. In 1994, a Jewish mutual aid society (AMIA) was bombed in Buenos Aires. 85 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Since it didn’t take place in New York or Paris, you probably never heard about it. But many remember and have been investigating ever since. The trail seems to lead to Iran, but full information has not come forth.

Recently, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Alberto Nisman, filed a 300-page document accusing the current president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, of being part of a cover-up; allegedly, Fernández and others conspired with Iran to frustrate the investigations in exchange for oil from Iran.

Nisman was due to present his accusations in court last week, but he never made it. He was found dead in his apartment with a gunshot to the head. Initial reports called it a suicide, but strong public outcry made officials admit the circumstances were suspicious. Fingers were later pointed at the Argentine intelligence community. Last night Fernández announced a dismantling of the current intelligence agency and the creation of a new one.

I won’t take sides in all of this, nor will I claim to have inside knowledge as to what all has transpired these last 20 years. I’d just ask you to pray for the people of Argentina, who are living through a great time of insecurity. There’s a feeling that justice won’t come about in this or many other situations.

photo from Pulsamerica

Stop supporting the “war” on terrorism

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Cartoon by Glenn McCoy

Some of my Christian friends support war when that war can be defined as a just war. Not everyone who holds this position is versed in “just war theory,”so I guess we can’t expect all wars to meet those criteria in order for them to receive general approval from the Christian community. But I think we need to examine the so-called war on terrorism.

Most recognize that this is not a traditional war. It’s not always easy to define who the participants are. Some would compare it to the war on poverty or the war on drugs, that is, the term war being used to describe something that isn’t exactly war. But this war sure looks like a war. It’s the regular troops being sent out. The deaths are real. The destruction is real.

There are real dangers in allowing something to be “like a war,” without being an actual war. Exceptional powers are being given to those in government, to those in the intelligence agencies and to those in the military, all with the justification that “we are at war.” Such powers would normally be granted until the end of a war; who will declare the war on terrorism to be over?

Ten years ago, Stanley Hauerwas wrote an excellent article on these ideas. Hauerwas wrote:

The good thing, moreover, about the war on terrorism is it has no end, which makes it very doubtful that this war can be considered just. If a war is just, your enemy must know before the war begins what political purpose the war is to serve. In other words, they need to know from the beginning what the conditions are if they choose to surrender. So you cannot fight a just war if it is “a war to end all wars” (World War I) or for “unconditional surrender” (World War II). But a “war on terrorism” is a war without limit. Americans want to wipe this enemy off the face of the earth. Moreover, America even gets to decide who counts and does not count as a terrorist.

Two very important points right there:

  1. There is no defined end to this war. What are the objectives, beyond obliterating the enemy? Who can sign a peace accord for the opposing side? When will the world be able to say, “That’s it… no more terrorism. The war is over.”?
  2. There is no clear definition of who the opponents are. The U.S. government determines who is and who isn’t a terrorist. It defines what nations are state sponsors of terrorism, with those decisions sometimes being made on the basis of other political motives. When one side can decide for itself who its enemies are and continue adding to that list as the war goes on, there’s nothing just about the war.

On that second point, Hauerwas wrote:

Which means Americans get to have it any way they want it. Some that are captured, for example, are prisoners of war; some are detainees. No problem. When you are the biggest kid on the block, you can say whatever you want to say, even if what you say is nonsense. We all know the first casualty in war is truth. So the conservatives who have fought the war against “postmodernism” in the name of “objective truth,” the same conservatives that now rule us, assume they can use language any way they please.

That Americans get to decide who is and who is not a terrorist means that this is not only a war without clear purpose, but also a war without end. From now on we can be in a perpetual state of war. America is always at her best when she is on permanent war footing. Moreover, when our country is at war, it has no space to worry about the extraordinary inequities that constitute our society, no time to worry about poverty or those parts of the world that are ravaged by hunger and genocide. Everything—civil liberties, due process, the protection of the law—must be subordinated to the one great moral enterprise of winning the unending war against terrorism.

Christians who believe in just war need to stop supporting the so-called war on terrorism. There is nothing just about it. It’s just war, plain and simple.