Peace LensSeptember 2006The War on Terror at 5 A little more than five years has past since the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and Washington, DC. As this publication begins it is perhaps apropos to reflect on the one event that shapes public discourse around issues of war and peace in the U.S. more than any other. Some of the questions being asked by many following September 11 were very basic, the most common being "why do they hate us?" This question I imagine is not so much out of a desire for understanding as it is an expression of exasperation in trying to explain violence in the world. This isn't the first time this question has been asked. During the 1980s the people of Nicaragua and El Salvador sought answers as their countries were ripped apart by civil wars enflamed in part by U.S. military aid. During, the 1990s, it was the Balkans and the Congo that hosted wholesale indiscriminate slaughter. Now we have the war on terror, September 11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This does not even include intractable conflicts in Colombia, Sudan, and other places where violence seems to ebb and flow without end, claiming innocent lives. At the heart of each of these conflicts lies the question, "why do they hate us?," with "they" being the attackers of both sides and "us" being the victims of violence on both sides. For Anabaptist Christians, our challenge as we seek to answer this question is to live out the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. To do this, we need to respond with care and comfort to the victims of violence and with a desire to understand to the perpetrators. Many good Christians have entrenched them selves at one end of the spectrum or the other. In the case of September 11, some have felt threatened along with their neighbors and have "rallied ‘round the flag" in a search for solace and safety. Others have rightly pointed out the shortcomings of U.S. foreign policy that help create conditions in which hatred bubbles and leads to the desperate actions of terror. When either side speaks out of their own pole, demonizing accusations of "war-monger" and "freedom-hater" sling back and forth in an exchange that darkens public discourse and eats away at our collective soul, putting us even further away from finding out "why they hate us." Anabaptist Christians should stand apart from this war of words even as we engage both sides. Because of our faith in Christ and his message of peacemaking, we are called to be instruments of reconciliation. Our role is not only to witness to the truth of the evil of violence, whoever the perpetrator, but also to listen, to comfort, and to love all as we try to increase understanding even if there is disagreement. Christ's theology of peace is not just a rejection of violence. It is seeking understanding, justice, and peaceable relations with our neighbors and enemies. It encompasses all areas of life, from the relationship between two neighbors to large-scale acts of violence by nations and individuals. To answer the question I began with, we must out of this faith become peacemakers and reconcilers who live out Christ's message of peace. Our space is between, creating an environment in which society as a whole might be able to find the answers it is searching for and in so doing, bring the peaceable kingdom that much closer. Keith Swartzendruber Peace Lens is a weekly reflection on current events . Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Anabaptist Peace Center - Washington, DC. Return to Resources |
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