Terrorism on the upswing - surprised?

Apparently the War on Iraq has not reduced terror - it has increased it.

I don't know about you, but as for me, I cannot say that I find myself surprised. Nor should Bush be particularly surprised, as he is an avowed Christian. On the night that guards came to capture Jesus, his disciple Peter took a sword and attacked one of them, a man named Malchus. Jesus rebuked Peter, saying "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."

Jesus understood this: that is why the Christian salvation is such a pacifist act. People think of Mel Gibson's film as a particularly violent one, and there is no doubt it is. But paradoxically, it is one of the most anti-violence messages ever proclaimed. Jesus did not physically resist those who came for him. By willingly taking on all the hate the people around Him felt they had to pour out on Him, and using that very rage to make the greatest sacrifice ever and save the world, He took all things and made them new.

That is why I have been so disheartened at the response of Christians to the attacks of September 11, 2001. As Christians, we were called to walk two miles with the oppressor who demanded one mile. We are asked to give our shirt as well as our cloak - to love and pray for those who persecute us.

That does not mean we should rush out to Tora Bora to find and hug Osama Bin Laden. But it does mean to pray for him, and yes, even find a way to forgive him. Our response to the act itself should have been to deal with terrorism as a policing matter - find the terrorists and convict them. Then we should have turned to the communities from which these terrorists sprang and listened to their grievances, aided their poor, and opened schools and hospitals for their children.

Perhaps the support of the Northern Alliance against the Taliban was warranted as well. The Taliban were state sponsors of Al Qaeda. But rather than abandon their long ruined country, rebuilding Afghanistan should have been a top priority, and not tossed off at the first opportunity to invade Iraq.

I know that many people in Iraq are glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein, and who can say they would want him to have remained in power? That said, the violent response to his posession of non-existent weapons of mass destruction has not made Iraqi lives better. Indeed, it has made more than ten thousand civilians quite dead. Those people will never know the "free" Iraq George Bush promised as outcome of this war.


Saddam Hussein would not have lived forever. And as long as he did survive as dictator, there were ways to undermine Saddam that did not involve bombing children. We need to trust in God more, and rely on military might less. Jesus words on the mount were not idle thoughts that caused Holy Lips to ramble - they were the very reasons he went to the cross making no attempt to oppose His Passion.

Amor vincit omnia. (Love conquers all.)

We know this, because at Golgotha, Love did conquer all.