Televised news reports of the 9/11 memorial services from Ground Zero in New York last Saturday replayed those ghastly images burned forever on our national psyche. The memorial service revealed that our corporate wound hasn’t yet healed.
But we knew that already. The visceral reaction against the proposed mosque/cultural center less than three blocks from the site of the former twin towers, is a stark indication that the passing of nine years has not dulled our memories. Whether Muslims have a right to build wherever they please is not disputed. This is America! Freedom and justice for all! But, should they build there?
Jim White
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In addition, the plans of Terry Jones, pastor of a 50-member Florida congregation, to burn Qu’rans on Sept. 11, is a potent indicator that rage has produced temporary insanity in some quarters. I, like most other Americans, believed that for the sake of world peace Jones should have put away his matches and kept his mouth shut. But this is America! Freedom and justice for all! Jones has every legal right to burn any book he pleases. But should he?
I can understand Jones’s anger, I think. On an emotional level, who hasn’t felt like retaliating against that terrible offense? On top of that, despite the heroic devotion to duty by American military personnel, we have little about which to be optimistic in the Middle East. Our “victory” in Iraq was hollow, indeed, and it remains to be seen whether its government, trying to rise on wobbly legs after a long and difficult birth, will be able to defend itself and its citizens from the onslaught of terrorism almost certain to follow. According to our own military leaders, Afghanistan is still too close to call. And after being the most hunted man alive for almost a decade, Osama Bin Laden is still out there somewhere.
Then, at home, there are the economic hard times that were supposed to ease following the burst of stimulus money. It hasn’t. At least not yet. And on the political scene, politicians are still playing the blame game. Nothing has changed there.
When we feel caught in a web of circumstances we can’t control, it is only natural to feel angry. And the flip side of that anger is fear. We are afraid of what is happening; afraid that things will get worse before they get better; afraid of what it going to happen next. We are afraid that we cannot protect ourselves from very real threats.
A CNN poll conducted in May of this year indicated more than half of all Americans believed that further terrorist acts on American soil was likely within a few weeks. Thankfully, the feared attacks did not occur, but it does demonstrate the kind of national anxiety with which we are living.
To some extent, Americans are feeling what much of the world has felt for a long time. In parts of the planet, and in many Muslim nations in particular, anger within some groups has risen to terrifying levels. Feeling victimized and impotent for decades, they have lashed out at the United States whom they perceive to be a powerful persecutor. They are not correct, of course, but some of our actions have reinforced their misperceptions often enough to give them substance.
Now, we, too, feel a bit powerless to change things. At some level, staging a Qu’ran-burning is understandable. It is a way to get back at those who have hurt us. “Do unto others as they do unto you. We’re not going to roll over and play dead.”
The fears, uncertainties and anger of our times produce a volatile mixture. The stage is set for people to do crazy things — something like a church announcing it will burn the Qu’ran.
I don’t suppose Christians should expect non-believers to act like Christians. But we should expect it of ourselves. According to the laws of our land, the Imam has the right to build a mosque where he pleases, and Jones has the right to burn the Qu’ran. But the teaching of our Holy Scriptures has something to say about whether doing those things are right — even if they have the right.
In Romans 14, Paul faces a dilemma. According to his own conscience, he has every right to eat meat that has been offered as a sacrifice to idols. After all, an idol is just a piece of wood or a hunk of metal. But, knowing his action would create tensions, suspicions and ill will among some, he wrote: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.”
Then there are the words of Jesus. “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31, NIV).
To his credit, Jones decided, at length, to cancel his plans. Some argue that the damage had already been done. Two were killed in riots in Afghanistan protesting the burnings, and old anger in the Muslim world was given new impetus for further violence. Still, he backed away.
It remains to be seen whether the Imam will do the same with respect to the New York mosque. But, then, why should he? He isn’t a Christian.
At least one good thing has come from all this. Jones gave those Americans who believe all Muslims are the same a vivid illustration that not all Christians are the same! I pray that most Muslims will see that as well.