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January 15, 2007Lamb & Dragon: Counter Terrorism with Love - UPDATEDI think I can count on my hands the number of times I have revisited a past post specifically to discuss a response to it, but my post on reassessing Iraq generated a great deal of email (very little of it the usual “hate” mail, which surprised me), and a few interesting blogger responses. Nate of The Lamb and Dragon blog took some issue with me, from a Catholic perspective and wondered if I have lost sight of the supernatural componants of this war: If we fail to identify our enemies in a spiritual manner, and only see their material acts of violence, then our response with be on that material level and fail to address the underlying enemy - evil itself. For isn’t that what we are truly at war with - evil? Back during the Great Big Benedict/Muslim Debacle of ‘06, I wrote a piece for Pajamas Media on The Pope’s Supernatural Gambit and said therein: Clearly, I have been thinking not just materially but spiritually. I take Nate’s point, and “love, love, love” is certainly the perfect solution to any problem, but it is never an expedient one; we’re living in a reality that involves nuclear weapons, so expediency (at least in clearing away the underbrush of incessant Jihad so we can get to that “love” part) has some value, here. In this case, I think I might take a line through Patrick O’ Hannigan, the eloquent Paragraph Farmer, when he makes an excellent paraphrase in Nate’s comments section: “military force is regrettably necessary in this case because it buys the time we need to wage successful ideological and spiritual campaigns against Islamic jihadism.” Kevin from Counseling Kevin sent this bit of wisdom from G. K. Chesterton and his book, The Everlasting Man, in which Gilbert says it all so much better than I ever could. As usual. Writes Kevin: When discussing the power of Christ’s “use of the comparative in several degrees” (the “comparing of a lower thing to a higher and yet that higher with a higher still; of thinking on three planes all at once.”), Chesterton observes that this faculty is not one “that commonly belongs to these simplifiers of the Gospel; those who insist on what they call a simple morality and others call a sentimental morality. It is not at all covered by those who are content to tell everybody to remain at peace. On the contrary, there is a very striking example of it in the apparent inconsistency between Christ’s sayings about peace and about a sword. It is precisely this power which perceives that while a good peace is better than a good war, even a good war is better than a bad peace.” As I wrote last week. No sane person wants war. But sometimes war comes. Islamofascist terrorism has been rising for the past thirty years and it shows no signs of abating. Inexorable evil needs an unambiguous - and unified - response. UPDATE: Gerald has a more pragmatic take on things I also got an email from a member of the military, D.R., and I am reprinting most of his email, because we can never hear too much from our soldiers: Many of us in the military know about the political chatter swirling about. We just shrug and say, “what else is new.” The stakes in Iraq, Afghanistan, HOA, and elsewhere are enormous. We would rather fight here than in our own streets. And, this is the point many Americans do not believe will happen if we leave this fight early. They see this as an abstraction, or more as fear-mongering. It is not. The assumption that a “Minuteman” response would occur is like believing that a snowball won’t melt in 100-deg weather. The “Minuteman” response would not happen simply because of fear and the terrible loss of life we’ll see. The terrorists we face over here are stone-cold killers. They would kill their own if it means they get to propagate their hate and evil. And, they are evil in every sense of the word. They are not misunderstood, they are not the misforgotten, etc. They do know who they are. Many terrorists come from a world of privilege, more privilege than many of their kinfolk. President Bush has done his absolute best. He’s the right man for the time. This is not an easy war by any means a stretch of the imagination. We do put in very long days and very, very short nights. Sometimes we see very good results, sometimes the results aren’t so good. War by nature is very messy. While we do our best to plan for contingencies, we adjust accordingly. With regard to the Vice President and former SecDef Rumsfeld, they’ve been the best to us. They understand the stakes, and this is most important … not the political usefulness. You want people in leadership positions who understand the stakes, willing to make the hard decisions, and take responsibility regardless of the situation. The Vice President and Rumsfeld are such people. But, this is a point that can be argued at another time and by others. For your son, keep him close. If he wants to join, encourage and support him. Military life can be difficult at times, but there’s no other experience that is better. If he wants to go another route, encourage and support him. Not everyone should see the face of war. Related: Reassessing Iraq, Just wars, etc http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/01/15/lamb-dragon-counter-terrorism-with-love/trackback/ 13 Responses to “Lamb & Dragon: Counter Terrorism with Love - UPDATED” |
January 15th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
God Bless the Men and Women serving in Our Nation’s Armed Forces!
So refreshing to see such a wonderful note from a brave, free, dedicated Hero…
Thank you D.R.!
Best wishes.
With you all the way…
Fighting for Freedom.
January 15th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Though it seems to be conventional wisdom that Christ preached total pacifism, with one of the key scenes being when Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of the priest’s servant and was thereupon admonished that those who live by the sword shall die by it, the fact of the matter is that Peter was carrying a sword in the first place. Original Christianity wasn’t totally pacifist in the same way that the Quakers are. It was peaceful in the way that other Jews were. It was more peaceful than Rome, but not a suicide pact (unlike the Shakers).
One of the ways we can oppose Islam is to advance Christianity, both by proselytizing and by protecting Muslims who question or leave Islam. Unlike empty, nihilistic atheism, Christianity has a much more powerful, more hopeful, more humane message, especially when contrasted to Islam with its cruel, inhuman god who claims to rule the universe by fiat. Other things we can do include the following.
January 15th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Anchoress, I am so glad you shared most of this soldier’s e-mail with us. It is refreshing in a time like this. Wishing him and all our soldiers the very, very best!
January 15th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Understanding The Stakes
The Anchoress put up an email on her blog today from a soldier that should be spread far and wide: Many of us in the military know about the political chatter swirling about. We just shrug and say, “what else…
January 15th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
This evening I watched the UK documentary (3 youtube videos) on the undercover(ground) teachings of the alleged “moderate” mosques in England. Knowing that we have guardians such as this soldier is reassuring ….. God-speed to him in his mission.
January 16th, 2007 at 1:18 am
Anchoress wrote, “No sane person wants war. But sometimes war comes.”
From Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address:
“…four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it…Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.”
Read the whole thing. http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html
January 16th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Debating The Prosecution of The War On Terror
Those who threaten our way of life will do everything in their power to take what you will allow them to have. Every person should decide how much they are willing to sacrifice and what the response will be when that sacrifice has been spent. The answe…
January 16th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Though the Anchoress does show that she has analyzed this problem of terror from a spiritual perspective, the response of war remains a material solution and not a spiritual solution. Moreover, the material solution of war is, according to Church’s teachings, counter-productive rather than expedient in this spiritual warfare.
The soldier writes that “the terrorists we face over here are stone-cold killers. They would kill their own if it means they get to propagate their hate and evil. And, they are evil in every sense of the word.”
If we are fighting evil, then why do we respond with what cannot destroy evil - war. Evil must be fought on the spiritual plane. Though the Church teaches legitimate self-defense, it admits that war is a failure and that war does not solve our problems - it does not solve the problem of evil.
Going to war with Iraq to solve the problem with evil is not expeditious. It is counter-productive. As we watch evil grow in that region, more and more people are coming to the realization that rifles cannot stop evil. Only Christian love can do that.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Anchoress!
January 16th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Web Reconnaissance for 01/16/2007
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Just a small-town girl, linkin’ in a lonely world
Rest in peace, BP. There’s a No. 72 car waiting for you in the sky. When I used to cover NASCAR, I was near BP’s home track in Rockingham. Benny exemplified the down-home, approachable, good-humored charm that still draws…
January 18th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”
January 19th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
RE: NateWildermuth
THE BETTER SAMARITAN
In the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Jesus teaches that even a despised stranger who helps his neighbor in a time of need can behave more righteously than a priest of God. But in Christ’s parable, the downtrodden neighbor is already bruised and beaten, lying helpless by the side of the road. Imagine instead that the victim’s potential rescuers pass him by as he is in the process of being robbed and beaten, the perpetrators crowded around him and shouting at passersby not to interfere.
A Christian Pacifist wanders along the other side of the road. Shocked and horrified by the scene playing out before him, he pleads with the vandals to stop beating their victim. The perpetrators just laugh and throw stones at the pacifist to scare him away. The pacifist decides to run back to the city from whence he came to call for medical help.
Hearing the victim’s cries for mercy, a Christian Martyr runs up and tries to bargain with the vandals, pleading that he be allowed to trade his life for the victim’s in a profound act of sacrificial love. Impatient with a second interruption, one of the vandals kills the martyr with a well-aimed slingshot, and now there is a corpse lying in the middle of the road.
Seeing this form afar, a Christian Soldier rushes to the scene of the crime, his armor deflecting the slings and arrows of the vandals. He skewers the first thief he comes across with his sword and manages to catch another robber in the back with an arrow as they flee into the hills. The solider then gently carries the battered victim back to his city to tend to the man’s wounds.
Which Christian most demonstrated love for his neighbor? The Pacifist, the Martyr, or the Soldier?
In a more modern context, when you see a fellow citizen being mugged, who shows more love: the bystander who calls the for the police, or the bystander who risks his own well-being to apprehend the mugger?
June 5th, 2007 at 12:25 am
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