Sermon:
Two weeks ago, I conducted a Service of Remembrance for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, here in Arlington. These are people who go to disaster areas to help with recovery. They=ve been to Oklahoma City, Manhattan, and many other places. They were here of course to help with the Pentagon.
Before the service, I had a conversation with two of the FEMA employees, and I asked how they deal with so much death and destruction. A woman told me that they become adept at compartmentalizing their emotions during the crisis, but when they return home it all spills out. They tend to get depressed, angry, anxious.
We all have different ways to deal with tragedy. One way that works especially well for me is described by the writer, T. H. White:
"The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies. You may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins. You may miss your only love. You may see the world around you devastated by evil lunatics or have your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it, then: to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear, or distrust, and never dream of regretting."
In the face of the terrorist attacks, I have been trying to learn as much as I can about why this happened and how we can keep it from happening again. And I appreciate the plentiful amount of material that so many of you have shared with me. This morning I want to share with you some of what I=ve learned, but first of all I want to make something clear. There is a big difference in trying to understand the actions of a small group of fanatics and excusing what they did. There is no excuse, no justification, no way that their actions can be condoned or exonerated.
It=s important that we understand why the terrorists committed this reprehensible act in the same way that we need to understand why the Nazi=s murdered six million Jews, why the KKK lynched black people, and why Timothy McVeigh bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Our primary goal should be to keep such ghastly acts from ever happening again, and we cannot do that until we know the rationale of the murderers.
I also don=t want to pretend that I know all the reasons why the terrorists attacked us or that I know what should be done. This is a time for us to enter into conversation about one of the most horrendous events in our nation=s history. One way to do that is to attend our series on AExploring the Islamic Faith,@ on Monday nights.
I especially appreciate the leadership of Bill Sinkford, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, in this time of crisis. He has sent several letters to our congregations and ministers. In his most recent one he wrote these words which could very well be my own:
AIn the hope that it might be helpful to you, I want to share some of the concerns that I find myself worrying about during these long days and longer nights. I worry that the language of justice is being used to describe a war fought with our most sophisticated weapons. Can there ever be a >humanitarian= war? There are human beings on the ground in Afghanistan, not merely targets.
AI worry that more innocent people are dying, though now a half a world away, and I am moved to call all of us to hold them and their loved ones in our thoughts and prayers. They, too, are our brothers and sisters.
AI still worry about the profiling of Arab and Arab-looking Americans, and know that harassment of Arab, Muslim and Sikh communities continues. There is continuing need for solidarity with these communities.
AI fear deeply that our military response will lead to further violence, that our use of force will not only produce more attacks, but will also allow some to deepen their belief that it is we who are evil.
AI am concerned about the increasing numbers of refugees and the overwhelming hunger in Central Asia. It is easy to see our country's dropping of food as propaganda, designed only to make us appear caring.
ABut most of all, I am concerned that we are not yet having the right national conversation. I believe that the justice we should seek is restoration, not retribution. We can never restore the lives that have been lost, but we can work for restoration that can break the cycle of violence and inequity that has victimized people for generations.
AThe right conversation, for me, does include punishment for the criminals who slaughtered innocent people, but it does not stop there. It also asks what conditions allowed people to see the United States as an evil empire.@
Bill=s right. We need to ask how people reach this level of anger, hatred and frustration. The anger we are perceiving is constructed over time through a combination of historical events, religious tradition, and direct experiences of alienation and deprivation. We need to understand these conditions since our responses can either reinforce future cycles of revenge and violence or provide the soil, seeds, and nutrients for positive changes.
First of all, let=s define who Athey@ are. AThey@ are not just the terrorists followers of Bin Laden. And Athey@ are not all Muslims or all Arabs. AThey@ are people who tend to be Muslims and/or Arabs (did you know that only 20% of Muslims are Arabs?) but many other people around the world as well who feel a range of emotions ranging from extreme hatred to anger towards the United States.
How can that be? There are two outstanding reasons. The first is religion and the second politics.
In terms of religion, let us not forget that Islam is one of the world's great religions. Islam has brought comfort and peace of mind to countless millions of its followers. It has taught people of different races to live in brotherhood and people of different creeds to live side by side in reasonable tolerance. It inspired a great civilization which contributed immeasurably to the betterment of our world.
But Islam, like other religions -- including Judaism and Christianity -- has also inspired in some of its followers a mood of hatred and violence. Our nation is now the target of that hatred, designated as "enemies of God" by those who wish to destroy us.
It should be clear to all of us that the terrorists are Muslims with a horribly twisted version of Islam. Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda practice the most radical form of extremist Muslim orthodoxy, which is based on a literal reading of the Koran, Islam's holy book. They reject moderate Islam's historical tolerance for other faiths and abhor the materialism, decadence and secularism of the West. Their goal is to expand Islam throughout the world, and they see the United States as the major obstacle for doing so.
While living in Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden became entranced by a particular form of Islam called Wahhabism, which was an 18th century Muslim reform movement that brought its followers back to the bedrock message of the Koran. Wahhabism is a violent, intolerant, and fanatical offshoot of Islam that originated in Arabia and is still the official theology of the Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia. It is puritan in the extreme, demanding punishment for those who listen to any form of music except the drum, and severe punishment up to death for drinking or sexual transgressions.
When Bin Laden fought with the Afghan mujaheddin in their CIA‑funded insurrection against the Soviet army, he encouraged the dissemination of this radical theology. He returned home in 1991 as a super-hero and even a Messiah of sorts because of his ability to lead such a small underdog nation in defeating a super-power. Not only did he get credit for the victory, but so did his fundamentalist Islamic faith.
But Bin Laden was enraged to discover that "American crusader forces" were "occupying" his homeland. Most Americans -- though I am not one of them -- viewed our war against Iraq as a liberation of the small, defenseless nation of Kuwait. But Bin Laden saw it as an invasion of his nation and a desecration of his religion.
As part of his war against America, Bin Laden=s goal is to expel American forces from the holy lands of Islam, especially from Saudi Arabia where Muhammad was born and lived as a prophet, from Iraq which was the seat of the most powerful Islamic state for 500 years, and from Jerusalem where it is believed that Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Many people are making the point that we are not in a religious war, but Andrew Sullivan in an article called, AThis Is A Religious War,@ in the New York Times (Oct. 7, 2001) says just that. A...this surely is a religious war B but not of Islam versus Christianity and Judaism. Rather, it is a war of fundamentalism against faiths of all kinds that are at peace with freedom and modernity.@
The renowned theologian, Karen Armstrong, makes the same point when she writes, ADuring the 20th century, every single major religion has developed this type of militant piety. Fundamentalism represents a rebellion against the secularist ethos of modernity.@ (September apocalypse: who, why and what next?@ by Karen Armstrong, <www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,568516,00.html>
Karen Armstrong helps us to understand that basic to fundamentalism is the belief that they are under threat and must fight for survival. Though most fundamentalists do not take part in acts of violence, a minority will downplay the compassionate teachings of their scripture and overemphasize the antagonistic passages. The result is the moral nihilism of the jihad, or holy war, that culminated in the September 11th attacks.
In such a jihad the martyrs who die are supposedly rewarded with eternal bliss, though the Koran vehemently opposes suicide as well as "the random slaughter of uninvolved bystanders." Bin Laden=s twisted interpretation of jihad is based on his view that he and his supporters are waging a just war against American "terrorism." He defines as terrorist acts American "occupation" of Saudi Arabia, the "starving" of up to a million Iraqi children because of U.N. sanctions, and our support for Israeli terrorism against Palestine.
The Jihad has become not only a religious battle but a political one as well. The religion of Islam and the politics of the Middle East are inextricably intertwined, each adding fuel to the other.
In fact, the politics of the area grew partly out of the crusades, a little over a thousand years ago, which were a Christian jihad. At that time the Muslim world was invaded by Christian armies from Northwestern Europe. These soldier rampaged into this small realm that three religions call the Holy Land, indiscriminately slaughtering anyone in the way -- Jews, Muslims, and any Christians who didn't agree with their own narrow and fanatical point of view. They plundered the cities and murdered over a million people. Although a millennium ago, the Christian Crusades are still remembered and resented, especially when our president proclaims that America is on a crusade against terrorists.
Then came the colonization of the Middle East by European nations during the first half of the 20th century. The colonial powers treated the Arabs with contempt, and their religion was ridiculed.
Even after the Arab nations had achieved independence, the European and American powers helped keep them in check. Again and again democratic movements in Arab nations have been opposed by European and American governments.
Why do most of the terrorists come from Saudi Arabia and Egypt? They have two of the most corrupt and repressive governments in the Middle East, and they receive a significant amount of support from our country. Political and religious descendants are frequently jailed and though both nations are wealthy, most of their citizens live in poverty.
Imam Al‑Awalaki from the Dar Al‑Hijra Mosque in Falls Church who spoke here last Monday night, said, AThe US is the only reason for the survival of some of the Middle Eastern governments, which are amongst the most tyrannical regimes in the world. The US needs to support freedoms and rights in the Muslim world or at least not resist democratic movements in the Middle East.@
Against this disturbing backdrop, the 50-year-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians rages on. Seen through Muslim eyes, it is a conflict prolonged by America's bias toward Israel. Muslims do not comprehend, for example, how the United States, which gives Israel more than $3 billion annually, could not have stopped Israel from allowing more than 200,000 Jewish settlers -- half of them since the 1993 Oslo peace agreement -- to move into occupied territory Palestinians had envisioned as their homeland.
America=s war against Iraq was the final straw for many Muslims. Saddam Hussein was a protege of the United States, ignored by our government when he murdered those who opposed him, but finally attacked when it became clear that he was a threat to our oil supply.
Our country has preached the highest ideals of democracy and equality for all to hear, but what is being heard by much of the world is that we don=t care if they live under tyrannical governments as long as it is to our benefit.
But that short-sighted view must end. Somehow our country has to learn how to exist in a world with one billion Muslims, about one-third of them in the Middle East. Out of frustration and fear, out of anger and desperation, many Arabs have turned to a nationalist fundamentalism to solve their problems. And we must come up with solutions on how to limit their growing success.
I suggest we do the following. First of all, I do believe we need to bring Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda to justice. I=ve struggled with this dichotomy of using violence to make peace, but I believe it=s naive to think that we can negotiate with people who massacred more than 5,000 defenseless people. I am hopeful that our military is doing their best to avoid civilian casualties, and I am hopeful that we can help the people of Afghanistan win their freedom from the Taliban.
I support our government=s attack on the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but I do not support their apparent strategy that all we need to do is get rid of the terrorists and we will be safe. As we eliminate terrorists through violence, we create more through our foreign policy. Our goal should be to help create a world where people do not reach such a point of desperation that they rely on terrorism to solve their problems.
One way to do that is to make it the highest of priorities to energetically pursue a sustainable peace process to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. And a peaceful solution must include the right of Palestinians to govern themselves.
Next, we need to work through the United Nations to support the democratization of nations around the world without regard to our national interests -- because democracy is our national interest. I=m thrilled that Kofi Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, but the UN will never be fully effective until we fully support it financially and until we stop trying to use it as a political tool. We need to gain support in the UN by being a nation other nations can look up to.
Also, we need to invest financially in development, education, and a broad social agenda in underdeveloped nations so that they may build effective economic systems that will feed and clothe their people. One in ten children in poor countries dies before age 5, and 1 in 3 children die among the poorest families (World Bank). I keep thinking of all that we could have achieved in the world if we had used the money we are now using in our War On Terrorism for the betterment of all people. If we had done that, I believe we would not now need a War on Terrorism.
We also need to embrace and promote pluralism now more than ever before. And our Unitarian Universalist movement and our church is the best place to do that. Let us educate ourselves and then educate others in the appreciation of other cultures, religions, and ideas. Let us celebrate our differences and lead our nation in living out our ideals.
And lastly I encourage you to become involved in making justice and peace in our world and in our lives by signing up for one of our Social Justice Task Forces following this service. Let us think globally and act locally.
In short, my hope is that we will carry forth a War Against Ignorance and Misunderstanding, a War Against Hatred and Violence, a War Against Poverty and Deprivation, and a War Against Tyranny and Oppression. Then and only then will we have peace for ourselves and our world.
In the words of the Muslim writer, Saadi, AAll peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence. If fate brings suffering to one member the others cannot stay at rest.@ May we open our eyes to our common essence and do whatever we can to alleviate the suffering of the world.
Amen.
