Winning the War on Terrorism

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - July 15, 2005

On the international calendar, 7/7 has now been added to 9/11 and 3/11 as days of unforgettable infamy. The four London bombs that have left 52 people dead and scores more wounded reawakened the entire civilized world to the still present threat of terrorist savagery.

It brought to the fore again that the greatest weapon in the terrorists' arsenal is not back-pack explosives, high-jacked jetliners, biological agents or even dirty bombs. It is the fear of such potential weapons. Every terrorist grenade is filled with psychological shrapnel. By attacking innocent civilians on buses and subways, trains and airplanes, terrorists are trying to make the rest of us too paranoid to go about with our life.

Our response to terrorist threats must of course involve personal vigilance and the government's hunting down of malefactors before they can do further harm. But the most effective shield for ordinary citizens against the terrorists' most powerful weapon is the dogged courage not to let these modern barbarians frighten us to capitulation.

They have chosen to make non-combatants combatants, and whether we like it or not, we're all combatants now. Therefore, we need to make the call whether we will be brave or cowardly combatants. Like an eighteen-year-old soldier when he first feels bullets flying past his head, we have to make the call whether we're going to continue with the mission or give up. The mission most of us have is that of ordinary life, and to fulfill our mission, we must continue to go on with life as usual.

The virtue of courage, which these times demand, is not an absence of fear, but the capacity to do what one should despite the fear. Because of the terrorist menace, many ordinary activities now have risks attached to them. But we make a great contribution to the defeat of terrorism every time we go on with them despite worries due to those risks.

Those who are disciples of Jesus Christ are called to be special witnesses of the type of courage our world now needs. We are disciples of the one who said fifteen times in the Gospel — and doubtless on many other unrecorded occasions — "Be not afraid!" We are the men and women he told in no uncertain terms: "Do not fear those who can only kill the body but cannot harm the soul" (Mt 10:28). Now is the time that courage flowing from a deep faith in Jesus and in his words needs to shine.

But a Christian is called to go even further in this war on terrorism. The most relevant and helpful advice came from a converted terrorist, one who both used to strike terror in others and later became himself the object of terrorist plots. Saul of Tarsus used to sneak attack Christian homes, ripping Christians out of them to bring them to trial, and supervised the open execution of Christian leaders (Acts 7:58; 8:3). After his conversion, however, St. Paul experienced things from the other side, as he was hunted down for the rest of his life by assassins seeking to ambush and kill him (Acts 9:23; 21:31; 23:21; 25:23).

Therefore when he wrote to his fellow Christians who were threatened by persecutions and death, he was not doing so naively. His words and practical advice are as relevant to us as they were to Roman Catholics then:

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' No, 'if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:19-21).

While his advice about blazing charcoals would be an interesting strategy to implement at Guantanamo Bay, his counsel about overcoming evil with good is pertinent to us all. Vengeance is of the Lord, who himself overcame evil with good and told us to follow him. Those who think that Jesus and his inspired ambassador might know something about how to win this war on terrorism will.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.