Faith Walk

by Gary Payton

You and I are in the season of anniversaries of terrorist attacks. Five years since 9/11 — attacks killing more than 3,200 people from 90 countries in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Two years since Beslan, Russia — attacks killing more than 340 people including 186 children. Newsmagazines, television, newspapers, even the theater box office, bring us the images and rekindle emotions once again.

It is right for us to remember. It is right for us to grieve. And, it is also right to reflect on what motivates our personal responses today as the anniversaries and memorial services unfold.

I recently helped lead a seminar on "Terrorism in the World Today: the Response of the Church and State." The experience, bringing together Christian young adults from the United States and Russia, pushed me hard to examine our responses to this renewed form of violence.

Terrorism has been defined as "a synthesis of crime and theater, a dramatization of violence perpetrated on innocent victims, played out before an audience in the hope of creating a mood of fear, for political or social purposes."

When I reflect on that definition, I am struck by the focus on "innocent victims." I think about four airplanes filled with folks going to a destination for family or business purposes. I think about people like you and me, just showing up for work on a Tuesday morning in September. And, I think about the Russian tradition of children, teachers, families, and friends all gathering on the first day of school to celebrate the promise of another school year.

Terrorist violence is a grievous breaking of the laws of God and people because, in part, it so deliberately targets innocents.

So, how am I to respond to these feelings renewed by the anniversaries?

I can succumb to fear and allow my life to be altered in ways that reshape how I interact with unknown others: immigrants, people who don't speak English like I do; people who don't look like me whom I encounter in malls and airports, especially those who look like they come from the Middle East.

Or, I can respond to the charge of countless angels, "Do not be afraid." My faith helps me overcome my fear and guides me to more prudent responses to terrorism.

I can succumb to a desire for vengeance. I can be filled with rage to lash out, to call for the death of "them" to get even over the death of so many of "us."

Yet, if I have learned anything in my faith walk it is that the desire for vengeance is a powerful and corrosive emotion that will eat away at my soul, at my whole being. The thirst for vengeance will turn me into the kind of person who would resort to acts of terror. It will, in its own way, kill me just as surely as if I were killed in the attack on the World Trade Center or School Number One in Beslan.

So where will these anniversaries take me?

Clearly, I will pause to reflect on the innocence of the victims and the heroism of so many who sought to save life. I will be pushed to reflect on the innocence of thousands who have died in response to the terror attacks - innocents in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel. Who will celebrate their anniversaries?

And, I will ponder hard the question of what can I do to break the cycle of violence.

" ... 'if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink...' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

It is a demanding charge. Am I up to it?