Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26:52

You have seen it on television: the crowds of revelers in Times Square and at the gates of the White House gloating over the death of Osama Bin Laden. It calls to mind similar scenes of American haters in Somalia and Bagdad gloating over the death of American soldiers. What are we to make of this?

There is such a thing as a just war. According to the just war theorist, Murry N. Rothband, “a just war exists when a people tries to ward off the threat of coercive domination by another people, or to overthrow an already-existing domination.” The American war of independence was a just war for it fought against “an already existing domination” that oppressed the people. So too, by Rothband’s definition, the war against terrorism is a just war because it opposes “the threat of coercive domination” by horrific, hate groups such as Al Qaida.

But, what are we to make of Americans gloating over the death of another human being, even if that human being was a terrorist? Are such feelings of revenge justified? Not according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can hate the sin; you can do everything in your power to eradicate the sin, but you must pray for the sinner; even love him, in spite of his sinful acts. Osama Bin Laden is dead, and we are happy that he can no longer inflict injury on innocent people. But, gloating over his death is another matter. To do so would make us no different than the terrorists and their supporters who gloated over the deaths of the innocent victims of 9/11.

Sinful acts arise from the recesses of the human heart (Mark 7:21); from deep-seated attitudes of hate and vengeance. In order to eradicate immoral acts of violence and destruction by terrorists, people need to look inside themselves first and try to remove the causes that lead to these horrific acts. That is why Jesus replaces the Old Testament dictum: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” with His new way of forgiveness, even towards our enemies. The way to eradicate violence and terror from our society and our world, ultimately, is to eradicate the causes of such evils from within.

St. Peter took up the sword against those who came to arrest Jesus in the garden, but Jesus told him to put the sword back into its scabbard, saying: “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”

War may be necessary, in certain circumstances, to ward off a greater evil; but it is no substitute for the hard work of eradicating the causes within us that lead to war.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

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