Has your religious faith been jolted again by what is coming out this week with the foiled terrorism plot in Great Britain? Some media have gone to clergy to ascertain how people are reacting spiritually and what they may be seeking from them. Nothing new or original is being said. Given the steady cadence of violence and pervasive “dangers,” even the specter of 10 jumbo-jets going down, doesnt seem to be creating much new religious activity, or waves of turning to God.Dont expect to see the churches, temples and mosques to have an overrun of folks this weekend seeking comfort in the sanctuaries in wake of new threats. Certainly it will come up in prayer time. There will prayers of gratitude to God for the insidious plan breaking apart and for the vigilance, intelligence work and the intervention by agents. But it pales to the way, at least temporarily, people turned to faith after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Most of the fuss now is about the new inconvenience for air travelers from tighter restrictions on carry-on items.
What continues to be confounding is the lack of serious discussion as to why our enemies want to take down America? The faith community should be leading the quest for causes at defusing anger, hatred, mistrust and contempt for the U.S. and our society. The why-do-they-hate-us-so-much questions arose after 9/11, and President Bush asserted it was our freedom and democracy. They hate our freedom Our materialism and our decadence — films, music, video games, casualness to sex and our styles of dress — were offered as reasons, too. And this one: As the last great superpower, we were a natural target for the disaffected.
Those reasons just dont stick. Why are free nations like Norway, Uruguay and Canada not the focus for hate? We have had freedom for centuries, so why would it be an issue now? I side with those who have come to believe the U.S.A. has gotten off course and has set itself above other nations, spurning adoption and compliance with treaties on things like land mines, environmental protection and human rights. Our economic exploitation of the planet to maintain our way of life has to cause resentment. An insensitive, brazen and arrogant foreign policy that says American interests must come first adds to the hostilities. Our negative contributions to global warming on the pretext that our economy has highest priority is another.
I have done enough foreign travel to realize that most people in other countries distinguish between America and our government — the people compared to its political leadership. They wished we had better judgment in how we choose the leaders who set policy — that our famous American values that offer lessons and hope to the world were once very evident in our decision-making around the world. Our valiant efforts to bring down fascists in two World Wars and our affront to communism for a half-century put us at the top of the heroes heap. But we have since lost respect in things like pre-emptive war on Iraq, Abu Ghrab prison abuse, the U.S. Army School of the Americas where soldiers are trained for brutal dictatorships, and in our mass failure in government responses in Hurricane Katrina. And in the constant erosion of civil liberties in this country for specious and political reasons.
Its been often said that when America stops being good, it stops being great. Thus, the way to be truly great again is to begin striving to be the a truly good and decent nation of citizens — a nation looking out for the interest of the planet. People of faith need to expect more from this nation in how it lives in this world.
