Terror from the Barrel of a Gun

Scriptural Reflection
“If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. See, it is I who have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and produces a weapon fit for its purpose; I have also created the ravager to destroy. No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord.” ~Isaiah 54: 15-17

Last week, legal professor and news commentator Jonathan Turley wrote a US Today column that denounced the use of the term “terrorist” to describe the lethal actions of Scott Roeder and James Von Brunn, preferring to call them “criminal.” There has been a considerable outcry about the killings of Dr. George Tiller at his church in Wichita, KS and the Holocaust Museum guard Stephen Johns in Washington, DC respectively. However, the US has demonstrated an incredibly jaded, almost ho-hum attitude towards these heinous crimes. According to Turley, he thinks that naming Roeder and Von Brunn as domestic terrorists for their fatal shootings of Tiller and Johns respectively detracts from the validity of the charge since their crimes seem to fall into the more mundane patterns of criminal behavior. When considering the Department of Defense’s definition of terrorism as "the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological," the actions of these shooters fall well within the context of this nation’s culture wars. Given the current state of affairs the United States has confronted since the fateful terror attacks of September 11th, 2001 and their aftermath, most Americans have only now begun to catch up with the rest of the globe’s all too intimate knowledge of such grizzly and heinous acts. In his Oct. 2006 lecture entitled "The Gift of Black Folk in the Age of Terror," the celebrated philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West has argued so persuasively that the fear, horror, and devastation wrought by those selfsame terrorist attacks brought the majority of Americans more closely aligned with and aware of the deeply traumatic and profoundly tragic reality of what it has meant to be Black in this country for the past two centuries. But if that horrible event was the apex of our national consciousness about the brutality of violence borne of terrorism, it seems that we are rapidly approaching the nadir, the lowest point of public awareness about the problems we confront.
Sadly, it appears that we have been lulled into a fleeting sense of confidence and security that the entire American population would embrace the exuberance associated with all the talk of “hope” and “change” ushered forth by the historic election of President Obama. Nevertheless, in a recent Newsweek article entitled “Rebranding Hate in the Age of Obama,” it is becoming conventional wisdom that, with the Black president in the White House and the overall economy in wretched shape, white supremacist organizations and other hate groups are trying to enter the mainstream with increasing levels of success. Moreover, recent columns by New York Times writers Paul Krugman and Frank Rich have drawn connections between the recent shootings and the type of belligerent intolerance and gung ho lack of self-restraint that masquerades as machismo for too many conservatives nowadays ranging from Rush Limbaugh to the FOX News crew to members of the extreme right-wing fringe.
Contrary to Professor Turley’s protestations, when pondering the crimes of Roeder and Von Brunn in the context of the broad sweep of our dysfunctional national culture, these men and all those individuals they claim to represent are terrorists for one simple fact: these killers sought to win arguments based on weapons rather than reason. In both cases, the use of gunfire to replace honest and reasonable debate on issues such as reproductive choice, racial equality, religious freedom, and countless other hot-button issues in our society, might never makes right. More than anything, such craven, cowardly acts definitely prove the growing insecurity and gross inferiority of the white supremacist cause. However, make no mistake about it: these men are terrorists! But we serve a God that is so much greater than the flawed individuals who seek to rob us of our peace of mind as well as our right relationship with God and our fellow human beings. The Word of God reveals to us in this passage that no matter whatever forces might rise against us, it is clear that we will have absolute victory in God as long as we are governed by faith and not by fear. Until the day comes when all people acknowledge and affirm everyone else’s right to live in an unequivocal and universal sense, we must stand in God’s promise to safeguard us and those we love as we seek to bring forth a better, safer world.