Hegemony

I remember walking to health class when I was a junior in high school and my friend Mike met me in the hallway telling me that New York City had been bombed. Some buildings had collapsed. He didn't seem very clear on the details. I remember doing nothing for the rest of the day, learning next to nothing until we were permitted to go home. And then of course being flooded with media information on the topic for the next year or so. And how could I forget hearing about Osama bin Laden. Public enemy number one. I remember my friends joining the military as a direct result of 9/11, and I remember changing my major in college from English to Political Science, from Political Science to International Affairs, due to the interest that had generated inside my mind as a result of what seemed like an unexpected change in the world order. Then sitting in seminars on terrorism, watching endless footage of terrorist acts of violence and the paramilitary responses to them. And my professor always called Osama "Sammy bin Laden" with a long A in Laden, which I realized this week I continued to do myself ever since. There are many moments in between, of course, but now I will always remember watching the news on a Monday morning explaining how bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces in a more-or-less "suburban" town in Pakistan that was merely 35 miles outside of Islamabad.

And then there was the celebrating. Groups of mostly younger Americans rallying outside of the White House and Ground Zero around midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning to chant USA and celebrate the death of the man who, for them, was always America's foremost enemy. My wife and I talked at length about whether or not we thought God was upset with such celebration. I couldn't ultimately decide, and still can't, for many reasons. God makes clear in the Prophets that he won't stand for nations mocking the fall of their enemies, and that he holds them accountable for such actions. At the same time all of the Bible verses used from Proverbs et cetera in the many arguments on facebook that suggest one shouldn't rejoice over the fall of his or her enemies were taken grossly out of context (those verses most definitely refer to one's personal enemy, not an international criminal or terrorist). And the Israelites celebrated God's deliverance of them from the Pharaoh in the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15), which essentially is rejoicing over God's act to kill the Pharaoh's soldiers. But we're not ancient Israel. We're America. Which is a double-edged sword--we aren't held to the law that Israel was, but God does apparently expect every nation to treat people the way they would like to be treated (cf. any of the so-called Oracles Against the Nations in the prophetic works; e.g., Jeremiah 46-51). So needless to say, I remain ambiguous on the topic.

It did get me thinking of what it means to be a superpower, and what God expects from a superpower's leadership. I am not of the school of thought that is all the rage today that suggests empires are inherently evil, and that God is opposed to them all. I don't think that comparisons of America to ancient Rome or Babylon or Egypt are particularly helpful. Most often I find them to be shortsighted and oversimplified, not taking into account the vast array of cultural differences that separate the US and its current position in the world from those other world empires. On the other hand, I don't consider the US to be God's chosen people. God's chosen people, if the Bible is true, would be the Church--people from any ethnicity, background, language group, etc that choose to follow him. That being said, God certainly has expectations for our leadership. I've touched upon it briefly when I mentioned the Oracles Against the Nations above--but it seems that God expects nations to treat other nations the way that they themselves would like to be treated. The situation may be slightly complicated by the fact that some of America's primary enemies abroad are not nations, but relatively small pockets of individuals hiding out in places like the Pankisi Gorge or Tajikistan. Still, the basic expectation probably remains unchanged. For what it is worth, I think it is important for our President to remain somber and even-handed when discussing the death of bin Laden, and our optimistic hopes that such a blow (if only symbolic, ultimately) will help to dismantle the network of individuals and groups aligned against our nation. Certainly the incident will be used for political purposes, which is to be expected--if everything had gone wrong with the operation, you know it would have been used against our President for political purposes! But I think that, so far, our leadership's reaction to the event has been doing the necessary work of walking the fine line between celebration and relief.

My primary concern is how we treat people going forward. Certainly our tactics and methods of information acquisition in the past have been questionable at best. My hope is that this will provide us with an opportunity to turn down the rhetoric regarding the "terrorist threat" to America (which has existed for a very, very long time--long before we got the media on the bandwagon of fear-mongering). If we can return to speaking of our enemies as humans, and individuals who--though aligned against our interests--are still people made in God's image, I think our leadership will have an easier time making the right and reasonable decisions regarding the treatment of our enemies. I do not advocate ignoring or forgiving criminals and terrorists. God is clear that forgiveness is required in the context of personal relationships--we must forgive our personal enemies (cf. Matthew 5). He is equally clear that those who commit serious crimes must be held accountable for their actions, and that allowing them to go unpunished would actually displease him and destabilize society (cf. the entire OT Law and its philosophy). But there is certainly a way to continue our fight against them and our efforts to defend our nation and allies in a manner that is just and upright. If we use methods that are unjust and inappropriate, how are we any different than those with whom we fight? And if we have become just like those with whom we are fighting in this war, doesn't that mean that they have won?

My prayer is that bin Laden's death will cause a change in our national demeanor, so that we no longer dehumanize our enemies. Defending our nation and pursuing justice is the responsibility of our leadership (cf. Romans 13:4)--neglecting to do so would be wrong. But there is a way to do it that is fair and just, and pleasing to God. I pray that we will choose that path going forward.