May 2, 2010 the Morning After
Like many people I have some conflicting feelings over the reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden. First, I am in the middle of the clear New Testament message toward pacifism and the long standing  issue of foreign policy realism in the just war tradition. I am led to re-read some of the arguments between Niebuhr and pacifists at the outbreak of WWII and his insistence of an aggressive policy toward the containment of the Eastern bloc after the war. I respect the pacifist response and even assert that any Christian needs to consider it fully. On the other hand, I cannot understand how we can assume to foist the pacifist response on to a nation-state. At any rate, the fundamental purpose of just war models is the protection of innocent life, and  a murderer of innocent life is gone. We do well to pay attention to the levels of our analysis, the individual and the social.

I can sympathize with the distaste of some with the chants of USA. It smacks of hubris. We offered him support when it was conducive to our foreign policy objectives. Yes, we are all God's children, all connected; life is too precious to be sneered away. We are told to, called to,  love the enemy. I can sympathize with the explosion of the chants as well. I can imagine ill-considered religious opinion making this some sort of moral competition where the U.S. won.  I am frankly mystified that folks would post comments about their distaste for some demonstrations, as their primary response,  as opposed to the plain fact of a mass murderer meeting his justly deserved end. 9/11 was a terrible crime, an affront to decency. To see its instigator  thumb his nose at justice for so long was a bitter pill for almost ten years. To a degree it wipes away the bitter taste of the failed mission to release the hostages in Iran thirty years ago. It is a retort to those shrieking demonstrations almost ten years ago that applauded the death of thousands.

Prayer can take the worst and best of our emotions and wrap them in a peaceful delivery to God.
Mourn the dead. Mourn the families ripped apart. Yes, that would include Osama's family.
One starting point for loving the enemy is to pray for them.
We look toward the resolution of Ps. 85:10, where justice and peace shall kiss. we look toward the day when 'the leaves of the tree will will be for the healing of nations" (Rev. 22:2)
I will pray that no Ester light shines on his organization, that dreams of a caliphate and terror as a means of achieving it stay in the grave.
with the hymn, may we pray that "God mend our every flaw" especially in a foreign policy that goes off the rails repeatedly, in the name of realism.We pray for a shield of protection and prudence over all within reach of  vengeful reply from militants, again especially the innocent civilians.
I pray that our poisonous politics stop demonizing opponents and stop clouding our minds about difficult and complex decisions.
we pray for the conditions in nations that can spawn a murderous ideology that they can look to establish peace, justice, and security within.

Prayer is not a plea for passivity. it mobilizes us for action. It energizes hope, in this case, hope for a better, more just and peaceful world. When our daughters were born, not long before the new millennium, the Stalinist wall had broken down. I had real hopes for their future in a more peaceful time. That was a vagrant hope, of course.  Now, their lives have been shadowed by 9/11 and the response to it. One day, one bright spring day, perhaps their children will hear of terror no more than my generation hears the word, polio.