Yesterday we observed the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Another aspect of 9/11, pointed out at the time by Chuck Colson, is that believers are supposed to respond to such things differently. Here’s part of what he said:
Sher Singh was born in India and has lived in the United States for two years. On Wednesday, when his train from Boston to Washington, D.C., stopped in Providence, RI, he was arrested, suspected of involvement in the terrorism that rocked the country on Tuesday. Alerted by television reports, a crowd gathered outside the train station as police led Mr. Singh from the station. The crowd whooped and jeered. “Kill him!” yelled one man. “You killed my brother!” shrieked another. Mr. Singh, who had absolutely no connection with terrorism, is a Sikh and wears a turban, a long beard, and a ceremonial dagger strapped to his shoulder.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. In Chicago, a crowd marched on a local mosque shouting, “USA! USA!” Someone threw a firebomb at an Arab American community center in Texas. Arab Americans have been assaulted and harassed across the country.
A 19-year-old from Chicago commented, “I’m proud to be an American and I hate Arabs and I always have.” Evil in this world begets more evil. It’s self-perpetuating and we’re already seeing that in the rage against Mr. Singh and people like him.
By sharp contrast, Paul wrote to the Romans, “Overcome evil with good.” One of the reasons I believe the Christian Gospel couldn’t be a made-up religion, as some people think, is that it tells us to do those things which are contrary to our human nature when evil is done to us. -Chuck Colson, September 14, 2001 – the essay goes on. I recommend you read all of it.
It was tough for me to be reminded that this is the way some of our fellow Americans were behaving after 9/11 because I’m reading Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown. The same thing happened after Pearl Harbor: people were attacking U.S. citizens of Japanese descent. And then, persecution of Japanese people in this country became official policy.
Such behavior was shameful then, and it’s shameful now, especially for followers of Jesus who said:
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (Matthew 5.43 – 46, ESV)
Tomorrow, I want to bring it even closer to home.