We need to do something!
With the barbaric Islamic State now controlling large portions of Iraq and Syria, and inflicting rape, torture on and even beheading those who do not conform to their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, it is imperative that they must be stopped.
So, yes, we need to do something. But that “something” is not more violence and war. Answering violence and war, with more violence and war, is always part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Shortly after the start of the first Gulf War in 1991, St. Pope John Paul II wrote: “No, never again, war, which destroys the lives of innocent people, teaches how to kill, throws into upheaval even the lives of those who do the killing and leaves behind a trail of resentment and hatred, thus making it all the more difficult to find a just solution to the very problems which provoked the war.”
There is a collective amnesia that continues to block government and society’s memory that we have been there, and done that, many times before. Therefore, the war machine keeps rolling on with the encouragement of hawkish politicians, pundits and the military-industrial complex.
During a “Democracy Now” interview with Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, Khouri said the major problems that lead to the formation and growth of militant Islamic groups like the Islamic State, are brutal dictators – often backed by the United States – who rule much of the Arab-Islamic world, and a foreign military presence like the U.S. in Muslim-majority countries.
Khouri said American-led military action in the Islamic world is the best recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
And it stands to reason. Imagine how most people would react – including many Christians – to a foreign power bombing and killing their loved ones.
So, what would be a Gospel-based way of responding to this violent crisis?
The Gospel calls us to mount an active response to suffering based on love and nonviolence.
This means no bombs, no drones, no missiles.
The U.S. and other arms-supplying nations need to stop flooding the Middle East (and the world) with weapons. A total multilateral arms embargo is needed.
And the diplomatic tool must be vigorously pursued.
Yes, negotiations with the Islamic State are highly unlikely. But negotiating just settlements to the grievances of hurting populations in Iraq and Syria will dry up support for the Islamic State and other militant groups.
The U.S. and other wealthy nations need to provide adequate resources for the quick evacuation of Christians and other minorities who are in harm’s way.
And funds and supplies need to be massively increased to assist nations – like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey – that are being overwhelmed by Iraqi and Syrian refugees.
Finally, the U.S. and other industrial nations need to do their fair share in offering emergency asylum to these poor, frightened refugees.
It would do us all well to seriously reflect on the words of Pope Francis: “War is never a necessity, nor is it inevitable. Another way can always be found: the way of dialogue, encounter, and the sincere search for truth.”
