Reflections
by William E. Swing

Too big! When September 11, 2001 happened, too many profound fragments were blown into the air. We couldn’t get our minds around what had transpired and what it meant. Yes, people like Falwell and Robertson rushed in immediately with their predictable interpretations. But serious assessment of such a seminal moment has got to move beyond "I told you so" as well as the self-serving of one’s normal cause.

Here we are two months later, and we haven’t digested the enormity of what was unleashed. To act as if we have figured out the justice and peace in a fresh perspective is at best ambitious. We are still wrestling.

There is the matter of denial. When September 11 happened, many voices stated quickly that America had it coming because of its bloodied hands around the world. Failed policies and corporate cruelty on our part do not reduce September 11 to a simple effect of a simple cause, as if it had no gravity or accountability of its own. September 11 is a real thing that happened to real people and stands as a moral action carried out by people with a moral intent. It changed world history. We can’t begin to make sense of today’s struggles unless we admit that September 11 has unique significance.

There is the matter of trajectory. One thing leads to another and to another, and in December 2001 we, as an American public, have no clue as to how far-reaching will be the official government response. Or the response of other people to our response. This is no Korean War or Vietnam War or War on Drugs, but something else. It is a World War, but not number III. We are looking into darkness, into caves that could start in Middle Asia and end up covering the world. Which caves can we walk away from? Should we keep going? The big planes with deadly potential have taken off. How far will their trajectory reach? There is so much that we do not know.

There is the matter of contradictions galore. For instance, the folks who were bemoaning the Taliban’s treatment of women are the same folks who were bemoaning the bombing of Afghanistan which started the military initiative that emancipated the women. Not to pick on anyone, but only to say that all of this is not morally neat.

The central questions in my mind are these: Are we going to pull out of Afghanistan this time like we did the last time? Are we going to spread ourselves and duplicate our Afghanistan intervention in countries throughout the world? Are we Americans going to see the largest issue as one that can be waged and won militarily or are we willing to address the great chasm that exists between us and the world’s poor? Are we as Christians going to take the lead in offering hospitality to the Muslims in our midst?

I realize that the policies of the United States of America are affected by "we the people," and therefore it is crucial to raise our voices. In no way do I want to blunt the civic dialogue that needs to happen. At the same time there are two key other dimensions.

First, humanity and all living beings! Upon hearing the news of September 11, a hasty, Anglo-dismissive writer in France wrote, "We are all Americans." On the other hand, it is crucial that Americans learn to say, "We are all members of the Earth family." The suffering at the World Trade Center is a genuine tributary flowing into the ocean of daily worldwide suffering. Just as there are multi-national companies, there needs to be a multi-national sense of humanity. Beyond a war on terrorism, all the children of grief need to have a family reunion. All the orphans of brokenness need to discover their birth mothers of global compassion. We are on the road to discovering our shared humanity.

Second, interfaith. Up to September 11 interfaith matters were lightweight luxuries, occasionally worn on the basic black of real religious authority. Cries for global accountability and common vocation among religions were quickly labeled as universalist or syncretist. Like Senator Joseph McCarthy labeling people as communists. After September 11 the imagination ponders religious zealots with their hands on chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, and all of a sudden interfaith becomes an urgent necessity. The world is yearning for the family of faiths to present a vision of global peace and strategies to get there.

In summary, we need to go beyond only telling the government what we think. We need to act on the assumption of a kinship with all life, and we need to create an interfaith model of peacemaking that will vastly outreach terror and counter-terror.

William Swing is the Episcopal bishop of California.