Letter of April 7, 2006

Benedict & John Paul on Terrorism
The Most Reverend Carl F. Mengeling, Bishop of Lansing

In his January 1, 2006 message for World Day of Peace, Pope Benedict focused on the horror of terrorism. He referred often to the teaching of John Paul II. He wrote at length about terrorism in his January 1, 2002 message. That was four months after the horrendous terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

I went back to his message and gleaned from it the sections on terrorism. John Paul’s clear thinking will help us keep our balance. This is his introduction:

The World Day of Peace this year is being celebrated in the shadow of the dramatic events of last September 11. On that day a terrible crime was committed: In a few brief hours thousands of innocent people of many ethnic backgrounds were slaughtered. Since then people throughout the world have felt a profound personal vulnerability and a new fear for the future. Addressing this state of mind, the church testifies to her hope, based on the conviction that evil, the mysterium iniquitatis, does not have the final word in human affairs.

These are sections about terrorism:

It is precisely peace born of justice and forgiveness that is under assault today by international terrorism. In recent years, especially since the end of the Cold War, terrorism has developed into a sophisticated network of political, economic and technical collusion which goes beyond national borders to embrace the whole world. Well-organized terrorist groups can count on huge financial resources and develop wide-ranging strategies, striking innocent people who have nothing to do with the aims pursued by the terrorists.

When terrorist organizations use their own followers as weapons to be launched against defenseless and unsuspecting people they show clearly the death-wish that feeds them. Terrorism springs from hatred, and it generates isolation, mistrust and closure. Violence is added to violence in a tragic sequence that exasperates successive generations, each one inheriting the hatred which divided those that went before. Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity.

Those who kill by acts of terrorism actually despair of humanity, of life, of the future. In their view, everything is to be hated and destroyed. Terrorists hold that the truth in which they believe or the suffering that they have undergone are so absolute that their reaction in destroying even innocent lives is justified. Terrorism is often the outcome of that fanatic fundamentalism which springs from the conviction that one’s own vision of the truth must be forced upon everyone else. Instead, even when the truth has been reached - and this can happen only in a limited and imperfect way - it can never be imposed. Respect for a person’s conscience, where the image of God himself is reflected (Gen 1:26-27), means that we can only propose the truth to others, who are then responsible for accepting it. To try to impose on others by violent means what we consider to be the truth is an offense against human dignity, and ultimately an offense against God who image that person bears. For this reason, what is usually referred to as fundamentalism is an attitude radically opposed to belief in God. Terrorism exploits not just people, it exploits God: it ends by making him an idol to be used for one’s own purposes.

Consequently, no religious leader can condone terrorism, and much less preach it. It is a profanation of religion to declare oneself a terrorist in the name of God, to do violence to others in his name. Terrorist violence is a contradiction of faith in God, the Creator of man, who cares for man and loves him. It is altogether contrary to faith in Christ the Lord, who taught his disciples to pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."