TERRORISM
AS WEAPON Bob Hope once joked about a fledgling terrorist who was ordered to blow up a bus and burned his mouth on the tail pipe. People laughed at the joke at the time because terrorism was an isolated event that occurred in remote parts of the world or in historical contexts that had little relevance to our American way of life. Our age of innocence has past. Terrorism has become the prime weapon in the arsenal of those who have nothing but stones to toss at the Goliaths who wield power in today=s world, but it is a pebble that has caused the mighty to crumble. For the past few weeks we have seen Palestinian suicide bombers strike fear into the heart of Israel and prompted the response of a man who would swat flies with a sledge hammer. Terrorism is the price one pays for not responding to the earlier pleas of desperate people who feel they have no other means of being heard. Terrorism has been increasing in its level of violence and shock-value as media coverage has provided a platform for their agendas. In his book, Inside Terrorism, Bruce Hoffman traces the history of terrorism from its roots in the Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution, to Communist movements in Russia, Germany, and Italy, to longstanding nationalist organizations such as the PLO, which emerged on the world stage after the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. He is led to define terrorism as "the deliberate creation and exploitation of fear through violence or the threat of violence in the pursuit of political change. "Religious-inspired terrorism goes back even further. The very words zealot, thug, and assassin derive from religious terrorism in, respectively, first-century Judaism, medieval India, and pre-modern Islamic movements opposing the Christian crusaders. Hoffman highlights the difference religion makes in the nature of terrorist action. Where most traditional terrorism is motivated by political, social, or economic goals, religious terrorism seeks transcendent justification. The traditional political terrorist wants more people to watch than to be killed. The religious terrorist wants to eliminate the infidels. What is distressing is the role that terrorism has played in the creation of many modern states including Israel. Nelson Mandela, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and now leads his nation of South Africa, once sanctioned the use of terrorism. Even John Brown, who advocated the abolition of slavery, was hanged for his acts of terrorism. The end never justifies the means. Violence breeds violence, and terrorism generates fear, anger, resentment that will last far beyond its singular act. The world needs to adopt new models for peace that are based on the examples of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus of Nazareth. As followers of Jesus, we should not only deplore the terrorism that strikes at fellow Americans or that of Palestinian suicide bombers, but the organized terrorism of nations and institutions that spread their doctrines of hatred, fear, and violence. Easter celebrates the victory of Christ. It is the triumph of life over death, peace over terrorism, hope over despair, new beginnings over failure and disappointment. Easter is the victory of love over fear. We not only need to believe it, but to live as though it were true. Dr. Harry L. Serio
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