Sunday, October 15, 2006
What if the Amish ran the war on terror?
As the story of the killings at the Amish schoolhouse has unfolded, so many of us have been incredibly impressed with the response of Amish community - how they have so courageously and consistently lived out their values of forgiveness and peacemaking. Not only have they invited the killer's widow to their funerals, they attended his, and even insisted on sharing their relief monies with her and her children.Diana Butler Bass has a great blog reflection at the God's Politics blog about these incarnated Christian values within the Amish community, and wonder what the world would be like if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror. She writes:
You can read the whole article here.Then an odd thought occurred to me: What if the Amish were in charge of the war on terror? What if, on the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, we had gone to Osama bin Laden’s house (metaphorically, of course, since we didn’t know where he lived!) and offered him forgiveness? What if we had invited the families of the hijackers to the funerals of the victims of 9/11? What if a portion of The September 11th Fund had been dedicated to relieving poverty in a Muslim country? What if we dignified the burial of their dead by our respectful grief?
What if, instead of seeking vengeance, we had stood together in human pain, looking honestly at the shared sin and sadness we suffered? What if we had tried to make peace?
Labels: politics, social justice
I wish something more intelligent would "emerge" on this blog. The "pensees" are surely withering away... Come on! Do you know what an Amish is? Amish people are God-fearing people that live by the Bible. Maybe you should learn a little more about the Amish before posting that they could be terrorists. How about if someone posted in this blog that you could be a sexual pervert? Wouldn't this be offensive to you and your family? Please think before posting.