Struggling with the Dividing Line

Struggling with the Dividing Line

Written by Dan McDonald

 

            The news this past week was sad. The story of terrorist attacks in Paris crowded out other stories also involving human suffering, to a large degree created by man’s inhumanity to man. It seems to me that we need to summarize last week’s news stories before we can begin to see anything like a true picture of the suffering so clear to be seen by us all if we could begin to take it all in.

            The story to grab our attention was the Paris terrorist attacks. An Islamic terrorist cell targeted a newspaper and a kosher goods store. There were slightly under 20 people killed. By Sunday a crowd of a million people showed solidarity with the victims and numerous heads of states showed up to show they wanted free speech in France, even if they tended to jail journalists in their own nations. I saw reports, I am not sure how reliable, that as many as 15 mosques in France were attacked in reprisal. Probably few of these mosques had any connections to the ones carrying out the Paris attacks.

 

Paris mourns victims of the attack - photo from an article in the Guardian

Note to reader: Beneath each photograph is a link to the article with informative articles about these events

 

            Ironically a few hours after the Paris attacks a much more deadly terrorist attack occurred in Nigeria. It was carried out by the terrorist group known as Boko Haram, made famous for its kidnapping of several hundred Nigerian schoolgirls last year. The latest attack by Boko Haram killed an estimated 2,000 people and despite killing close to 100 times more people the Paris story was the one followed by the newspapers and media. One would like to think that it is because there are more news organizations, journalists, and photographers available in Paris, but some might well wonder if European casualties are more newsworthy than African casualties.

 

Photograph after Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria - also taken from an article in the Guardian

 

            Other events were almost completely crowded out of the news. Some of these events are unfolding ongoing longer-term situations that should not be ignored. In the Middle East, the number of refugees fleeing war-torn Iraq and then war-torn Syria now number in the hundreds of thousands. The refugee populations are more than the local and national governments have the ability to provide with the basic necessities of life. The winter weather in the Middle East has come upon the refugees and there have been reports of refugees freezing to death in the cold.

            There is also painful news coming out of Palestine, especially from the Gaza region hard hit in last summer’s war. Infrastructure cannot be repaired for lack of supplies. Tens of thousands are homeless and those who have homes often have no more than three or four hours of electricity a day. Weather related deaths are beginning to occur.

            One of my greatest concerns is how we who are Christians should respond to these news events. Whatever sort of religion one might think is framed by the Koran, the vast majority of Muslims have no desire to harm anyone. I believe the twentieth century Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once voiced a wise insight to be considered in relationship to last week's events. He wrote the following words in his novel The Gulag Archipelago:

“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” – A. Solzhenitsyn

            That is the truth that was really shown this past week. The line dividing good and evil does not cut nicely along national boundaries, racial divides, or religious affiliation. It cuts through each of our own hearts as sometimes we rise to the occasion to do a good deed and sometimes we crumble under temptation doing various things that may be truly called sinful. This is what the attacks in Paris proved. One hero stood out. A young black man named Lassana Bathily, a Muslim protected several Jewish persons at the kosher store as the terrorists struck. If the line separating good and evil showed up in Paris last week it showed up in Muslims participating on both sides of the line dividing good and evil. It happens that way for those identifying themselves as Christians also.

 

 

Lassana Bathily, hero and Muslim saving lives of hostages under attack. Associated story London Evening Times

 

            I fear that the violent acts of evil may not be the most insidious evil in our world. Perhaps the more insidious acts of evil are those where suffering exists that could be alleviated if we cared, when not enough do care. It is at these times that our allegiances and our desire to be tolerant and caring towards all within humanity are tested; when we are especially tempted to believe that the line of good and evil runs between differing people groups rather than across each of our hearts.

            A Palestinian wonders why the world does not speak out and declare that it is not right for Palestinians to be denied the supplies necessary to run electricity throughout the day, or to build shelter for their thousands of homeless. Can there be no intelligent way to allow such supplies through the border controls? One wondered if Palestinian women wore French perfume if the world would then notice their sufferings. It is hard for them to imagine that westerners really care about a Palestinian life. Muslims wonder why Western lives are always important but if a refugee in the Middle East freezes to death that it doesn’t matter.

 

Syrian refugees facing winter’s element at a camp in Lebanon -  Photo and article by the Daily Mail

 

A Gaza playground next to war debris. The photo and important accompanying story appeared in Deutsche Welle

 

            Solzhenitsyn’s insight tells us that for all of our divisions each of us has been born into a single human race. Each of us has this battle raging in our souls between the desire to do good and the tendency to do evil. This is a phenomenon which affects all of humanity. Knowing this we will cling to our convictions while remembering what connects us remains essential to understanding our human story. There are and will be times for frank discussions about religious perspectives and viewpoints. But we should not imagine that another human being’s suffering somehow promotes my religious perspective. If we imagine we love God whom we cannot see but fail to love a man created in God’s image that we can see, we are a deluded people. If we see those who are in need and walk by without helping them to be fed, clothed, and given shelter then of what value is our religion?

            Jesus put it into perspective once with one of his most famous parables. He was speaking to the religious people of his day. He told of an event where a traveler headed for Jericho was attacked by robbers. He was mugged, beaten, and left near the point of death. A Levite came by and walked on by without stopping. A priest came by and made his way across the street to avoid the man. Then came the Samaritan, a people despised by the people to whom Jesus spoke. The Samaritan gave the man help, got him to a place where his wounds could be better treated and where he would be able to stay until he recovered. The Samaritan told the man who owned the room where the suffering man would stay until he recovered to charge the costs to the Samaritan, he would cover the bill.

            I think Solzhenitsyn must have understood this parable. Jesus asks us, “Who was this wounded man’s neighbor?” He might have asked us, “Where is the line dividing good and evil?” Was it between the priest and the Samaritan, or was it a line running through the heart of each? I suppose if Jesus were speaking to his own people in the land where he spoke two thousand years ago, he would likely not speak today of a Samaritan. He would likely speak of the Palestinian who found a wounded man on the side of the road and saw to it that he got the help he needed until he could recover. He would have reminded us of a humanity that involves the Israeli and the Palestinian, the Christian and the Muslim.

            I am going to encourage especially my Christian readers to consider donating at least some money to help relief efforts in the Middle East for the hundreds of thousands of refugees; and also for helping the peoples of Gaza to get back to some sort of normal in their living conditions. I believe that nothing will strike more at terrorism than when we give people a reason to be grateful for our helping them when they are truly in need. I found it difficult to find information on how to help out with needs in the Middle East, but one person I was encouraged to contact was Lynne Hybels. Here is a link to her page for those interested in reading her suggestions as to where you may donate. I would encourage you to check out organizations before you give. It is sad to say, but there are numerous religious organizations which keep dollars for staff salaries and pay pennies to help the needy. If you wish to donate let your money do more than ease your conscience, rather seek if you can to find an organization that helps the suffering in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and other locations in the Middle East.

I want to close with a final encouragement. A discouraged soul asked, “Why couldn’t the world have ended in December 2012?” I replied. “So you and I could be given an opportunity, big or small, to make this world a little better place for someone.”