Jerry Falwell, Jr. says he’s packing a handgun to protect him from Muslims.
Donald Trump wants to stop Muslims from entering the United States.
ISIS is planning God knows how many dastardly acts of violence that nobody will be able to stop.
And believe it or not, they all have something in common: they are frantically trying to escape powerlessness.
At the root of terrorism is alienation, a sense of helplessness, and desperation. ISIS’ ranks are made up of brutal, angry, ruthless, and alienated bullies who have few skills and opportunities that would allow them to succeed in normal society. As the saying goes, desperate people do desperate things.
At the root of bullying, which Mr. Trump and Rev. Falwell are attempting, are the same things. Many of us share their sense of powerlessness. Many of us are also scared. And striking out against a minority, nearly all of whom, are not only innocent, but share our exact feelings of anger and fear, becomes a desperate attempt to give us a sense of total security that will always elude.
As is strikingly apparent, none of us find our best selves in fear and control. We find it in faith and generosity: faith to make reasoned decisions that lift up our best humanitarian virtues as well as to work diligently at binding the strong man that are not vengeful or putative. We remember that faith tells us the world is in God’s hands – not in the hands of terrorists – and a surefire way for the darkness to win is for people of light to turn equally dark.
(P.S. It’s important to note that the vast majority of Muslims would say that ISIS practices Islam the same way Hitler practiced Christianity: both were more far more interested in the political advantages curried by religion than having any sort of deepened spirituality through it. Statistically, the more religious people are the better they become, in terms of generosity, self-sacrifice, and forgiveness, and the less they become violent, aggressive, and cruel.)
