(Fr. Antoine Bakh is president of the Missionaries of Faith Foundation and an advisor to Catholic Exchange.)
These crusades failed because they lost sight of their mission and gained in greed as they advanced, even to the point where Christians were fighting other Christians.
Of course, we live in a different time. We do not wish to fight religious wars. We are no longer all that religious. We just want to live in peace. But we are faced with ongoing mass destruction and the real threat of chemical, biological and nuclear attacks by people who want to bind us all to their will.
We do not want our future generations of daughters to lose their right to be educated. We do not want them to be treated as slaves by their husbands. We do not want their husbands to take other wives. We do not want those who love Jesus to be decapitated for telling others about his love. We do not want our priests to be executed for baptizing a Muslim. We do not want a reality wherein only the spoken word of a Muslim, absent any evidence, would stand up in a court of law. We do not want to make wine and beer illegal. We want to live in freedom, peace and respect for all. This has been the battle in my native Lebanon for 25 years now, and in many other countries as well: Christians — and even some Muslims — have fought against other Muslim fundamentalists.
But this is not the answer! The central problem is not Bin Laden or the Taliban or about bringing those responsible for the terrorist incidents to justice, as many are saying. The problem is both deep and widespread, and unless we address its root, our small actions will only have the effect of trimming the branches of a poisonous vine so that it grows back healthier than ever.
I feel badly for those good Muslims who just want to live in peace. They are many and they must be respected. Unfortunately, Islam has been taken over by many extremists. They have wreaked havoc in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Nigeria, Algeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and many other areas that can easily be named. Two million people have perished in Sudan alone for opposing the fundamentalists there. People have been publicly decapitated in the streets in the Philippines. Numerous priests have been killed in Algeria, and then there is the tragic the story of Lebanon. There are hundreds of such examples.
I have always been uneasy about any kind of patriotism because I have found no country in the world to be unreservedly proud of. But when I saw those airliners strike the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, a revolution occurred inside of me. I began to realize what was at stake.
Last Friday, the President of the United States called for a National Day of Prayer. Coincidentally, it was the feast of the Triumph of the Holy and Glorious Cross. One of the things we celebrate on this day is an event that occurred 1,690 years ago. An unbelieving pagan Roman general about to face a far greater enemy in battle, saw a vision in the Sun: a glorious Cross with the words, “With this sign, conquer.” He immediately made banners and put the cross on the shields of his soldiers. He then won a decisive battle that eventually lead to the legalization of Christianity and the conversion of Europe.
The United States of American has had a divine mission. It saved the world from slavery 140 years ago. It saved the world from the tyranny of empires in WWI. It saved the world from Nazism and Fascism in WWII. And it saved the world from being taken over by Communism. Now it must save the world — especially western civilization — from plunging into the chaos that fanaticism hopes to bring in order to bound humanity in its chains.
The guardian of western civilization has been struck.
The great eagle while asleep.
Soar aloft, sleep no more.
Spread your wings around the world.
It is time for war.
But remember that our real enemy is Satan. He has bound many human beings to do his bidding. We pray God that they be set free from this horror in their soul worse than any that our eyes have seen! May they have conversion of heart. We too are called to repentance, not to have hatred towards people who “know not what they do.” We must see the source of evil and throw it out of our hearts, asking God to have mercy on us all.
