Remember Mercy
Revisiting my essay for 9/11
Here is an essay I wrote in the weeks immediately after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01. Re-reading my work after almost 25 years, I realize how much of what I’ve written about the just war tradition took form in the days and weeks after 9/11. To be sure, hard cases make bad laws, But there are times when nations and individuals must respond to hard situations in which there is seemingly no good (in the sense of desirable) choice.
How I respond in these moments can shape my character more definitively than the myriad of easy decisions I make daily. In a moment, I can set my foot on a path I never even knew existed. Events like 9/11 reveal me to myself and what they reveal is not always pleasant.
After almost a quarter century, it is easy to look back and criticize decisions made in a moment of great national trauma. We learned this lesson again during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders are often called upon to make decisions without complete information and from a limited slate of equally undesirable options.
How I respond to the decisions made by leaders who are every bit as morally frail and epistemologically limited as I am, also reveals me to myself as much as the hard event that necessitated those decisions.
Looking back at 9/11 and the recent pandemic reveals much that is noble in the American character. But they also reveal much in all of us that is petty, self-serving, and devoid of the mercy and forgiveness we would hope from others when we make what—in the moment—seems to be an impossibly hard decision.
In any case, here is my essay as it appeared in those dark days following 9/11.
IF WAR IS TO BE WAGED, IT MUST NOT BE MOTIVATED BY VENGEANCE
By: the Rev. Gregory Jensen
Published: October 06, 2001 in The Redding Record Searchlight
The Rev. Gregory Jensen is the priest at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Redding, where he has served for more than three years. He attended Christ the Savior Seminary in Johnstown, Pa., and has a doctorate in religion and psychology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Prior to his ordination, he worked as a therapist.
President George W. Bush has told our nation and the world that the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 cannot, and will not, go unanswered. Sadly, those who planned and launched the attack are unlikely to surrender peacefully to the authorities. Their attack demonstrated an unspeakable disregard for human life. The attackers clearly held not only their own lives in contempt, but the lives of innocent men, women and children, who were not only victims but used as weapons in the attack. While no one can say that war is a good thing, in the current circumstances it seems that war is not only unavoidable, but also sadly necessary.
Historically, Christians have been (at best) ambivalent about the morality of war. In the fourth century, St. Augustine outlined the standards of what we know today as the just war theory. The current situation is precisely what Augustine envisions as a right use of military force: the defense of the innocent and the vulnerable who cannot protect themselves.
By using commercial airliners and attacking civilian targets, the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attack have fundamentally changed warfare. Now that it has been done once on such a large scale, it is likely that innocent civilians will again be used as weapons of mass destruction and terror. If we have any hope of preventing future attacks of this nature, the world must respond with one voice in condemnation of the attacks and bring the attackers to justice.
But justice cannot, and must not, be equated with vengeance. Practically speaking, a war of retribution will solve nothing and will likely make the world situation worse. But not only is a war of retribution impractical, it is also unethical. No person of goodwill, much less a Christian, can sanction such a war. While the desire for vengeance is understandable, neither personally nor as a nation can we allow ourselves to be led by our baser instincts.
When those who would present themselves as leaders of the American people say that we will show no mercy to our adversaries, they reject the very ideals upon which our country was founded. Worse, such rhetoric degrades and debases us in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of God and in the secret recesses of our own hearts. Do we really wish to be known as a people without mercy?
The Greek Orthodox bishop of San Francisco, Metropolitan Anthony, wrote in a recent pastoral letter:
The strength of our nation lies not in the superiority of armaments or raw military might. Our true strength was rather demonstrated on Tuesday by those who, heedless of their own safety, plunged into the inferno to rescue their fellow human beings. The strength of our nation lies in those who give blood, volunteer in hospitals, aid those who are wounded and comfort those who mourn. The Cross teaches us that it is through acts of love and selflessness that the power of evil is over-come; as St. Paul writes, we must overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
It is often said that we are fundamentally a Christian nation. But to be a Christian nation must mean more than a simplistic appeal to a handful of moral norms. The essence of the Gospel is mercy, for God demonstrates his own love toward us, “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In another place, “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now” (1 John 2:9). And again, “If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20). And in still another place, “And this commandment we have from him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21).
As I said before, I think that war in some form or another is now tragically unavoidable. As is best in our character as Americans, we have chosen not to allow the forces of chaos, violence and terror to prevail. To combat evil we have chosen to place ourselves between the terrorists and their future victims. We ought not to debase the sacrifice that many of us will make with warmongering, cries for a justice untempered with mercy. If we wish to be a Christian nation, “let us seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14); let us temper our desire for justice with mercy, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13); and let us find it within ourselves to forgive our enemies, as Christ forgave us even as we crucified him (see Luke 23:34).