Fear may be controlling us
during frightening times

Speaking of Religion
The Rev. Dr. Tim Griffin

We live in frightening times.
In 2001, we were attacked on our own soil. We are immersed in a war in Iraq that has resulted in the death of over 2,000 soldiers, and of course, this does not include those who are physically and emotionally wounded. Nor does it include the number of innocent Iraqis who have lost their lives during the fighting.
And as if that isn’t enough, our country has been ravaged by hurricanes that cost many lives and billions of dollars in damages. So it is understandable that we are fearful. There would be something wrong with us if we were not unsettled by these events.
Religious traditions are particularly sensitive to fear because they recognize — God recognizes — that fear is the great enemy of faith. One who is overcome by fear is unable to sustain faith and is willing to give up much in the name of fear.
Consider, for example, all of those who have denied their religious convictions in the face of persecution. I think we can all sympathize with those who were confronted with these ordeals, and we all thank God that we are not placed in like circumstances.
Of course, it is important for us to realize that fear in and of itself is not bad or wrong. Feelings of fear are the natural response to threatening or uncertain circumstances. The significance in this case, as in all cases involving feelings, is not what we feel but how we respond to those feelings.
I suspect that most of us know that, or at least those, like me, who grew up watching Western movies know that. The cowboys that I admired always admitted that they were afraid. That was the mark of their courage because they held onto their values and confronted the threatening situation in spite of their feelings of fear.
Our religious traditions teach us that too. Jesus was afraid at Gethsemane, but he did not allow his fear to cause him to surrender his values or his mission.
I bring this up because I am concerned that as a nation we are giving in to our feelings of fear and consequently we are giving up on our values and losing our faith. And insofar as that is true — insofar as we are being ruled by fear — we are not winning the war on terror. On the contrary, the terrorists have won.
I know that this may sound like an outlandish claim, but before you reject it, consider the facts. First, we have never engaged in a preemptive attack on another nation prior to the war in Iraq. That is to say, we have never attacked another country or entered a war without some tangible justification for doing so — either because an ally was threatened or because we were attacked first, etc.
That is not to say that we have not been involved in questionable conflicts. Vietnam is an example of such a conflict. My point is not that we were always right to go to war. My point is that in invading Iraq, we surrendered one of our values as a nation.
Second, we have never considered embracing a policy that would allow torture as a method of interrogation. I am not saying that Americans have never used torture — I have no way of verifying that — but I am saying that as a nation we have never before considered allowing it to remain an acceptable method of interrogation.
However, we recently had a dialogue on whether torture or other inhumane treatment was to be outlawed. The fact that we even discussed this illustrates the extent to which we have lost faith in our long-standing values.
Finally, consider the recent controversy concerning President George W. Bush’s approval of spying on citizens without the benefit of a court order. The president acknowledged that he had OK’d this spying. In fact, he criticized those who exposed this practice. Consider the implications of this practice, and how contrary it is to long-standing values of our nation.
Of course we are frightened. But, as I noted above, our feelings of fear are less important than how we respond to those feelings. Right now it seems that we have lost faith in ourselves and that we are responding to our fear by giving up on long-standing values.
We are, in other words, giving up on who we are as a nation and what we stand for. And, insofar as that is true, the terrorists are winning the war on terror.
It is not too late for us to confront our feelings of fear and renew our commitment to our values. But we can only do so acting with faith, rather than fear. ••
Father Tim Griffin is priest-in-charge at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, at 1946 Welsh Road in Bustleton.