Gabe Huck is a regular columnist for Celebration magazine. His column in the current issue is titled: “The Brutality of All War”. The sub-title is far more intriguing: “Ironies and contradictions beg us to be more introspective.” He asks: “Should the Gospel we profess and the liturgy we do raise in us some great unease with the political, economic, military and environmental conditions that are our responsibility as U.S. citizens and residents?”
In the already-published February issue he quotes Kathy Kelley writing about what Oscar Romero’s last preaching might mean for us now. She writes: “The war on the Islamic State will distract us from what the U.S. has done and is doing to create further despair in Iraq, and much also to enlist new recruits for the Islamic State. The Islamic State is the echo of the last war the U.S. waged in Iraq, the so-called “Shock and Awe” bombing and invasion. The emergency is not the Islamic State but war [itself].”
These thoughts weigh heavy on my heart in the aftermath of the Paris killings this past week, including the killing of the young men who carried out the attack on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. These young men and others like them represent some of our worst fears. They were filled with hate and rage toward the western world. In the name of Allah they raged against injustice and oppression, though their understanding of Allah is greatly distorted. (more…)