September 25, 2001

Bin Laden's 'God of Hate' Must Not Win

Robert S. McElvaine

Some people are saying we must seek to understand the grievances of those who perpetrated the attacks that took place two weeks ago today.

The implicit suggestion is that the United States itself may be to blame.

Joining with the "Blame America First" forces are the Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

These two men of the cloth said that God allowed the attack on America because the nation has become secularized, permits abortion and homosexuality, and accepts the equality of women.

Clergy with bin Laden?

With this remarkable assessment, the two Christian clergymen aligned themselves with Osama bin Laden, who had already declared that the attack was fulfilling the will of God.

The goal of the terrorists is to destroy free, secular society. According to Falwell, that is also God's objective.

The sides in the struggle are clear: open, pluralistic, multicultural, tolerant, diverse secular society vs. people who want a closed, monocultural, intolerant society that dictates the beliefs and behavior of everyone based on a narrow interpretation of the scriptures of one religion.

The attack was on the most multicultural nation and specifically on the most diverse city in the world. New York City is multiculturalism.

The United States stands at the head of the former side, while religious fanatics of all stripes, ranging from the Taliban through such Jewish terrorist organizations as Kach, to the Christian Identity Movement, are on the other side.

Falwell and Robertson have made it plain that they are on the latter side.

Whatever the particular brand of religion subscribed to by these zealots, they all share a view of God that is completely contrary to the way one hopes most religious people see Him/Her.

They believe in a God of Hate.

The God in which I believe could not favor the slaughter of innocent people, regardless of what their country may have done.

We are not perfect

Our nation is far from perfect. The list of wrongs done over our history is long, from the destruction of Native Americans and the practice of slavery through the carpet bombing of North Vietnamese cities in 1972.

As we rightly condemn the mass killing of civilians in the Sept. 11 attacks, we should remember that this country was not above the mass destruction of innocent civilians during World War II, from Dresden to Nagasaki.

We justified that on the grounds that the enemy was doing it. Let us not make that mistake again. We must not let an evil enemy set our standards.

That said, there was a clear distinction between the sides in World War II and it was essential for the future of the world that the pretty-good-though-flawed Allies defeat the absolutely evil Nazis. The same is true of the current struggle.

Let us be very careful to avoid becoming like what we are fighting against. Let us always keep in mind these lines from America the Beautiful: America! America! / God mend thine every flaw / Confirm thy soul in self-control. But let us have no doubt that ours is the far better side and the one that must prevail.

My friends who so value tolerance and diversity and want to understand the motives of the attackers are right. We do need to look at the grievances of people in other nations and seek solutions for those that are valid.

But believers in multiculturalism also need to recognize one salient fact about the conflict: Their side -- our side -- is that of the United States and other pluralistic, democratic nations, not that of bin Laden and Falwell.

{ Robert S. McElvaine teaches history at Millsaps College. His latest book is Eve's Seed: Biology, the Sexes, and the Course of History (McGraw-Hill).