Sunday, September 12, 2021
Sunday Reflection: The Price of Fear
The goal of terrorists is to inspire fear. When I look back over the last 20 years, I am saddened by how much we have done to help them accomplish this goal.
The politics of fear are no secret: we are more likely to vote for people who will protect us from what we fear. That means that for some politicians, creating fear is the first step towards success-- provided they are able to promise protection from what we fear. Donald Trump created fear of immigrants (despite the fact that the crime rate by immigrants is lower than that for native-born Americans), and then promised a simple solution: "The Wall." Of course, over history, there are hundreds of uses of this by both parties-- many (perhaps most) of them related to race and ethnicity.
But there is something especially pernicious about the use of fear after and related to the 9/11 attacks. More than anything, it furthered the goals of the terrorists, and unsettled and diminished the lives of Americans. When we live in fear, we literally give up our freedoms: our freedom to travel, to love who we want, to pursue dreams. The terrorists succeeded in taking away our freedoms only because we finished the task for them, by conditioning the nation to live in fear of Muslims and foreigners, among other people and things.
It did not have to be that way.
When Jesus said "fear not," it was consistent with the rest of his message for love of our neighbors and the welcoming of foreigners. Had we kept true to that vision, the terrorists would have been thwarted.
