Don't Let the Terrorists Win

Don’t let the terrorists win. 

As the name suggests, their goal is to create terror, also known as fear, worry, anxiety.  Fear short-circuits our higher levels of thought and reduces us to a “fight or flight” mentality.  It  typically leads us to act against our own best interests and to make decisions that hurt us in the long run.  The threat that we fear looms larger in our minds than it actually is.  That’s why groups choose terror as a tactic: it makes them appear more dangerous than they really are.

As a nation, we value freedom and independence.  We honor our veterans and war dead and our civil rights leaders who have fought to gain and defend these freedoms.  The most cherished part of our Constitution is the Bill of Rights.  We are the “land of the free, and the home of the brave.”  When we allow terrorist-based fear to limit our rights or to constrict our freedoms, we are allowing the terrorists to win.  When we refuse to share and extend freedom to others, out of fear that something bad might happen to us, we work against our own values.  The enemy doesn’t need to take away our freedoms; we do it to ourselves.  The enemy doesn’t need to limit our influence in the world; we do it to ourselves.

Those of us who are Christian, together with those who consider the US to be a Christian nation, have a clear calling from our Lord to extend compassion and mercy to those in need.  “I was a stranger and you took me in” (Matthew 25:35), for example.  And this compassion and mercy is not limited to people like ourselves.  “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Romans 12:20), for example.  Fear leads us to distrust people different from ourselves, and to build walls and throw rocks at our enemies.  In contrast, Jesus calls us to love, and “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).  This love is the antidote to fear, and it is our greatest weapon against terrorism.

We allow the terrorists to win when we turn our backs to our American values of freedom and justice for all, and our Christian calling to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

Now, for some specific thoughts about life after the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.  Because one of the attackers appears to have been a Syrian refugee, some argue that we should close our doors to the refugees to protect ourselves from a similar tragedy.  Nearly four million Syrians have fled the warfare and violence in their homeland; almost a million of them have made the difficult trip to Europe in search of safety.  One person out of a million has perpetrated a horrible crime; do we turn against all one million because of him?  By that logic, cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore should be thrown out of the US, because far more than one person in a million in each of these cities is engaged in violent, brutal, murderous crime.  Remember: the goal of terrorists is to make themselves appear more dangerous and powerful than they really are.  We let them win when our fear of the one outweighs our compassion for the one million.

Remember also why these millions of people are leaving Syria.  It is not because they suddenly no longer love their homeland.  It is not because they want better jobs; many of them had been quite comfortable.  It is because warfare and terror have destroyed all that is dear to them.  It is because they have seen neighbors and loved ones be subjected to brutality and die horrible deaths.  It is because life is simply no longer possible in the burned-out wreckage of the cities and towns.  They board over-crowed, leaky boats and trek across hundreds of miles with no food or shelter because these terrible risks are better than what they would face if they did not leave.  They are the very real victims of an enemy we fear, that we want to destroy.  Remember: terror and fear keep us from thinking straight.  They lead us to confuse monsters with their victims.

Overall, nations’ own best interests will be served by integrating these refugees into their societies.  These are the survivors, the highly motivated, the people who will stop at nothing to reach their goal.  Once out of a crisis, they will be the innovators, the hard workers, the contributors to society in more ways than we can imagine.

Finally, many politicians are calling for a cessation, or at least a pause, in refugee settlement in the US until a stronger vetting process is in place, to ensure that we do not allow terrorists to slip in.  First, the current vetting process takes more than a year and involves the UN Refugee Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Defense, and multiple intelligence agencies.  It includes in-person interviews, gathering detailed biographical and biometric data and conducting multiple background checks that include combing through multiple federal agencies' databases.  Once someone is granted refugee status, they continue to be monitored during their first year of residency.  The vetting process is already very thorough.  Second, the politicians who are calling for stronger vetting of refugees tend also to be the same politicians who oppose background checks and screenings for gun purchases.  Given the fact that many more Americans have been killed by gun violence than by terror attacks, these positions seem at odds with each other.

But this, and many other perceived and real inconsistencies, should not be surprising.  When the terrorists are winning and fear controls us, we don’t think clearly and often make poor decisions and act against our own best interests.

Don’t let the terrorists win.