THAT’S A GOOD QUESTION…

The following is a Q&A which was cut from an upcoming issue of Unity Magazine due to editorial preferences. I'd written about the topic recently, and the topic is significantly controversial and political enough to make some people nervous. However, the topic is also important enough that I wanted to make these controversial and political observations available to folks who follow my heretical escapades through this medium. The following therefore represents my viewpoint and not that of Unity, UMag, or any organization. So, let's take off the gloves and talk about Iraq.

Rev. Thomas Shepherd
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Dear Tom: I have to disagree with your opinion on the war in Iraq in the July/August 2007 issue of Unity Magazine. It is hardly a "quixotic adventure," nor is it "wholly different" from the battle for survival that was WW2. In fact, losing in Iraq would put us in even greater danger. There weren't any long-range missiles and suitcase nukes in 1942. It's nonsense to say Iraq is not a just war. In areas it controls, Al-Qaeda institutes an especially harsh form of Islam, but personally I don't think there's any other kind of Islam--there's just Muslims who choose not to follow all the tenets of Islam. Women in Al-Qaeda-controlled areas must cover up completely, men may not shave their beards, Western movies and music and clothing are forbidden, etc., with severe punishments (usually death) for those who stray from the rules. Abandoning the Iraqis to Al-Qaeda's tender mercies would be a terrible act of betrayal, far worse than our abandonment of the South Vietnamese, and with even more far-reaching consequences. No offense, Tom, but I have a hard time understanding how any intelligent and perceptive person can consider these facts and write Iraq off as a "quixotic adventure" and not a battle for survival.

G.L.D., Internet Question

Dear G.L.D..: Metaphysical Christianity is a faith which takes people to the heart of life’s great issues, but a lingering maxim of American life is, “Never discuss religion or politics.” If this is true for any of my readers, they are advised to skip the following response, because I intend to discuss both. Your thoughtful critique deserves a response of equal candor. As usual, I speak as one theologian and not as the whole Unity movement, which seldom agrees unanimously on anything, except that God is good all the time.

Assuming your assessment of the situation in Iraq is accurate—i.e., Al-Qaeda is doing terrible things to people and has plans for more suppression of freedom and greater violence—then I submit to you that my country has abetted those goals by offering militant Islamists a laboratory for violent activities and an enemy to attack in their own back yard. Whether we like it or not, many Arabs are mistrustful of American motives and see our presence in Iraq as a renewed form of Western colonization. Muslim terrorist organizations have exploited this fear, and their ranks have swelled since we invaded Iraq.

It’s easy to see how that happens; just look at the lessons of history. During the American Civil War, when invading Northern soldiers asked ordinary Confederate prisoners why they were fighting for slavery since they didn’t own any slaves themselves, the Rebels often remarked that they weren’t fighting for slavery at all. They were fighting the Yankees because, “You’re down here.” Certainly, the Civil War happened because America was a nation divided on the slavery issue. But each soldier’s reasons for participating in that great national upheaval was less global than particular. They saw themselves as fighting for their homes, their families, their way of life. And this pattern has repeated more recently.

I am a Vietnam veteran, proud of the soldiers who served there. However, I’m also aware that some villagers and townspeople joined the Viet Cong to fight against a corrupt central government and its American allies without necessarily being communists themselves. Their fathers had fought the Japanese invaders, then the French colonialists, now the Americans. A perceived invading army can spawn its own domestic enemies long after the presenting foe has been dispatched.

In Iraq we see the outpicturing of the law of mind action—thoughts held in mind produce after their own kind. More and more enemies appear, some identifying themselves with Al-Qaeda, and our leaders say, “You see! We told you this place is an outpost of Osama bin Laden!” An “intelligent and perceptive person” should be able to understand the difference between driving a bear from the smokehouse and going from cave-to-cave in bear country. It might turn a few cornered foxes and otherwise peaceable critters to bear-like behavior.

The Iraqis have serious problems within their national coalition, but our continued presence provides an excuse for them not to work together. Peace is the answer, but justice is the goal. Neither will be achieved as long as a military force which was intended to arrive as liberators continues its occupation against the sentiments of culture, religion, and common sense.

Unity has no official position on the matter—nor should we. But speaking as a citizen who happens to be a metaphysical theologian, I believe the time has come to turn the problem over to the Iraqis and expeditiously disengage from their civil war. The American departure from Iraq, far from being another Vietnam meltdown, will be in fact a terrible blow to the recruiting efforts of militant organizations, which are able to whip up hatred against foreign infidels.

And I take serious exception to your statement that only non-observant Muslims favor tolerance and peace. The indisputable fact is that Jihadis and fanatical groups like Al-Qaeda have hijacked and misrepresented Islam as a religion of war, which it is not

As Islamic teacher Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi has said, “No fair-minded person would allow himself to blame the religion of Islam for the wrong-doings of those who call themselves as Muslims.”[1] Islam in fact cautions Muslims against acts of aggression and allows violence only in self-defense and in defense of the faith. Do you see how we have bolstered Al-Qaeda’s anti-Western campaign by this long-term occupation of an Islamic land by essentially non-Muslim forces?

Regardless of someone’s views on the political situation in Iraq and the Middle East, Unity offers something positive that everyone can do. Let’s surround the whole situation with affirmative prayer for our leaders and soldiers, the Iraqis leaders and people, even the militants and their supporters. We are all children of the same God. The Qur’an puts it this way: “We have created you all male and female and have made you nations and tribes so that you would recognize each other.” [2]

All people can agree, I hope, that the world situation needs a massive surge of faith and prayer. Not prayer to vanquish enemies, but affirmative prayer to see the enemy-thoughts, which humanity has harbored too long, transformed into the realization that we are all One in God...the Merciful, the Compassionate.

[1] http://www.al-islam.org/begin/intro/rizvi.html (Accessed 08-01-07.)
[2] http://www.al-islam.org/lessons/3.htm (Accessed 08-01-07.)