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Fr. Klein on Forgiveness, Justice, Terrorism, and War
Monday, September 12, 2011, 10:59 AM

Fr. Leonard Klein, who is well known to the readers of First Things, is pastor of a parish in my own state of Delaware. Yesterday he gave a homily in which he did an wonderful job of sorting out how Christians should think about forgiveness, justice, terrorism, and war. It can be found here.

3 Comments

    Blake
    September 12th, 2011 | 2:51 pm

    The nation has an obligation to see that things be done as they must for the protection of its people – whether in domestic criminal law or international conflict – but it still seems to me a time for somber reflection, not joyful celebration.

    It is right to be joyful when a burden is taken away – that a burden is taken away – and an injustice is a burden. To see an injustice corrected is indeed liberating, and thus we have cause to feel joyful.

    But IMO we must be very cautious when we celebrate – we must be careful to separate our cause for celebration from someone else’s suffering. To rejoice at the misfortune of another person is just wrong.

    I can be happy to have gained a promotion, but it seems to me very destructive and wrong if I am happy that someone else – someone I dislike – did not get it. One is a celebration of the positive and the other a celebration of what is negative. There’s a difference and I think that difference needs to be observed.

    I do expect our state to do what it has to, in order to take care of us – because a state’s function includes both defense and keeping the peace (which requires that it dispense justice) – but we should never forget that states are not perfect; states make mistakes.

    Of course it sounds crazy to say “we don’t know if Bin Laden is guilty” – perhaps it would sound less crazy to say “We don’t know that it was right to kill Bin Laden”. But we have to keep this in mind – that there is a difference between “We judged it necessary to take this action” vs. “It is right and, yes, good that this action was taken” – because we must always remember that it is for God to judge, not us.

    So I guess my position on the issue is that (a) both sides are right, but (b) both sides should also remember that the other side is right, too.

    Blake
    September 12th, 2011 | 3:00 pm

    BTW I particularly like this line:

    Telling the truth about history is not bigotry. Refusal to deal with such data does not advance understanding or lead to good decisions.

    Allison
    September 22nd, 2011 | 4:51 pm

    Thank you for linking to me, Stephen Barr and First Things. Fr. Klein’s homilies ARE linkworthy!

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