Dialogue of Civilizations

Victory changes everything. We hope our progress in Afghanistan will bring new opportunities to build peaceful solutions in the war on terrorism.

The weeks of bombing were starting to wear thin on many Americans. New doubts were arising about the campaign. What good was it doing? No doubt the Taliban was doing much evil—but was it really a legitimate target in retaliation for a Sept. 11?

After the Northern Alliance took over Kabul—and sent the Taliban scrambling—western journalists began to find out in detail just what sort of “haboring of terrorists” Afghanistan's government was doing.

In Taliban strongholds, said The Washington Post Nov. 16, reporters found “grenades [sitting] on a closet shelf, beside sheets of paper bearing fake stamps for travel documents, including one from the U.N. High Commissioner.”

Eerily, there was also a “composition book filled with detailed recipes in English for making bombs with various chemicals and household products. Nearby, a small notebook held Arabic instructions for using Russian mortars and artillery, advice for successful suicide attacks and, in crude English, a note beginning ‘Dear Osamma.’”

Al Qaeda had residences and offices right in the Taliban headquarters. According to the Times of London, partly burned papers in one of their houses including instructions on building an atomic bomb.

In short, the U.S.-led strikes in Afghanistan seem to have scored an important victory.

In a recent interview, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's doctrinal point-man, offered an explanation of the right to national self-defense that seems to apply to the war against the Taliban. “According to the Christian tradition, one cannot exclude that, in a world marked by sin, there might be an evil aggression that threatens to destroy not only values and people, but also man's image as such,” the cardinal said. “In this case, to defend oneself in order to defend the other could be a duty.”

It is important, at the same time, to see the tragedies that have accompanied our victory. Afghan civilians killed in battle will never taste on earth the freedoms their countrymen are now reveling in. Their relatives, including orphans, are mourning, not celebrating.

In addition to the military actions that await, the hard part of our work in Afghanistan is just beginning—rebuilding.

We must begin what Pope John Paul II has called the “dialogue of civilizations.” An attitude that holds Muslims in contempt is not only unchristian, it's unhelpful.

It may not have as nice a ring to it as “Clash of Civilizations” does. And a dialogue's parameters may be even harder to define. But we must answer violence with something more than violence if we want to live without fear.

An Absent God?

An e-mail has been going around purporting to tell the story of Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, being interviewed on the CBS “Early Show” on Sept. 13. Here's the actual transcript: Jane Clayson: “I've heard people say (those who are religious, those who are not) ‘If God is good, how could God let this happen?’ To that, you say?”

Anne Graham Lotz: “Well, I say that God is also angry when he sees something like this. And I would say also that for several years now, Americans, in a sense, have shaken their fists at God and said, ‘God, we want you out of the schools, we want you out of our government, we want you out of our business, we want you out of our marketplace.’ And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly, I believe, backed out of our national and political life, our public life and removing his hand of blessing and protection. And we need to turn to God, first of all, and say, ‘God, we're sorry that we have treated you this way and we invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you.’”