Last night Annalee and I watched United 93.
I liked it. It wasn’t overly dramatized but it still seemed so dramatic. The sensitive subject matter was handled delicately but realistically and it was incredibly emotional. You can’t help but grieve for those people and their families.
In one scene, the film cuts back and forth between different passengers and the terrorists. Both of them are praying, crying out to God. The passengers are praying that they live to see another day. The terrorists are praying that God will be praised because they will not live another day. They are both praying for help, both praying for strength. How do you reconcile that? Can it be reconciled?
As I sat there watching that, I couldn’t help but think about how faith is such an incredible force in the world for both good and bad. Multitudes of atrocities against humankind have been committed in the name of God. Sure, fanatical Muslims committed this atrocity but Christians have been doing similar things for centuries, i.e. The Crusades, etc.
Sure distorted faith drives us to do crazy things but the question is why does our faith get distorted? I believe the dilemma can be presented like this: How can you love all people and be tolerant of other religions if you truly believe that your faith is the only real one. You must be exclusionary by necessity or your faith has no power, has no true meaning. Muslims believe this. Christians believe this. Jews believe this. Occasionally, that exclusionary attitude is taken to the point of violence against those who will not believe as you do. There’s where the distortion sets in.
I’ve come to this conclusion: At the end of the day, all I can do is love God and my fellow man. I will strive to have an unwavering faith but not at the expense of others.
EJM
1 Comment
September 20, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Well said. I agree with your conclusions.