| HOW
ARE HATRED AND VIOLENCE EXPRESSED AND EXPERIENCED LOCALLY,
NATIONALLY, GLOBALLY?
Expressions of hatred and
intolerance are present along national, ethnic, religious and gender
divides - divides which are increasingly nurtured and spread via the
internet. The hard edge of intolerance frequently erupts into racist
and religiously motivated violence and vandalism. It erupts with equal magnitude
over issues of abortion and homophobia. Domestic and child abuse,
school violence, the threat of terrorism, awareness of ongoing
intolerance and violence in the Middle East have become part of the
expected and accepted warp and woof of our daily lives. A strong revenge
mentality which insists on taking a life for a life and which
considers retaliation a prerequisite for closure feeds a strong
public support of the death penalty (in the USA). This continues to feed the spiral of violence and
the culture of death. This lack of
respect for life is evident in and spread by films, videos, TV
sitcoms, lyrics... through which the portrayal of violence has become one of today's
main forms of entertainment.
Media
messages and accepted social practices frequently imply that violence is the norm - the accepted means -
for resolving issues. The thirst for capital punishment, the
insistence on adult trials for children, frequent and abrupt suspensions of
children from classrooms and schools, acts of brutality by police
personnel are as much an expression of "a rage within" as are child
rage, road rage and air rage. |
WHY
ARE WE CONCERNED?
We are concerned because, as a
North American society, we have become unwilling to be intolerant of hatred
and violence? Why? Already criminalized forms of violence (i.e.,
forms of violence which we have
agreed are wrong) are tolerated as acceptable and are not being
effectively addressed proactively. How and why have we lost the
ability to be embarrassed by and ashamed of this?
1) Is
it because violence has been part of the warp and woof of American
society since its inception? - At different moments in history has the
same degree of hatred and violence simply been catalyzed by different issues and expressed in
different forms? (Though to what degree did the televising of the
McVeigh execution differ from the public hanging events of the past?) Is
the USA too short-sighted and self-sufficient to look outside itself
at other cultures for possible insights and solutions?
2) To
what degree is it due to a lack of capacity for and/or commitment to sustained concern and
follow-through? Have we allowed ourselves to become unwilling (or
willing) victims of the 'short spikes of media hyperattentiveness'
to violent occurrences followed by 'deep valleys of comfortable oblivion'?
3) Is
it the result of a feeling of helplessness due to rapid social and
technological change - a change which is so rapid that we are unable
to learn to effectively cope with it?
4) Are
we giving insufficient attention to distinguishing between: facile
punitive, reactive measures - and effective preventive measures (which
involve a degree of economic commitment)?
5)
Have our religious institutions to too great a degree blended in
with this social fabric? Have we failed? Have we lost a genuine respect for
"legitimate authority" which allows the "10
commandments" to become the "10 suggestions", and
which elevates the "sense of entitlement" above the
"sense of gratitude"? (Yet, what is 'legitimate authority'
and how is this determined? Much hatred and violence has been and
continues to be perpetrated in the name of religious authority. e.g.,
white supremacist movements, anti-abortion activists, ...) Do our religious
institutions help to engender an ability for critical thinking,
which also involves "examination of soul" and wise and
effective judgment? Are they able and willing to effectively work
with the tension between messianic hope (as expressed by Isaiah and
Micah) and passionate social concern (as expressed by Joel)? |
| IN VIEW
OF THESE CONCERNS, HOW CAN CHRISTIANS AND JEWS JOIN HANDS IN EFFECTIVE
PARTNERSHIP? AS PERSONS OF FAITH, WHAT VALUES AND UNDERSTANDINGS CAN WE DRAW ON IN OUR JEWISH
AND CHRISTIAN FAITH TRADITIONS?
At
the heart of the struggle with hatred and violence are issues of
community and meaning. "In a world demeaned by pointless
violence and narrow-minded or nihilistic tough guy responses to it,
ongoing participatory community life becomes less possible and less
thinkable...Part of our response to senseless violence must be an
affirmation and reinvigoration of the connections among us that can give
our public lives meaning and direction, even in conditions of deep
uncertainty and instability." (cf., M.S. Roth,
Violence
and the De-Meaning of America) An effective
partnership between Jews and Christians today can give living witness to
the experience of community, providing at the same time the elements
of meaning contained in the revelation held sacred by our respective traditions.
Religious institutions today lack credibility regarding community.
The fact that communal structures are in place does not mean
that there is an experience of community. The kind of relationships which
define community demand an ability and a willingness to risk being
vulnerable with and before 'the other'. It implies being able
and willing to risk exposing some of our weakness and failure, and
to entertain questions together for which we may not have ready-made
answers. It involves trust and a belief in life and in each
other.
Christians and Jews committed to effective partnership will
ask
the hard questions together:
 | As faith communities have we
abdicated our raison d'ętre: to a feeling of helplessness
regarding effective government decision-making; to
the corporations whose attitudes and values increasingly determine our way of
living? |
| Has our credibility been
eroded because we 'hire the preachers' who keep us comfortable
and tell us what we want to hear? |
| Why are we tolerating hatred
and violence to the degree we are? Why are we not
'troubling' people more about this? Do the messages of our faith
traditions not compel us to 'trouble the comfortable, and
comfort the troubled'? |
Efforts for Christian-Jewish reconciliation and relationship
over the past several decades have resulted in increasing solidarity
with each other - especially on occasions of
overt prejudice, intolerance and vandalism. We rally around
each other and no longer feel alone when our holy places of
pilgrimage and worship are defaced. However, when will we say
- in partnership and with conviction: We will no longer
tolerate this violation ... or any other form of violence ... to
anyone ... anywhere? When will we - together - be proactive about
this?
Religious
communities do not have to be in control of society in order to have
an influence. Given the richness of our faith traditions, Jews and
Christians in effective partnership can bring a prophetic message of
reverence for life. Today this means confronting together
such issues as: the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, poverty
and lack of quality of life.... Lack of reverence for
life in one area will erupt as lack of reverence and violence
in the other areas as well. A culture of life will not replace
the culture of death until and unless all life issues are
understood and appreciated as part of a whole.
A current concern
which Christians and Jews can perhaps most effectively address
in partnership is the death penalty. It is
an issue which is focused and yet very symptomatic of
the more comprehensive malaise in the public psyche. Concerted efforts regarding the death
penalty will have an effect beyond this issue itself. The USA
National Jewish Catholic Consultation has already taken a
first step in their 1999 joint statement: To
End the Death Penalty . Communities of
Christians and Jews in partnership can be powerful force
in helping to translate this message into action.
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