How to justify terrorism; that way you can kill wit a clean conscience

If you read various dictionaries, encyclopedias, and politically charged magazines you will run across a variety of definitions for what exactly constitutes “terrorism.” As I was cruising the internet I ran across a definition that I personally feel captures the spirit of all the others. It goes like this. “Terrorism is the use of violence without warning against those who are utterly defenseless.” I think the key part in this definition is the “those who are utterly defenseless” part. If they are not utterly defenseless it falls into another area of violent crime, which is not the point of my ranting today. People in the twin towers were utterly defenseless to the sudden violence that was done to them without warning on September 11, 2001. It thus constitutes terrorism. I believe the attacks by military snipers on civilians in Libya would fall into the same sort of category. Someone is walking down the street on their way to try and find food or water for their family, and then suddenly they have a giant hole in their chest. The attack was without warning against someone who was utterly defenseless against a sniper attack.  I think that most people would say that such actions are morally reprehensible and any government that sponsored, promoted, or turned a blind eye to such actions was evil and corrupt to the core.  We might all differ on how to go about bringing about change in such a government, but we can all agree that there is no excuse for such heinous acts; and those who commit them and support them must be stopped. Or should they? Do we really have a right to stop terrorism (regardless of what country it is in)?  What if it was here in the United States and they were members of our military? Would it still be ok to be oppose it? What if Congress passed a law saying it was ok and the president signed it? What if the Supreme Court upheld it as constitutional and lots of people supported it in order to help keep the peace? After all, snipers and terrorists need to work too. They still have families to feed and bills to pay. Who are we to judge them and say that they are wrong? How arrogant of us to think that our Catholic way of thinking is the right way.  If the people want to support terrorism as a way of life, they have the right to do so. Let the streets run with the blood of the innocent!! Hopefully, we would say that wrong is wrong, no matter how many people agree with it. Hopefully we wouldn’t say things like, “I am personally against snipers gunning down innocent women and children in the streets, but I don’t feel like I can impose my morality on those who want to support terrorism." And yet, we do. Like it or not this is exactly the same logic used by the pro choice movement to justify their support of abortion. To justify one is to justify the other. Roughly the same number of people are killed in our country every day through the state legalized terrorism of abortion as died on 9/11. 3,300 utterly defenseless people will die today without warning, through sudden violence and we uphold those who kill them as heroes of freedom. Worst of all, many of us support it and think it doesn’t contradict our faith. However, before we get all judgmental just remember, Jesus died for the terrorists too.  All of them.

Feast of the Annunciation

Yesterday was March 25 (for those of you who missed it it will come around again in another year or so) which just so happens to be the Feast of the Annunciation here in the Catholic world. It is an amazing full blown Solemnity right here in the middle of Lent, designed to give hope and joy to our lives as we plod on towards Easter. When a solemnity goes cruising by in the normal liturgical year (and by normal I mean not Lent), most of us tend to blow it off and pretend like it's not really a big deal. At least that's our reaction if we ever new it was a solemnity at all. One of the great things about Lent, however, is how it call us to a slightly different standard than Ordinary Time. It calls us to the standard of holiness that revolves fasting, abstaining, and extra alms-giving. When a Solemnity rolls around during Lent we get to indulge in whatever it is that we gave up; and if it happens to fall on a Friday we even get to eat some meat. Yesterday evening was about 40 degrees here, but that didn't stop me from firing up the grill and throwing on some Polish sausages because hey, it was the Annunciation and a Friday all rolled into one. I even contemplated making a cake to celebrate. What really makes me laugh are the people who was consider such a celebration to be cheating God. These are generally the same people who give me condescending looks when I tell them they don't have to fast on Sunday's during Lent. The look is usually followed by some comment about how real Catholics fast every day during Lent and don't look for excuses not to suffer for God. When I respond by telling them how real Catholics practice this funny thing called obedience and quit trying to be holier than the Church they usually get mad and walk away. This is why I don't have very man friends. It does continue to make me wonder why so many people seem to be against having fun in the name of Christ. Christ himself was at a wedding feast and when they ran out of wine, He made some more. Heaven itself is described as the wedding feast of the Lamb. I pray for those people who feel that holiness is 2 parts sad face and 1 part judgmental attitude towards those celebrating. Someday they will realize that it is 3 parts awesome, and that should be enough for anybody