Fighting Evil

One of the big chasms between the right and left is the question of whether evil exists or not. The right seems to be of the opinion that it does indeed exist (we are all sinners after all!), while for the left, people are simply a product of their environment and by discussion and reasoning they can all be helped to "see the light".

This past week we have been treated to the insights of several minds that reek of evil:

• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the killing of thousands with the intent of killing even more. He recounted with glee the beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl. Rather than reacting with anger at "human rights abuse" of his victims, the left attacked our methods of questioning KSM
• Evil doers in Iraq got through a security checkpoint by carrying two small children in the back seat of the car. After passing the checkpoint, they ran, detonating explosives in the car and killing the kids and other people
• A four year old girl sang a song of honor for her mother who had blown herself up to kill Jews. The girl vowed to become a suicide bomber when she grew up.

Those on the left often quote Jesus' phrase to "turn the other check" or maybe even Gandhi's letter to urge the Jews to commit mass suicide in WWII. They fail to see that Jesus was talking about interpersonal relationships. They forget the Jesus showed plenty of anger at people misrepresenting God (e.g. the money changers - what would he say about people killing others in the name of God?). Jesus also told his followers to "fight evil".

To be able to have a dialogue with people and reason with them assumes that they have a conscience. That they can recognize good Vs bad behavior. The people that we are fighting in this war do not have either of these attributes. Sometimes war is justified to fight evil.

Update: A reader wrote me an angry email stating that this post was extreme and that I was angry. I do not feel angry about the current chasm between left and right. I do feel that the pacifist mentality is an extreme suicidal mentality. Perhaps this book explains the readers letter - A Bee in the Mouth

A New Form of Evil

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