For Religious Left, 9/11 “Reflection” Means “Pacifism”

Jim Wallis addresses the Catholic University of America audience on September 8. (Photo credit: Pax Christi USA)

Pax Christi USA, a leftist Catholic group, hosted Evangelical Left activist Jim Wallis at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. to commemorate 9/11.

For “Peace & Reconciliation: Spiritual Reflections a Decade after 9/11,” Pax Christi’s veteran pacifist activists braved a rainy September 8 evening to remember the 9/11 tragedy and listen to messages of nonviolence. Sojourners head Jim Wallis and 2011 Teacher of Peace Colleen Kelley were the featured speakers for the night, adding their insights to the congregational “Litany for Justice.”

Master of ceremonies Pax Christi USA National Council Chairperson Sister Josie Chrosniak, HM, opened by remarking: “So much of what we’ve done for the past 10 years has been defined by this cataclysmic event.” She continued: “Peacemaking is the heart of what we are about and the Gospel we preach, consistently referring to “breaking the cycle of violence” through forgiveness. Pax Christi seemed quite committed to liberal political theorist Hannah Arendt’s contention that violence inevitably begets violence. The only way to truly achieve peace is for one of the parties to extend mercy.

For much of this introductory speech, this particular theory was lauded as Gospel truth. Soon afterwards, Colleen Kelley received her 2011 Teacher of Peace Award and presented her message of peace to the somber audience. Kelley is both a nurse practitioner and founding member of September 11^thFamilies for Peaceful Tomorrows. Since losing her brother in the World Trade Center, she has traversed the globe preaching nonviolence. Nowadays, her organization devotes itself to closing Guantanamo Bay prison, upholding religious liberty, and spreading word of civilian casualties in war.

Kelley praised her audience by noting: “Your members have provided such a steadfast witness for peace.” She affirmed steadfast belief in pacifism: “Peace is possible within our imagination and with tools we possess.” She recounted her healing process following 9/11, noting especially that Peaceful Tomorrows met with families who met tragedy and loss in other countries. “We didn’t want any person, Afghan, Iraqi, or otherwise, suffering exactly what I had [sic],” she concluded.  “Love is always the final word; love is always the message.”

Following more of the litany, Pax Christi USA’s interim executive Ronaldo Cruz introduced Jim Wallis as “One of our nation’s most prophetic and eloquent religious leaders.” After thanking his audience, he gave a shout out to retired radical Detroit Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton as “the only bishop who consistently makes the Vatican cringe.” Gumbleton, who has encouraged homosexual priests to “come out,” is the 1991 Teacher of Peace recipient (he cavorted with such figures as United Methodist Bishop Joseph Sprague for the pacifist cause). Wallis soon turned away from niceties to address heavier matters.

The Sojourners founder observed about 9/11: “We’re aware how we fell back on old habits. But with it comes a chance to learn new things.” These “old habits” were of course retaliation and war. Wallis remembered telling his wife on 9/11: “This is very bad…This could do very bad things to our nation’s soul.” Thankfully, he said, “another side of our soul was revealed.” Wallis praised the moments of “people giving their lives for complete strangers…Our first response was to overcome evil with good.” After praising the sacrifices of first responders, Wallis observed that Americans finally began to feel vulnerable, “how so much of the world feels all the time.” Since America was the oppressed party and its citizens experienced the shock of fear, it was now “more human.” He asserted, “Because of that America [had] the high ground. The world did not identify with the instigators…for a few moments, the world was admiring [Americans].”

Such a halcyon condition ended with the dark decrees from “official Washington,” Wallis bemoaned. “Our response to terrorism would be simply defined as war. A total decade of war that took more innocent lives than victims of 9/11.” He complained: “We had a possibility for reflection, but it alluded us because our leaders said, ‘We will erase your vulnerability through our superior force and power.” He further claimed, “The longest series of wars in America’s history has failed to make us safer in the long run.” The Bush and Obama administrations have both proved that “the arrogance of power [is] our only response.” He told his audience: “Our job is to evoke a different response.”

Wallis does find relief and hope in a time of war. “I think a new generation of Christians [is] asking how Jesus would respond to these events,” he declared. Who stands upon the crest of this new wave of Christianity and best represents the coming generation? According to Wallis, it is 65-year-old United Methodist Bishop William Willimon of Alabama, himself a renowned pacifist and Anabaptist critic of conservatives. The latter’s stringent opposition to Alabama’s new immigration laws evidently embodies the passions of the coming Christian generation. Through Willimon and other religious activists, Wallis believes, “The nature of a loving and reconciling God is being affirmed.”