The annual Marathon races, run in many cities throughout the world, are organised to celebrate one of mankind’s greatest sporting achievements.  They are certainly testing events – testing the fitness, strength, passion and will, perseverance and courage, of all those taking part – but they are much more than this, in that they bring populations and cities together in peaceful competition – people of good-will in a common cause, that is.  They are also responsible for the raising of very large amounts of money for charities, benefiting many of the disadvantaged in societies.  At least, all this was the reason for, and the design and purpose of, such events – that is until Boston USA, and Monday, 15 April 2013.

At around 4.10 pm on Monday afternoon, two bomb explosions were detonated near to the Finishing Line of the Boston Marathon, the second coming some 15 seconds after the first, and organised in such a way as to kill and maim many of those trying to escape – in panic – the effects of the first.  To date, three people were killed in the blasts, and over 170 injured – many of them seriously.  It is thought that the death-toll will, inevitably, rise.

On hearing the news of this atrocity, and like many others, I suspect, I felt saddened by the whole panorama of what happened in Boston that afternoon – saddened by the fact that many people had been killed and injured, many very seriously, in the two bomb blasts, constructed and designed to cause fear and havoc, together with maximum suffering and death to runners and spectators.

  Smoke and Flames Set the Scene of the First of the Marathon Bomb Blasts – Boston – 15 April 2013

As I write this short article, it is not known who, how many, individuals or groups, home grown or foreign, perpetrator(s) lie behind this ‘terrorist’ attack – defined as such by President Obama – or for what reason the bombs were detonated, other than to cause maximum terror amongst the population of Boston – and the greater world.  But one thing is clear – this is bad medicine – medicine of the very worst kind.  When I mentioned the event to Father Jonathan, his reaction was one in line with all good-thinking people, I am sure.  The following is a quotation from his note:

“I am sure that there are underlying problems for this scourge in today’s world, which is the work of the devil in my view. But it is fostered by the great difficulties that, wittingly or unwittingly, we have created in this world and the greatest of these is the massive divide between rich and poor. The worst aspect of this is not in Britain, where large numbers of men women and children die while we are living in relative luxury. I am told 8 per cent live like us: 92 per cent have quite a different style of living.  But the poverty gap is also in our own country.  And it would be unwise to pin all the blame for terrorism on poverty!! It is much broader than that and yet this is an area that must be “addressed” and “resolved” if we are to help to undermine terrorism ….. I think, sadly, there will be more ‘terrorism’ and ‘dreadful events’ like the recent Boston event. They are going on all the time in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere, but don’t affect us in Britain so closely so are not so ‘important for us’”.

   
Certainly, I am in agreement with what Father says.  Many of the points he makes ring true: they are evil and the work of the devil.  There is nothing about God (or any Supreme Being of whatever belief), or of brotherly love, in any of these dastardly and cowardly acts.  The disparity between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is also a very important factor, as are the great differences between the many cultures of this world.  But, I am sure that religious extremists also play a part – though this cannot be said of the Boston attacks, as no motive has yet been identified.

 Officers of the FBI Painstakingly Search the Scene of One Blast

Politics, in its pure sense, is all about the study of human behaviour and the influences that govern choices made by human beings – beings endowed with free will.  It includes the influences that act on people making such choices. Terrorism, on the other hand, is all about the efforts to use violence and fear in order, systematically, to influence by coercion, the choices made by the people of the world, whether for political, religious or ideological ends.

And as Father Jonathan rightly points out, the reasons that underlie terrorism are many and quite varied.  Religious fanaticism and intolerance are factors often blamed – perhaps, today, amongst the most common – but the ways in which the very poor and disadvantaged are treated by the rich nations and peoples of the world cannot be discounted.  Then we have racism, and feelings born out of anger, hatred, revenge – to say nothing of colour prejudice.  All of these are negatives, and all are ‘enlivened and seasoned’ by evil, quite the opposite of God’s Commandment to ‘love one another – as I have loved you’.

Some decades ago, I seem to remember, one never heard the word terrorism, but then, life was much simpler (and happier), in my view.  Today, things have become much more complicated, with the advancement, worldwide, of communications, technology, etcetera, so that populations of the many nations are much better informed of all that is going on in nation states ‘next door’ or many thousands of miles away.  Many are much more widely travelled, especially in those coming from the ‘better-off’ sections of international society, and when one throws all this into the ‘mix’, then what comes out is not always for the better.  Evil travels just as quickly as good, and perhaps the lessons are easier to learn!

 As time has moved on, therefore, we have had more and more heinous events, such as the one in Boston, to swallow, and the taste left behind is worse than bile.  In the last twenty years, the practice of blowing people to ‘kingdom come’ has become much more common, so much so, that, since the USA and the Twin Towers of 9/11, acts of terrorism are being practised in the many nations of today, and with increasing persistency; sad to say they are much too common today.  The UK, Europe, the many states of Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan), Indonesia, the Middle East (Iraq, Syria), are areas that spring readily to mind – never free from that latent – and many times explicit – threat of evil actions designed to alter the course of a nation’s history.

 1)  A Boy of 8 years Killed in the Blasts.  2) The Boston Reaction – in Lights – to the Blasts

 The outrage and fears are enough, I would suggest, to result in feelings of hatred and the need for revenge amongst otherwise right-minded people, who see themselves always on the receiving end of these acts of terror – an understandable reaction!  However, thank God and Christianity, for pointing out that this is not the way.  Against all the negatives created by terrorists and their acts of horror, our answer should not be written likewise, but rather in terms which recognise hope – as opposed to despair – in love – as opposed to hatred – and in forgiveness – as opposed to the need for revenge.  The ‘Our Father’, as taught to us by Jesus, His Son, should be our guide; it is the only way.

Father Jonathan’s note began with the words: “I pray every day for the underlying problems of injustice and poverty in our world; for good dialogue between word religions, especially Islam and Christianity and an end to terrorism.”  If we were to add such prayers as this to the ‘Our Father’ in our daily prayers to God – millions and millions of us – then it might just be enough to turn, perhaps, all of this, the world and its problems, on its head.  If it made the difference of only one such heinous act, then lives would be saved.  But, God only knows, it may make a huge difference and rid the world of this scourge.

Socius