For use October 28, 2001

 Future Shoes 
"Heroes & Martyrs"

One of the themes that keeps coming up in the current crisis is martyrdom. Evidently the lure of martyrdom, of being admitted without delay into heaven's highest rank, is one way al Qaeda recruits suicide bombers.

This concept causes us discomfort. First, it is frightening to fight against people who are willing, in fact eager, to die. It seems to give them a great advantage in almost every kind of combat. In the early stages of this campaign, the willingness to die is just another of the aspects of the adversary -- along with the willingness to terrify populations, shut down communications systems, and deal enthusiastically in germ, chemical, and nuclear weapons -- which makes them almost supernaturally scary. It is like going to war against the undead -- the old tactical rules no longer apply. comment

But the martyrdom problem goes deeper. I think the key is that what they call martyrdom is different in its nature than what we call martyrdom.

First of all, our tradition is suspicious of martyrs. If we want to make fun of a mother-in-law, we say she is a martyr. We usually mean that instead of being straightforward and saying what she wants, she constructs scenarios in which she can suffer when she doesn’t get what she wants. She wins not by winning, but by making everyone feel guilty. When we say martyr, we really mean manipulator. The adjective for which is passive-aggressive.

Religiously, martyrdom is a more serious concept. We apply it to those people who died for their faith. It applies to everyone from the famous painting of Saint Sebastian, pincushioned with arrows and thrown into the sewer; Pere Jean de Brebeuf, the brave Jesuit priest who was tortured and cannibalized by Huron Indians in Quebec in the 17th century, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran minister who resisted the Third Reich and was executed by them. Like the suicide pilots of al Qaeda, these people were very brave, and willingly surrendered their lives for their beliefs.

But there is a big distinction between our martyrs and theirs. Our martyrs did not set out to be martyrs. It just happened to them. Indeed, in our tradition, you may not set out to be a martyr. If you plan your own death well in advance, no matter how courageous you might be, we see that as a form of suicide, which is traditionally a sin. The reason it is a sin is theological: because by taking your life you are taking upon yourself the role of God. Suicide, by this thinking, is a form of hubris or vanity. To further assume that you know you will be ushered into heaven strikes us as theologically presumptuous. This stuff is always best left to God, in our tradition. (comment)

In our tradition, it is OK to throw yourself on a live grenade to save your pals, in the heat of battle. But it is not OK to plan your own death for years, and to lovingly anticipate glory for your deed. 

Now, of course, we are furiously angry with the al Qaeda martyrs, because they not only took their own lives, but they murdered thousands of people who were just trying to go about their daily business, flying to see relatives or sitting at their work areas. It is incomprehensible in our system to think of such persons as being on the side of God. We have no martyrs on our side who would do that.

Well, there is one Biblical exception -- Sampson, the hero in the time of judges. Sampson killed himself intentionally at the end of his story, as he was led blinded into the palace of the Phillistines. We are to believe that God was pleased when Sampson pitted his strength against the palace pillars and caused the building to collapse, killing thousands of the enemy.

Were there likely to be innocent people among the Phillistines? We would surely imagine so. Making Sampson a different kind of martyr than St. Peter, who was crucified upside down at his own request, or Rolf Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved so many Jews from Nazi death camps, then disappeared himself into the Soviet gulag.

But that was Sampson, an impetuous, disappointing hero until his stunning last moment of conviction. And that was the Old Testament, in which the innocent died with the guilty, and no one thought to object.comment

But these martyrs today, in our more judging world: can God welcome them in a loving embrace after they themselves played God?

Future Shoes
_{COPYRIGHT (c) 2001
by MICHAEL FINLEY}

reader feedback First of all, with no intention of bringing this discussion into deeper argument, I think that most Moslems feel that it is unfair to put the blame on the al-Qaeda group because there was no PROOF of them being involved. Moslem scholars agreed that Mohamed Atta's things that was somewhat like a 'suicide kit' contained statements that go way beyond the boundaries of Islam." (a Muslim friend in Indonesia) "You're right Michael on the 'definition' of martyrdom. Strange enough, in Islam , the concept of martyrdom is the same. We can go into battle and HOPE we die as martyrs, but we CAN'T go on planning it step by step as Mohamed Atta did." "Well, I think that even though all Americans and people all over the world are angry at the suicide bombers (and they should be), they should never ever point a finger at anyone wihtout proper PROOF. Isn't being innocent until proven otherwise part of the whole JUSTICE system itself? "I express my condolences and regret on the 911 (just a coincidence, eh?) bombings but I still feel that we should try to understand each other better if we want this world to be a better place to live in." Mike is available to write for your publication or organization right now. Call him at 651-644-4540. Or e-mail him.

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