CPJ Speakers Discuss Christian Response to Terrorism

President James Skillen and Executive Vice President James Ohlson of the Center for Public Justice shared the podium at a Nov.20 public meeting at Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, IL, where they spoke and answered questions on how Christians should respond to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

Ohlson, who enjoyed a long career in the FBI before he joined the Center for Public Justice, spoke on the ideals that should underlie the Christian response. He told the audience, "I share with you the core values of the FBI...rigorous obedience to the Constitution of the United States, respect for the dignity of all those protecting compassion, fairness, and uncompromising personal and institutional integrity."

Skillen cautioned hearers to check their attitudes and judgments. He warned against the tendency to turn Osama bin Laden and other members of the Al Qaeda network into a "counter mirror to assure ourselves that we're the good guys." He warned against assuming holy-war rhetoric, even when such language is used against America by Islamic leaders, but also advised against allowing a secularized political response, divorced from moral or faith-based considerations, to prevail.

"We should be challenging every tendency of the U.S. government and ourselves to justify our military actions on the basis of either being God's specially privileged nation or being a secular entity that has arisen above all old-fashioned religions," Skillen said.

Instead, Skillen said, American Christians and Christians throughout the world should be "calling our governments to accept their proper and limited tasks of doing justice, protecting the innocent, and punishing those who commit crimes."

-- Martin LaMaire

The Banner, January 21, 2002.