Faith in God and Passion for Freedom

In this post-9/11 era, many of us have felt convicted to grow deeper in our love for God and country. As a citizen-soldier, I was supporting Iraqi Freedom (OIF I) in 2003 when my own search intensified around the issues of freedom, patriotism, peace, and--most of all--faith. The internet was by then facilitating a flow of information that allowed people to circulate a seemingly infinite number of messages on national greatness and purpose. There was enough inspiration descending into our email accounts that, had we been free of all other obligations, we might have done nothing but read for days at a time. The intent, however, was to keep us going in our service. Whatever the aim, these patriotic messages (some lacking in truthful substance) have also aroused a new dialogue inviting people at the lowest levels of society to find new meaning in their participation in a great democratic society.

My own interpretation of this war on terror is that it calls us to a new sense of sobriety. As a social worker in the civilian world, I am familiar with the business of addiction recovery. Yet I see the concept of sobriety in a larger social context where we need heightened awareness regarding a plethora of boundary and life manageability issues. The sober person is more aware, and of a better mind to make responsible decisions. My personal faith incorporates the word “sober” (as in I Corinthians 5:8) into the spiritual struggle to resist evil. Believers are called to a spiritual walk that is characterized by alertness. In an age of terror, the call to sobriety means that people and nations increase their vigilance regarding military threats as well as other kinds of treachery and deceit.

When I see the struggle faced by the people of Iraq, I am reminded about the history of these United States. Like the colonies of the 1770s, the Iraqi people have militia organizations that are formed at the grassroots level. We may not immediately appreciate this comparison, but our own militias in those days fought in rather unconventional ways as well. We might not want to hear exactly how American militia forces engaged the British in combat. But they carried a passion for freedom.

Today’s National Guard and other reserve elements in this country have come a long way in terms of infantry and policing tactics. At the same time, we carry the same love for community and country that our predecessors embraced. More importantly, our own militia forces worked in tandem with the professional Continental Army. It was the common commitment of both local and national troops that made the foundation of this country possible. We did not need to impress the rest of the world nearly as much as we needed firm resolve among ourselves to become an independent nation. Seeing the application of this reality to present day Iraq will require sober judgment.
Sober thinking about the reality of terror around the world may not bring us to agreement quickly, but responsible dialogue should bring the international community into solidarity in due time. I can not help but see the tension between the terrorists of the world and the most powerful global elitists who have concentrated most of the world’s wealth into the hands of the few. The vast majority of the world is watching this life and death struggle between terrorist and power-monger without any genuine sympathy for either side. We are caught in the middle. Terrorists insist that they are fighting for justice and true freedom. Corporate heavyweights, on the other hand, tell us that they are keeping our world in order, and that we have no option but to support their war on terror; exhausting as it has become. If there is any workable resolution to this dilemma, it has hardly passed the drawing board phase. Theorists like Benjamin Barber speak of a need for “distributive” and not “retributive” justice in response to terror. Sobriety means that we move forward with eyes wide open, and with the courage necessary to achieve true justice and peace at this explosive turn of the 21st Century.

People must assume ownership of this terrorist/globalist problem at the grassroots level. We can not assume that national and international planners are the only hope. As William Easterly has observed in his White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Help the Rest have done so
Much Ill, and so Little Good, it is not the “planner” but the “searcher” who arrives at real answers to the world’s problems. As a person of faith, I see “Truth” and “Life” as promises to those who continue on a diligent spiritual journey. Hope, in this present age, is not something to be found among people who make big plans. It is rather to be seen in those who search--often desperately--right where they live. The successful search begins at home, and in the local community.

Finally, my appeal is to the believer who has the capacity to envision that which is not possible for humanity, but possible with the power of God. This is not to embrace the fatalistic philosophy that God is far removed, and little invested in the current crises around the world. I would instead declare that God is actively at work in faithful people who will stop at nothing to see the hungry fed, justice delivered to the poor and oppressed, and conflicts resolved. The vision for peace must be realized at the lowest echelons of society where true justice, order, and harmony are most immediately demanded of us all.

Daniel Sherar

(Daniel Sherar aka “D. Castle-Shepard” is a 27-year veteran citizen-soldier, chaplain, social worker, and author of the recent book Faith, Country, and the New Militia: Empowering the Citizen Soldier, the Faith Community, and the Local Economy in the 21st Century.)