A common enemy

Obama’s wish

With the anniversary of 9/11 upon us, President Obama is calling for Americans to “summon that spirit once more.” An erudite man, he knows well that it is times of tragedy that bring a nation together.

Obama has probably read Emile Durkheim, a social scientist who went as far as to suggest that the increased social integration following major national upheavals lowers incidences of depression and suicidal thoughts. He recognised that the “us-against-them” mentality bonds individuals into a society.

Certainly, as the smoke rose ten years ago, people throughout the world united in grief. Men and women from different sides of town shared candle-lit vigils. Christians and Muslims threw their differences to one side and remembered the dead. Millions united against one common enemy – ‘terror’.

The spirit that Obama wishes to summon was perhaps at its strongest in Britain during the two World Wars, as the nation united for the greater cause, keeping calm and carrying on.

But things have changed. I expect that Obama will, sadly, mostly likely find his noble call to go unheeded.

The urgency of a ‘war on terror’ has gone. Throughout the West the sense of corporate identity is increasingly fragmented as people become more cynical of authority, often for good reason, and have easier access to diverse viewpoints.

Spoilt Britain

As opposed to much of the world, British people live in relative peace and enjoy relative wealth. We are spoilt, but we’re not happy, because we have no common enemy or common goal.

While politicians struggle to gird us together behind the abstract, so-vague-as-to-be-pointless notion of ‘Britishness’, we, desperate to feel part of something bigger, create our own disparate causes and adversaries.

We create enemies of rival football teams, get our knickers in a twist about MP’s expenses or bankers and spend our break times slagging off our bosses. It makes us feel part of a united group. Yet these incongruent ‘enemies’ ultimately diffuse our energies and cause needless divisions where every side ultimately loses.

War is not the answer

George Washington and Alexander the Great are among the many leaders who knew how to unite their nations (for better or worse) against common enemies and thus for a common cause, or vice versa. The two are sides of the same coin.

But we don’t have to rely on wars and tragedies to bring us together.

Jesus showed us that sin (anything that separates us from God) is our common enemy. Meanwhile we are called to love our human enemies and do good to those who hate us.

He demonstrated this subtle distinction on the cross, when he gave his life to overcome the abhorrent enemy of sin. Yet even in his agony he cried out for forgiveness for those who were mocking and killing him – they were not his enemy.

A common cause

Of course, terrorists, murderers and people traffickers need to be apprehended and punished. But for the Christian, they are not the ultimate enemy, nor is their capture the ultimate aim.

Unless we realise that our common enemy is a spiritual one, we will continue to seek adversaries in this world, which can only lead to strife and war.

For “our struggle is not against flesh and blood… but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

So let’s unite in the single cause of serving a great and loving God and fighting against all that harms his good creation. Then, perhaps, we can recapture something of that “spirit” of 9/11 and make America’s President a very happy man.