Ethnic
cleansing was rife, people in towns across Bosnia simply disappeared; their
homes were singled out and then burnt down. Some were taken to camps, others
were discovered in the mass graves, others became refugees/displaced persons..
I
found myself in a country that was being destroyed through a raging civil war.
Where fellow humans had been going about their lives and had then just left, fled, been murdered.
In
Luke’s gospel, Jesus speaks about “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom.” This was exactly what was in Bosnia.
“The enemy it turned out, had been
living right next door, right down the street. Until just yesterday Bosnians
had shared everything, drinking coffee together, going to parties and funerals
together, visiting each other, marrying each other, but now…” (Hukanovic, 1998)
But
now, now was killing time and when this time arrived it was these ordinary
people that had committed these terrible acts of brutality and violence. How did this make me feel? I had been sent
here to protect this innocence, these ordinary people, yet I had been killing
time in a secure compound when the slaughter had happened.
Wave
after wave of emotion ran through me during those months, even now twenty years
later, I find it hard to express honestly the horror that ethnic cleansing is.
Professor Norman
Cigar is a military analyst who wrote “Overall,
ethnic cleansing seems to have followed a premeditated strategy, rather than
being an improvisation arising from unfolding events.” (Cigar, 1995)
If
as Cigar suggests that this slaughter and cleansing was premeditated, then did
it not show that these ordinary people already had an intrinsic ability to
commit terrible violence towards other humans. If this was true, how could the
God I know and love have allowed this to happen? Stories and images from British
Forces operations in the country came to mind. Acts of Christian kindness by
British soldiers who professed to have no faith. They patrolled the aid routes
and stood guard over the bread queues. These images came back to me and helped
me to remember that in the midst of this inhumanity were people exercising free
will given by God, to love their neighbour.
So,
ordinary people could commit terrible violence and soldiers could carry out
acts of humanity. As a peacekeeper and soldier I felt useless, angry and
helpless simultaneously. I have come to understand that such anger once stoked
can make any human capable of violence and sin. Continuing this thought
process, we would be leaving Bosnia when our tour of duty was completed but
Bosnian survivors would not and how would they deal with the feelings we all
had.
“Most wars feed on hate, and the
masters of war know how to manufacture it well. It is the proportions of the
Balkan hate and its rawness right there on the fringes of what some thought to
be civilised Europe that causes us to stagger.” (Volf. 1992)
Peace
enforcement in Bosnia has been in place since late 1995. However peace is not
there. The whole of the Balkans is a bubbling pot of emotion, hatred and anger,
this is all too evident in the footage and reports which continue to come out
of the Balkans. Hukanovic a survivor of
the death camps of Bosnia closes his autobiography with, “Lord, may you never
forgive them.” (Hukanovic, 1998:163)
But
I am not a Bosnian, I was a stranger seemingly killing time in a foreign land,
so how have I dealt with my experiences and my feelings.
I
have used scripture and secular writing to help me find God in those places and
memories of human evilness. The writings of Corrie ten Bloom and Eva Schloss both
survivors of the Nazi concentration camps, have enabled me to reconcile some of
my feelings of anger. Anger towards those ordinary people who committed such
evil and towards the mandate we as peace keepers were working under which did
not allow us to launch offensive operations. I have gradually ceased to be as
angry with God. Earlier in this reflection I wrote about British soldiers
showing compassion and love to their ‘neighbours’. I began to understand that
God was there, in those soldiers and in the aid workers who were prepared to
and in some instances did, lay down their lives for their ‘neighbours’.
Gustavo Gutierrez cited in the Cambridge
Companion to Liberation Theology states that, “liberation theology has its
origins in the reality of the ‘premature and unjust death of many people’”.
(Rowland, 2007:3) I have learnt that my theology, my beliefs and values were
radically shaped by my experiences in Bosnia. Prior to my tours there, my faith
was naïve. I did not have any comprehension about the true extent of
humankind’s ability to commit terrible sin. Now I do and because of this I now
holdfast to a creed that says all people are equal and valued by God.
Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians, “I
urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” (Eph 4:1) I
believe I received my calling on the blood soaked streets of Bosnia, a calling
to defend and speak for those who cannot defend themselves, to see God in all
people regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. I am no saint, I
still struggle with my anger not always using it to effect change or
righteously but by hurting people. I have learnt to reflect on the implications
that my anger can have, I have learnt that reconciliation is crucial in this
world. I have learnt that an ordinary person has the ability to influence this
world; that we neither need to make a time to kill, nor kill time whilst
atrocities are happening but through prayer and action we can bring about
change.
To
do so requires courage, the composer of Psalms 46 comments that bows must be
broken and spears shattered[1].
The prophet Micah calls for the remoulding of weaponry into tools of
agriculture[2]. These
actions require someone to undertake them, they won’t happen by themselves. The
German theologian Moltmann, himself a prisoner of war during the 1939- 1945
war, said, “Top level discussions between privileged persons usually do very
little to relieve the suffering of ordinary people.”[3]
Jesus
himself preached and undertook radical action to encourage and demonstrate that
justice has to come from the people[4].
Mahatma Ghandi once said, “be the change you want to see in the world” [5]
and Volf a Croatian theologian wrote,
“the kingdom of God enters the world through the back door of servants’ shacks,
not through the main gate of the masters’ mansions”.[6]
We are called and ordered to undertake and act for justice. And that is what my
faith is about today.
It is about standing up for what you believe
to be right, even if it seems to cost you everything. It is about placing
yourself between the bully and the bullied even if this makes you the target.
My faith isn’t perfect, there are dark times when I find it hard to conceive
there is a God, let alone believe in it/him/her. These are normally times when
I am facing the bizarreness of first world living, when people become so bound
up in doctrine and dogma that they forget the golden rule – To do unto others as you would have done
unto yourself. When politicians, faith leaders and the press can become so
obsessed with their own agendas (which to be fair is quite often all about
keeping the thinking person in a box and thus not questioning what the
leadership are up to) that they fail to see the world beyond their own
briefcase or prayer book or paper. Likewise those who sit in the pews and are
only concerned with the bricks around them are no better. Yes there is a place
for our own needs, but surely issues about who sleeps with who, or if a child
can receive communion before some man in purple says so, are irrelevant if the
world we live in is teetering on the brink of a war that will take thousands of
lives, a climate disaster that may see millions displaced and new diseases that
are effectively a plague time bomb.
I recently preached a short sermon that included these words, "in Christianity the practical definition of love is best summarised by Thomas Aquinas, who defined love as "to will the good of another," or to desire for another to succeed. This is the explanation of the Christian need to love others, including their enemies. As Thomas Aquinas explains, Christian love is motivated by the need to see others succeed in life, to be good people."
And thinking about those vivid experiences of twenty years ago and some since then, I come to the conclusion tonight that, yes "to will the good of another" is where I am at. On this Sunday in September as people mourn those murdered this day, as others await the referendum on Thursday, I am thankful for those I served with for both guiding me and being alongside me. I think of those who were slaughtered in the genocide of twenty years ago and since in wars and conflicts around this globe and I reaffirm my commitment to the creed I believe in, that all people are equal, even if this means I will be in exile and excluded by some.
I recently preached a short sermon that included these words, "in Christianity the practical definition of love is best summarised by Thomas Aquinas, who defined love as "to will the good of another," or to desire for another to succeed. This is the explanation of the Christian need to love others, including their enemies. As Thomas Aquinas explains, Christian love is motivated by the need to see others succeed in life, to be good people."
And thinking about those vivid experiences of twenty years ago and some since then, I come to the conclusion tonight that, yes "to will the good of another" is where I am at. On this Sunday in September as people mourn those murdered this day, as others await the referendum on Thursday, I am thankful for those I served with for both guiding me and being alongside me. I think of those who were slaughtered in the genocide of twenty years ago and since in wars and conflicts around this globe and I reaffirm my commitment to the creed I believe in, that all people are equal, even if this means I will be in exile and excluded by some.
[1] Ps 46:9
[2] Micah 4:3
[3] Selvanayagam, I (1995:3). A Dialogue on Dialogue: Reflections on
Interfaith Encounters. Madras, CLS Press.
[4] Lk 4:16-30
[5] Indian Philosopher 1869 -1948
[6] Volf, M (1996:114). Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville, Abingdon Press.
