May 16-22, 2011
Editorial
Editorial: Healing and restoration start with love and justice
Translated by Lydia Ma
Amene Bahrami, an Iranian woman whose face and sight were destroyed in an acid attack a few years ago, recently asked that Iranian courts use Sharia Law to punish her attacker. According to reports, her attacker threw acid on her face when she refused his marriage proposals. As result of this attack, Bahrami subsequently underwent 17 surgeries but remains disfigured and blind.
Iranian courts recently ruled that under Sharia Law, Bahrami could demand “an eye for an eye” and legally have her attacker punished by being blinded by acid as well. But just one day ahead of the execution, the court bowed to international pressure and the sentence was postponed indefinitely.
In a nearby country, the news of Osama bin Laden’s execution by US forces also garnered international attention. There were speculations that the reason the US government executed bin Laden in Pakistan instead of capturing him alive was because it feared a trial would be too lengthy and its outcome too unpredictable.
When we compare and contrast these two recent incidents, we discover that the international community, especially the US, uses double standards when it comes to justice. In other words, when Muslims demand that one of their own be punished under quasi-Old Testament laws, Western countries are quick to cry out that such punishments are “cruel and unusual”, and demand that they be halted.
But when it comes to Osama bin Laden, news reports and US officials’ reactions veer toward favoring on-the-spot execution. All talk about such punishment being “cruel and unusual” or inhumane evaporate into thin air, replaced by the desire to get even first and deal with consequences later.
We are opposed to “an eye for an eye”, but that doesn’t mean we believe bin Laden shouldn’t be held accountable for his part in the 9/11 attacks. How are Christians to see these two unrelated incidents from Christ’s perspective then?
At the core of Christianity is love, but this love is also just. This kind of love demands a clear delineation of right and wrong, with not gray area in between. But this kind of love also demands that after the truth comes to light, there must be repentance and reconciliation so that broken relationships can be restored.
Our God demonstrated this kind of love through Jesus Christ, his only son, who was both loving and just. His love propelled him to seek restoration rather than retribution. If we examined these two recent events from such a perspective, we’d come to the conclusion that we cannot agree with how the US government dealt with Osama Bin Laden for such acts aren’t fitting for a country claiming to be founded upon Christian values.
As we celebrate Asia Sunday on May 22, 2011, let us spend some time getting to know this region in which we live. We mustn’t only focus on Asia’s economy, but also see the many problems behind such an economy. Extreme poverty is a grave concern in many Asian countries and has given rise to many other problems, including exploitation of children, migrant workers, prostitutes, or HIV-positive people.
There are many problems plaguing Asia today – Asian governments are still mostly autocratic and they’ve put environmental protection in the backburner in the name of economic growth. As Christians, we must focus on restoring broken relationships in Asia instead of retribution. As Christians, we’re called to restore broken relationships between nation and nation, people and the environment, and people and God.
