As I approach the completion of my final year of academics in seminary I have attempted to commute back and forth between Gettysburg and home weekly. I have attempted to do so for two reasons; family and the Sunday school class I am teaching on Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Interreligious dialogue has become a passion of mine. It has become a passion of mine for a number of reasons, but one reason is because it gives me an opportunity to share a voice that most do not expect to hear.
I fought against Muslim fanatics. I
literally fought against extremists who sought out my death. Now, I am not
saying this as a supply clerk or administrative personnel Sergeant (no offense
to you guys, I respect the old adage “without supply rounds don’t fly’). I was
an Infantry Marine deployed to the Al Anbar Province of Iraq during 2005. This
was an incredibly violent time when insurgent forces were forced out of
Fallujah towards our area of operation in response to the offensives during the
2004 missions. During our deployment 46 Marines and 2 Navy Corpsman were killed
from our Battalion during combat operations. To put it simply, it was a brutal,
violent, and shocking time in my life I will never forget. I was a 26-year-old
Corporal at the time serving in a city known as Hit (pronounced Heet), Iraq.
During my deployment I wrestled with my understanding of Islam, especially
militant Islam. What were the differences? Were they different? I had NO idea.
I was mad, however. I wanted revenge every time I received word of another
casualty.
Upon returning home I never thought
I would find myself in seminary but God’s grace got me through my experiences
by faith through Christ. Because of this I followed a call that took me on a
journey to not only seminary, but Israel and Palestine as well. It also landed
me in the Quran, into dialogue with other Christians and Muslims as well. I
didn’t go to Seminary to study Islam but I learned about the importance of love,
which led me to a deeper appreciation for Islam. So here I am, a deeply
religious Lutheran Christian (fairly orthodox confessional Lutheran, also known
as a “grumpy wannabe theologian”) combat vet, intrigued by Islam. I love
Judaism and Islam for their beauty and particular focus on the unattainable
nature of the divine. I also found I could combat militant religion by focusing
on their beauty. That’s right, I am still fighting terror by recognizing the
heretical view of a religion that I don’t even claim as my own! It should be
hypocritical but here is the problem; I don’t want the Muslim brothers and
sisters I have come to know associated with these people who have perverted how
they practice their faith through hate. I don’t want to make allowances for
that anymore than allowing anyone to associate my Christian faith with the
Westboro Baptist Church.
So, tonight I was putting my
daughters to bed and one of my daughters had a minor meltdown. I try to make
the weekends I am home special since I am away at school during the week. I
told them what I was planning to make for breakfast in the morning and my
oldest began to cry. When I asked her why she was crying she told me because
she wanted pancakes. I’m not sure why but I became frustrated. I told her that
there were boys and girls in Iraq who don’t even know where their Mommies and Daddies
are (I know, a bit overboard, sorry). She seemed surprised that any child
wouldn’t wake up to their Mommy or Daddy being there. I asked her if it was
really important enough to cry over pancakes and she admitted it wasn’t as she
rolled over and went to sleep.
As I came downstairs I thought “I
need to get a grip”. I needed to relax and just enjoy my weekend home, stop
thinking about the Middle East all the time. As I came down the stairs my wife
asked me if I had heard the news. It was then that she informed me that the
city I had lived in, fought in, and many of my brothers had died in, had been
taken over by ISIS. To be honest I was surprised. I had assumed the city had
already been overrun. None-the-less I called many of my Platoon mates from
nearly 10 years ago to see how they were. I called my best friend, my RTO, and
my best Squad mate. Everyone was okay but my RTO reminded me of the kid we used
to see daily on patrol. He was about the age of my oldest daughter today, back
then. He and his brother used to bring us bread and water. We would chase them,
put our helmets on them, play with them. They were the children I had in mind
when I scolded my daughter tonight. It was in that moment I realized; “Merciful
and Loving God, protect that boy” because it was in that moment I realized that
this child we had all come to love is of age to serve ISIS as one of their own.
He is probably of age to fight now, and he very well may already be fighting or
worse, dead. The thought drug my heart into my stomach. 
To my
brothers of 3/25, lift your heads high, there is no reason to feel shame. To
the people of Hit, Iraq; you are heavy in my heart and mind. To the militants
of ISIS; I will lift you up in prayer. I will pray that God’s wisdom, love, and
peace guide your way before your way is lost. It is never too late to fight for
a shared cause of creative justice through love and mercy. At the height of
many of the Islamic Caliphates, the models you claim to follow were often
instruments of that love and mercy. They oftentimes protected Christians and
Jews as people of the book and “dihmmi”. The true Caliphate also protected
shrines, temples, churches, and synagogues that predate Islam until ISIS came
and destroyed them. This isn’t a form of God’s work in our world. It is human
brokenness and evil. So, I pray that you can turn back to a true path before
your legacy becomes a permanent blight on the conscious of our shared humanity.
I pray that it’s not too late. I pray these things as a member of our shared
humanity.
سلام, שלום,
and Peace
