Forgiveness Law vs. Preemptive Vengeance

FORGIVENESS LAW VS. PREEMPTIVE VENGEANCE

On Easter Sunday, April 23, 2000, the Los Angeles Times featured two op-ed editorials that clearly showed one of the major if not THE major cultural conflicts in our society.

One editorial, by Julia Vitullo-Martin, proclaimed the message of Easter: forgiveness. In the process of developing this theme, the editorial quoted Jesus on the cross, saying “Father, Forgive them, they know not what they do.”

The other editorial, by the renowned conservative William Safire, equated the Passover message with the Old Testament eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Mr. Safire focused on the Book of Esther and explained that Esther got King Xerxes to give the Jews several days to annihilate their enemies before their enemies were planning to execute judgment on them. Mr. Safire summarized this point with this statement, “Jews learned that total war was justifiable when survival was at stake. And so we teach our children.” He then called upon this generation of Jews to preemptively and definitively declare war on those who “might” be against them.

Although Mr. Safire is a conservative, with great clarity, this second article summarizes the ACLU position that constantly, preemptively attacks Christians just in case some so-called Christians should err or commit a wrong against any minority. Most Christians are always caught off guard by this fierceness because they have, by and large, incorporated the message of forgiveness into their lives and believe that they should be allowed to proclaim this message of Good News to all who do not understand it. Thus, unwittingly, the Los Angeles Times’ Easter op-ed page set forth a major drama that is being played out in our contemporary culture. Will forgiveness or preemptive war ultimately triumph is the question that these editorials pose?