Loving The Enemy

There’s a very hip and widely-seen bumper sticker (in the Bay Area at least!) which is inspired by Jesus’ teaching that we must strive always to love our enemies. The bumper sticker, in an obvious comment on ‘our’ lovely war on terror and against Islam and Muslim and Arab people, says something to the effect of When Jesus Said to Love Our Enemies He Probably Meant Don’t Kill Them.

Y’know, I have a problem with this message, as it applies to current US foreign policy goals and actions. Sometimes this teaching of loving ones’ enemies is a useful instruction. I remember when the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority and vicious attacker of non-Christians, queers, feminists and oh-so-many-others, died recently. I felt torn because I try to always retain the capacity to mourn at a loss of life. . .and I feel strongly that he and his agenda have already gotten more than enough attention from me and the world, at the expense of better people, ideas and movements upon which I’d rather concentrate. Plus, he really hated everything I stand for and in which I believe. I was heartened and educated by some mainstream gay organizations that publicly encouraged their communities to respectfully mark his passing while remaining unapologetically focused on human liberation. This, to me, is the essence of loving an enemy, to be able to acknowledge that there are those grieving Falwell’s death, in spite of the fact that Falwell and his followers did everything in their power to declare themselves my enemy.

However, people darker than I am, in lands unfamiliar to me, of religions different from mine, are actually not necessarily at all my enemies. Often they are strangers (still a far cry from enemies), and sometimes they are familiar friends. They can be and in many ways are comrades and teachers of mine. My enemies, those whom I love and those towards whom I am not (yet?) able to feel any affection or respect, are not the people my country is making war against.