Sin isn't a monopoly of
the developed countries

By Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.

A friend suggested recently that the tragedy of Sept. 11 needs to be judged in light of the very serious social and economic inequalities in the world.

In other words, he seemed to imply, desperate people do desperate things, so maybe the killers' guilt was mitigated — or at least understandable.

It's a tempting idea: If we have a legitimate grievance, or think we do, maybe the moral ground rules have a special loophole for getting even.

But while I agree that remembering the world's inequalities serves a very important purpose, the injustices in the world can never be used to "contextualize" or excuse mass murder. And the United States is by no means the only source of the world's social and economic inequalities. America bears heavier moral obligations for its actions because of its prosperity and power, but in the Muslim countries and throughout the Third World, rulers have consistently exploited their own people, with or without Western involvement. Sin isn't a monopoly of the developed countries.

Early in our lives as Catholics, we learn that we should each examine our conscience every day. Living the Gospel means reviewing and correcting our personal actions in the light of Jesus Christ as part of our daily routine. If that's good advice for individuals, it's good advice for nations as well.

No purely military solution to terrorism can ever work without simultaneously seeking to address the deeper injustices in the world and our nation's part in them. American Catholics need to reread Vatican II's "Gaudium et Spes" (the "Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World") and apply it to the way they live their citizenship. There's no better guide to living the Gospel in the public arena. In fact, "Gaudium et Spes" is a worthy examination of conscience for our entire culture.

The Church has been begging people in the developed countries to turn away from greed, self-absorption and the idolatry of material comfort for decades. September 11 can serve as a wake-up call. God has given the West enormous advantages. Too often, we haven't used those advantages to help the world's poor. The internal logic of greed is that it destroys itself. Americans need to reflect on that with a new humility.

At the same time, self-examination can't be allowed to prevent the United States from defending its own people. The first and overriding "inequality" Americans face at the moment is this one: The real Sept. 11 murderers — the architects of the murders — are alive and determined to kill again, while the murder victims have been robbed of their lives, their futures, their hopes, dreams and families.

More than 5,000 innocent people died at the hands of extremist killers in a single day in September, and others continue to die through what appears to be bio-terrorism. No government can keep its legitimacy if it fails to energetically protect its people and forcefully pursue justice for crimes committed against them.

Of course, American Catholics still have memories of the discrimination and hatred they themselves experienced in the recent past as immigrant outsiders in a predominantly Protestant country. So we also have the responsibility of sensitizing people to the rights of Arabs and Muslims in the United States.

Christians, Jews, Muslims and all human beings are equally the children of God. They have the same dignity and the same right to a life without fear. Prejudice against Arabs and Muslims in the United States not only violates their personal dignity; it also demeans the principles our nation embodies.

I believe that despite our flaws and sins, Americans are a good people — and also a great people. We have a chance in the United States to show the world that Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths, and no faith, can live together in mutual respect and peace. Whether Americans today have the character to accomplish that goal remains to be seen. It has to be proven again in every new generation.