Peshawar murders show need to support those who share our values

For those who are committed to the idea that Muslims are evil, the vicious school attack in Peshawar, Pakistan, must be confusing, because it doesn’t fit their script.

Nearly 150 people are known dead in the attack so far — almost all of them children. For Pakistanis, this is the equivalent of about five or six of the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. We were traumatized in this country when 20 children and six adults were killed by a mentally ill man two years ago. The tragedy for my Pakistani friends is far more deadly.

It’s natural for us to see tragedies close to us as more serious than tragedies on the other side of the world. Tragedies in which the victims look like us seem more important to us than those where the victims belong to some other group. But imagine a school attack like this — with at least 132 children intentionally slaughtered — in California or Ohio or Alabama or New Jersey.

This is a tragedy that’s hard for us to comprehend, because we haven’t faced one bigger than this since Sept. 11, 2001.

For those who see the world in terms of “evil Muslims” vs. “good westerners,” the Peshawar massacre doesn’t make sense, because it doesn’t fit within their understanding. Instead, the attackers and the victims were all Muslims. If you start to understand the significance of that, you can see the error that many people make in seeing Muslims — all Muslims — as their enemies.

When Catholics and Protestants brutally killed each other for many years in Northern Ireland, it wasn’t because Christianity was evil. It was because two separate groups wanted very different political futures for that sliver of Ireland — and they were willing to kill to get their way.

When Catholics and Protestants fought wars for many years after the Reformation, it wasn’t because Christianity was evil. It wasn’t because a reasonable understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ justified those politically motivated wars. It was because selfish human beings wanted to impose their will on other people.

In the same way, the violence we’ve been seeing for the past few decades from Muslim fundamentalists isn’t because Islam is evil. It’s because predominantly Muslim countries have slowly been modernizing over the last century — and some people don’t like that. Those people want to cling to something that existed only in their own imaginations, so they have created a strict, idealized version of Islam that they demand other people follow — and they are willing to kill Christians or Muslims or Jews or anyone else who refuses to obey.

When I see certain ignorant Americans who rail against all Muslims — because they need someone to blame for the actions of those fundamentalists — I think about the friends I’ve known over the last decade or so who live in countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Jordan and Egypt. All of these friends are Muslims, but all of them are more like you and me than they are like the evil people who slaughtered children in Peshawar.

I recently listened to an interview with a Muslim writer who is originally from Iran but grew up in the United States. Reza Aslan grew up in a Muslim culture and then spent years as a Christian before returning to Islam. His religious beliefs and understanding of the world are nuanced and complex. I don’t agree with him about everything, but he gave me an interesting new way to look at what’s going on among Muslims.

Aslan says the violence coming from fundamentalist Muslims today is a backlash against a “reformation” that has been going on in Islam for years. Over the last century, Islam has slowly modernized and adopted values which the old-fashioned fundamentalists don’t like. Their violence today is an attempt to turn back the clock, he says. I think he’s right. (I highly recommend the entire interview.)

If you’re one of those who sees the world in terms of “Christian vs. Muslim,” please understand that reality is far more complex. The minority of Muslims who truly support the fundamentalist violence against the West and against the modern moderates of their own countries are our enemies, but they’re the enemies of the majority of their countries even more.

There are some evil Muslims. There are some evil Christians. There are some evil atheists. There are evil people among every ethnic group or belief. It’s just part of being human.

We need to work harder to make sure that the people in predominantly Muslim countries understand that we support those who share our values. We also need to work harder to stamp out the ignorant belief that all Muslims are terrorists who are trying to destroy the West.

For Pakistanis and Muslims, there is a lot to mourn right now. They have a lot of anger and sadness to work through. But for those of us observing from afar, it’s a good time to recommit ourselves to supporting these decent human beings who simply want to live good and meaningful lives without fear from monsters trying to kill them or control them.

My heart goes out to the few people I know in Pakistan. You are good people and you have my admiration and support as you continue the fight to make your beautiful country safer and freer.