The Second Reading from 1 John, began with this: “My little children, let us not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.” It’s a beautiful line, encouraging us to love in fullness, not just wear it as a costume.
John’s letter was to believers in Asia Minor. He is speaking of the truth of God’s salvation. That is something Christians agree with. But in so many other matters, we agree there is truth. We just don’t agree on what’s true.
I’ve been thinking lately about “truth” as we share it with our fellow travelers on the planet.
Shouldn’t true things be obvious?
But once we get beyond the sun rising in the east and the Earth being round, the disputes begin. You find people who think the world is flat, so that’s not even a good example.
Why is it so difficult to say what is true?
We share the same empirical evidence and the same five senses to experience them. It should be easy to say, “We agree this is true.” As the cynic in my brain says, “Yeah, good luck with that.”
In the last few weeks, protests have broken out on college campuses opposing Israel’s war on Gaza. If you are my age or older, the Vietnam War protests come to mind. It is one of those echoes from history you note as you get older.
The Vietnam War almost perfectly coincided with my coming of age. The United States sent combat troops there when I was in third grade; the last ones left the spring of my junior year. Between local soldiers interviewed on KNUJ Radio and Walter Cronkite talking to us every evening, it was never far from my developing consciousness.
My perceptions reflected the nation’s. As a child, I was convinced our soldiers were protecting us all. I remember being a ten-year old doing chores, and having my heart stirred by the “Ballad of the Green Berets” on the barn radio.
As I moved to adolescence watching the protests on the CBS Evening News, my shift in understanding and doubts grew coincidentally with many Americans. I was twelve when the My Lai Massacre struck a blow across the conscience of our nation. I was fourteen when students were killed at Kent State.
In the southeast Asian jungles, it was never clear whether we were winning or losing. It was certain that stateside support for the war was eroding. When students began marching, most Americans thought they knew why we were in Vietnam. By the end, most Americans were not sure at all that the lives of 58,000 young men were worth it.
Who knows? If not for those students challenging our government, might it have taken 68,000 lives to convince our leaders to get out of that slog? 78,000?
What was “truth” shifted. In 1965, Communism was perceived as a giant threat. Sixty years later, we see it never was with its inherent, deep-seated weaknesses. Today, authoritarian regimes in China and Russia are a deeper threat to democracy than Communism ever was.
The current campus protests are hugely different in that American soldiers are not risking their lives. But it is American bombs that are killing Palestinians. We are very accountable for what goes on there, whether our weapons are used rightly or wrongly.
Again, there are two wildly different notions of “truth.” We all know the rough outline. The militant group Hamas attacked settlements in Israel on Oct. 7: 1,200 dead. The Israeli Army struck back: 35,000 dead? “Authorities say they can no longer count all their dead. Hospitals, emergency services and communications are barely functioning.”
My daughter works for the United Nations. That organization has been pressing Israel for a ceasefire. Several resolutions to that end offered at the United Nations were vetoed by the United States as global support for Israel has shrunk to our two countries.
I wrote before about the feed of photos and videos on Instagram that I have seen from Gaza. It is one thing to read 15,000 children have been killed. It is another to see video of a child screaming in pain from having their leg torn off. Or to see a sobbing mother holding the corpse of her child. Or a father desperately digging through rubble trying to unearth a wailing infant.
To say that the Israeli response was indiscriminate is an understatement. Bombing a school where families have gone for shelter after their homes were destroyed is a military strategy, I guess. Does it matter that it is a moral or legal one?
Now we have college students protesting again. Sixty years ago, that presaged a shift in Americans support for a war. We’ll see if that happens this time.
It needs to be said every time that opposition to the Gazan killings is not antisemitism. I have encountered terrible things said about Jewish people here in rural Minnesota. I never understood where that comes from, but it is real, and it is ugly. I have called it out a few times, and we need to all do that. No, Jewish bankers aren’t secretly controlling the world’s economies.
There is in Israel itself, strong opposition to Netanyahu’s campaign. Most Jewish Americans under thirty oppose the Gaza War. They understand that Israel is less safe today than it was seven months ago. Tremendous global support for Israel on October 8th was dashed against the rocks.
So, what is “true?” In this case, I think we can identify one source of conflicting views. I’m certain those young people challenging Israel and the United States to do better have seen the pictures and videos I’ve seen. I don’t know why they have not made it into most media in our country. Perhaps they are too gruesome? I hope it’s not an attempt to cover up things. Most of the world has seen them.
I suspect those who are condemning the protests outright haven’t. It is the difference between reading a number like 15,000 and seeing one child dying in excruciating pain.
In the last days, some protests have been destructive. It becomes too easy to write off an entire movement colored by a few bad actors. I continue to sympathize with the young people opposing military violence against innocents in Gaza. I’ll stand with their truth.