"The War of the Worlds"
Some years ago a pastor friend of mine delivered a sermon in which he averred that maybe what we needed was to discover that there is another populated planet out there and its inhabitants are out to destroy our civilization. Maybe that, he went on, would finally lead us to come together across nations and races, bridging differences that have too often separated us, to save our civilization.
Well, horribly, I don't think it is engaging in hyperbole to say that we have our "War of the Worlds" today in the form of ISIS. It is dedicated to destroying civilization as we know it. Beyond that, we have the overhanging threat of nuclear disaster which would destroy civilization as we know it.
ISIS is a new and long term threat. It has taken tens of thousands of lives: Muslim and Christian lives in Syria and Iraq, Russian lives in the plane bombing in the Sinai peninsula, French and other lives in Paris; most recently lives in San Bernardino. It has contributed to a refugee crisis in the millions.
I believe that defeating ISIS and what it stands for and neutralizing the risk of nuclear annihilation will require new thinking and a new coalition of nations who have not worked together recently if ever. Arab and Muslim countries, NATO, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, etc. Countries not agreeing on all things, not all being bosom buddies, not all having the same values, but seeing that preserving civilization as we know it demands that we work together to a common goal.
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