Evil and forgiveness

Is forgiveness more shocking than murder? When the Amish community suffered its horrific loss recently at the hands of an armed outsider, the forgiveness they expressed to him and his family was as shocking to some as the horror it forgave.

But why, in a country supposedly guided by Judeo-Christian ethics, should empathy and forgiveness be so foreign to us?

In the early morning of 9/11, after the first plane hit, I remember thinking “Now things will have to change...” In that instant it was clear to me that an intolerable inequity had finally tipped the scales and we had been delivered into a new world, one that could no longer ignore the injustices of poverty and exploitation.

It turns out I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong.

Not only did we do nothing to address the situation in the world that inspires some people to hurl themselves and others into skyscrapers as human ammo, we immediately vilified the terrorists as “evil.”

Evil is a tricky word. Unlike human beings, it is absolute. The polar opposite of good. You know it when you see it.

Jesus is said to have suffered at its hands. Yet, even in crucifixion, he forgave, and warned us to do the same.

The grandfather of one of the Amish girls who was murdered said, “We must not think evil of this man,” referring to the man who killed his son’s daughter. That seems to be the hardest lesson in all of this. How not to think evil of a man who murders your kin?

I struggle with the answer to that, but even as I do, I know there is sense in it. To think a man, or a nation or religion is evil, you must ignore the complexity of their existence. The humanity of them. You must forget they have family love, culture, a concept of God, even.

But if you accept a man as human, with human frailties, you can see his act as evil or wanton or cruel, and still forgive the man.

Forgiveness, of course, does not rule out punishment. The Amish believe in Jesus’s teachings that vengeance belongs to the Lord. If their children’s murderer had not taken his own life, what punishment would they have meted out?

If he had been Amish, they would shun him for a period of time, even forever, if he did not repent. With a crime of this magnitude, they would not be able to keep him from being dealt with by law enforcement from the “outside,” or non-Amish, society. But they might not participate in his prosecution and, especially, would not instigate legal action against him. The Amish truly believe that all retribution comes from God.

This concept, however godly, does not always work to promote a healthy society. There are few studies of Amish culture, because it is a closed society. Amish offenders are dealt with by the community and are rarely referred to outside law enforcement.

One result of this insularity has been a reported “plague” of incest and rape among them. One Amish elder was shunned indefinitely for the repeated rapes of a series of young family members. According to the few Amish who have spoken on the outside, risking and enduring their own brand of shunning, this problem is endemic to the community. Pedophilia is a crime that is difficult to deal with in the most orderly society, with indefinite incarceration sometimes the only solution.

How does Amish forgiveness protect its children from that kind of threat?

One of the most troubling aspects of this crime was its threatened sexual molestation. The whole subject of predatory sexual behavior seemed at odds with our image of the bucolic country life of the Amish. But human life is complex, and it is precisely that complexity that leads people to form communities, religions, laws.

The man who wreaked his personal demons on the little girls in Lancaster County exposed his own flaws glaringly, with deadly consequences. Perhaps the Amish will one day see his act as an opportunity to examine the flaws of their community, as well as those of the outside world.

Evil is always too simple to be the whole truth. So is forgiveness.