SENTINEL WATCH January 13, 2003 Issue

Sifting for truth in the war on terrorism

By Channing Walker

SUDDENLY , War and Peace looks short. Consider the 12,000-page weapons declaration shipped from Iraq to the UN last month. Imagine sifting through reams of irrelevant data in the quest to uncover one or two useful clues.

In a way, the experts given that task represent a whole class of specialists at work in the war on terrorism who cull valuable nuggets of information from mountains of worthless gravel. They might, for instance, answer a phone-tip line—one where the public calls in, theoretically, with leads on possible threats. But apparently real leads are rare.

How to help? Relieved as I was last month not to face that mountainous reading assignment (in fact, no single person had to scale it alone), I didn't think that let me off the hook. The issues of terror and assurance, war and peace, impact us too much to turn our backs. By facing these issues, we become an informed citizenry. By confronting them with spiritual resolve, we become a prayer-minded public. And that's all to the good, because prayer that cherishes the needed spiritual capacities sharpens our focus and that of those who are sifting for truth.