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It has been said that out of great evil can come good.
Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas hopes that will be the case after last week's terrorist attacks on the United States.
"If we think about things in a new way, about who we are and how we allocate our time and resources, it could be a good thing for our nation," Thomas said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
Thomas, who is syndicated by Tribune Media Services, writes a column that appears in 525 newspapers nationwide - including the Times-Union. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he still resides there. His father was a Washington, Ind., native and moved to D.C. when he was 19 years old. Thomas and his wife, Ray, have four grown children and eight grandchildren.
He graduated from American University and is a 35-year veteran of broadcast and print journalism.
Thomas will be the featured speaker Oct. 6 at Rodeheaver Auditorium in Winona Lake as part of the American Lyceum Lecture Series. The series is sponsored by Grace College and the Village at Winona.
Thomas said our nation needs a moral awakening.
"We need to figure out who we are and what we stand for again. There is a hymn that goes:
'Once to every man and nation
comes the moment to decide
in the strife with truth or falsehood
to choose the good or evil side.'
"We have ignored even the idea of evil in our world and now it is staring us in the face. We need to shore up our own moral and spiritual infrastructure," he said.
Government can't do that, he said, adding that it must come from individuals.
"As far as the church is concerned, there are just as many Christians getting divorces. There are just as many Christian teen-agers having premarital sex," he said.
Thomas believes our nation has become too focused on making money and amassing material goods. We pursue happiness, but in the wrong place, he said.
"I think seven days ago there were things we then considered important which we now see as trivial - like working all the time, two incomes, dumping the kids in some kind of care-taking situation, acquiring luxury items. If those things can evaporate in a second, why spend so much time trying to accumulate them?"
Turning to the more pragmatic issue of dealing with the terrorist threat, Thomas said we need to rebuild our intelligence capabilities and "frankly, we're going to need some hit squads to take out terrorist cells on their territory before they get on our territory."
Our intelligence-gathering capability was damaged in the days of Sen. Frank Church, a Democrat from Ohio, Thomas said.
"(Church) and his liberal friends thought as long as you were nice to people, they'd be nice to you," he said.
It was that sentiment that led to a downscaling of intelligence activities and Thomas believes that was a mistake.
"There are nasty people in the world and evil must be opposed. Evil requires an appropriate response. I think in our 'Kumbaya,' 'Can't we all get along,' 'All we are asking is give peace a chance' age, we have been awakened to the fact that evil exists and must be opposed. For a generation, we won't be going back to what we were seven days ago."
He also believes we must examine our visa and immigration structure and look more closely at the kinds of people we allow into the country.
We also need to look out for each other.
Thomas, who has visited Israel several times, said there are signs there that say "report suspicious behavior."
"These guys were plunking down cash and taking flying lessons. Why weren't people suspicious about that?" he asked.
Thomas also supports Attorney General John Ashcroft's move to expand wiretapping and other surveillance and investigative procedures. "We're going to have to go after these cells that are still in our country. There are too many of them."
Regarding Osama bin Laden and his followers, Thomas notes that every religion has its fanatics. The difference is that the actions of fanatics are generally condemned by responsible people within the religion.
When the Christ-based individual shoots up an abortion clinic, for example, Christian leaders denounce it.
"I am still waiting to hear credible and responsible condemnation from Moslem clerics," Thomas said. Noting that the Koran - the Islamic equivalent of the Holy Bible - denounces violence, Thomas said, "I want the Moslem clerics to start teaching what the Koran actually says."
When he speaks in Winona Lake, sponsored in part by a Christian college, he will touch on current events and foundational principles that are essential for students to understand and practice.
He said a proper world view and a proper God view are necessary for young people to exist and succeed in today's society.
"I am not going to reform the world. I can only assist in transforming individuals," he said.
