The Wild Reed: James Foley

Showing posts with label James Foley. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Whether Christian or Muslim, James Foley Remains a "Symbol of Faith Under the Most Brutal of Conditions"

Some Catholic Christians are apparently upset by news that photo-journalist James Foley converted to Islam during his months of harsh imprisonment by ISIS, an imprisonment that tragically ended last August with his beheading by the extremist Islamic group.

In a recent New York Times piece Jim Yardley notes that:

[F]or many of his fellow Roman Catholics, Mr. Foley’s death in Syria transformed him into a symbol of faith under the most brutal of conditions.

One Catholic essayist compared him to St. Bartholomew, who died for his Christian faith. Others were drawn to Mr. Foley’s account of praying the rosary during an earlier captivity in Libya. Even Pope Francis, in a condolence call to Mr. Foley’s parents, described him as a martyr, according to the family.

Then came an unexpected twist: It turned out that Mr. Foley was among several hostages in Syria who had converted to Islam in captivity, according to some freed captives. What had been among some Catholics a theological discussion of faith and heroic resistance quickly shifted to a different set of questions:

Is any conversion under such duress a legitimate one? Why would a man who had spoken so openly about his Catholic faith turn to Islam? Given his circumstances, is it even surprising if he did?

Hmm, I can't say these were the questions that came to my mind when, as a Catholic, I first heard news of Foley's "conversion." From its earliest days, the debate about whether this conversion was "genuine" or "legitimate" failed, in my opinion, to acknowledge the most crucial reality: that regardless of whether he identified as "Catholic" or "Muslim," James Foley was (and remains) an inspiring symbol of faith under brutal, dehumanizing conditions.

From my reading of his months in captivity, James was sustained by a faith in the Divine Presence that not only gave him hope and strength to endure hardship, but also connected him in a deeply spiritual way to many of those around him and to his family in the U.S.

Yet clearly for many people it's important that James "died a Christian." For me, the more important thing is that he died knowing he was one with the loving and sustaining Divine Presence, however one labels it or oneself.

I'll talk about this further in a moment, but first I share another excerpt from Jim Yardley's New York Times article.

The issue [of Foley's conversion first] arose after Mr. Foley’s [2011] captivity in Libya. In a series of articles in Global Post, as well as during an appearance at Marquette [University], Mr. Foley described how he had agreed to pray with his Muslim cellmates, jailed as enemies of the Qaddafi government. He was surprised when, after he had washed himself, they declared him converted.

“So, from then on out, I prayed with them five times a day,” he said at Marquette. “It was so powerful, and it was something I needed to do to commune with these guys who were relying on their faith in Allah. But it was difficult. I was thinking, ‘Jesus, am I praying to Allah? Am I violating my belief in you?’ ”

“I don’t have an answer to that,” he continued. “I just know that I was authentically with them, and I was authentically praying to Jesus. I don’t know theologically. But I thought I was being authentic.”

His family said his Syrian captivity was much the same.

Actually, "Allah" is an Arabic word for God used by both Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. I also think it's rather sad that the different religions instill in people the kind of doubts that James expressed: the idea that a different name implies a different God. This is especially unfortunate when one recalls that members of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all acknowledge and pray to the same "God" – the "God of Abraham."

From my perspective, it's the same Divine Presence we all pray to, regardless of the names we give to it or to ourselves. It's a presence bigger that us – or our theologies, religions and dogmas.

In his experience of the sustaining love of this Divine Presence, I like to think that in the last months of his life James Foley transcended the religious boundaries that so many people feel they need to emphasize and enforce so as to justify the perceived uniqueness or superiority of their particular faith tradition. In this transcendence, I like to think that James became, or at least was beginning to become, an embodiment of that level of consciousness and stage of faith development known as universalizing faith.

I've come to find hope in the possibility that this stage of faith is one to which we're all ultimately called. It's a faith embodied by people like Mahatma Gandhi (who famously responded to those disturbed by his praying as a Hindu with those of other faiths: "Yes, I am [a Hindu]. I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew") and by mystics of all faith traditions. For as Andrew Harvey imparts, a mystic is "someone who has a direct and naked perception of God, beyond dogma, beyond ideas, beyond any possible formulation in words of any kind."

Universalizing faith is catholic in the most profound and meaningful sense of the word. For as theologian Ilia Delio reminds us, originally "the word catholic literally meant an active process of making whole." In her book The Emergent Christ: Exploring the Meaning of Catholic in an Evolutionary Universe, Delio also notes that the reign of God preached by Jesus "meant a new consciousness of being in the world, a consciousness of relatedness, inclusivity, non-duality, and community. Jesus ushered in a new presence of God . . . [and] the good news that emerged in the life of Jesus was the news of God's healing love; the binding of wounds; the reconciling of relationships torn apart by anger, hurt, jealousy, or vengeance; the revelation that love is stronger than death and that forgiveness is the act of love that creates a new future."

In his words and actions, James Foley embodied so much of what's conveyed within these beautiful insights articulated by Ilia Delio. And it's an embodiment independent of any label.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• James Foley: "Prayer Was the Glue That Enabled My Freedom, An Inner Freedom"
• "Even in This Darkness"
• Prayer of the Week – February 16, 2015
• Michael Morwood on the Divine Presence
• Thoughts on Prayer in a "Summer of Strife"
• Prayer and the Experience of God in an Ever-Unfolding Universe
• The Most Sacred and Simple Mystery of All
• The Source is Within You
• In the Garden of Spirituality – L. Patrick Carroll, S.J.

Related Off-site Links:
Life on the Front Lines: A View from James Foley’s Camera – GlobalPost (August 8, 2015).
Beheaded Journalist James Foley’s Mother Says He’d Be 'Devastated' by Revenge Killing of 'Jihadi John' – Jordan Chariton (The Wrap, November 13, 2015).
Covering War to End War: New Film Recounts Life and Legacy of James Foley, Journalist Killed by ISIS – Democracy Now! (January 28, 2016).

Image: James Foley outside Aleppo, Syria, in July 2012, a few months before his abduction. (Photo: Nicole Tung)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

"Even in This Darkness"

I know you are thinking of me and praying for me. And I am so thankful. I feel you all especially when I pray. I pray for you to stay strong and to believe. I really feel I can touch you even in this darkness when I pray.

– James Foley (1973-2014)

From a message memorized in June by a fellow captive later freed,
and printed in the article, "Foley Describes Captivity in Letter to Family"
Associated Press
August 24, 2014

See also the previous Wild Reed post:
James Foley: "Prayer Was the Glue That Enabled My Freedom, An Inner Freedom"

Related Off-site Links:
James Foley's Family Shares His Hopeful Final Letter – Polly Mosendz (The Wire, August 25, 2014).
Bishop: Slain US Journalist Foley Opened Our Eyes – Jeff McMenemy (Associated Press, August 24, 2014).
James Foley: Focus on Humanity Amid Suffering – Dave Clark (AFP, August 20, 2014).
What My Friend Jim Foley Taught Me to Question – Jessica Desvarieux (The Real News via YouTube, August 20, 2014).
James Foley on the Power of Prayer – Frank Weathers (Patheos, August 19, 2014).
Remembering James Foley's Remarkable Faith – Antonia Blumberg (The Huffington Post, August 20, 2014).
Faith, Prayer Sources of Strength for Slain U.S. Journalist, His Family – Catholic News Service (August 20, 2014).
Priest Comforts Foley Family After Killing of Journalist – Catholic Herald (August 20, 2014).
Pope Phones Family of Slain U.S. Journalist – Francis X. Rocca (Catholic News Service, August 21, 2014).
British Intelligence Reportedly IDs James Foley's Executioner – Dashiell Bennett (The Wire, August 24, 2014).
ISIS, Hip-Hop Jihadists and the Man Who Killed James Foley – Christopher Dickey (The Daily Beast, August 25, 2014).
One Big Question Surrounds The Murder of U.S. Journalist James Foley by ISIS – Michael B. Kelley (Business Insider, August 25, 2014).
Top Islamic Authority: Extremists Are No "Islamic State" – Sarah El Deeb (Associated Press via Yahoo! News, August 24, 2014).
Top Sunni Cleric Says Stop Calling Terrorists "Islamic" – Patrick Goodenough (CNS News, August 25, 2014).

UPDATES: The Horror Before the Beheadings: ISIS Hostages Endured Torture and Dashed Hopes, Freed Cellmates Say – Rukmini Callimachi (The New York Times, October 25, 2014).
James Foley Remembered with Touching In Memoriam Video at Online Journalism Awards – Ryan Grenoble (The Huffington Post, October 30, 2014).
Debating a Change of Faith Under Brutal Captivity – Jim Yardley (The New York Times, February 21, 2015).
Life on the Front Lines: A View from James Foley’s Camera – GlobalPost (August 8, 2015).
Beheaded Journalist James Foley’s Mother Says He’d Be 'Devastated' by Revenge Killing of 'Jihadi John' – Jordan Chariton (The Wrap, November 13, 2015).
Life on the Front Lines: A View from James Foley’s Camera – GlobalPost (August 8, 2015).
'Jihadi John' Death: Islamic State Says Mohammed Emwazi Killed – BBC News (January 19, 2016).
Covering War to End War: New Film Recounts Life and Legacy of James Foley, Journalist Killed by ISIS – Democracy Now! (January 28, 2016).

Image: Candles are lighted on the town common during a vigil for James Foley in his hometown of Rochester, N.H., Saturday, August 23, 2014. Foley, a freelance photojournalist, was killed earlier in the week by Islamic State militants. He was abducted in November 2012 while covering the civil war in Syria. (Photo: AP/Jim Cole)

Thursday, August 21, 2014

James Foley: "Prayer Was the Glue That Enabled My Freedom, An Inner Freedom"

"Prayer was the glue that enabled my freedom,
an inner freedom . . ."

Photojournalist James Foley wrote these words in 2011, when reflecting on the 44 days he and two others were held captive in Libya. He went on to say that prayer, in this instance, also enabled "the miracle of being released during a war in which the regime had no real incentive to free us." He acknowledged that such a turn-of-events made no sense, but that faith did.

Shortly after his return to the U.S. from Libya, Foley, who was raised Catholic and graduated from Marquette University in 1996, visited and spoke to members of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, his family's parish in Rochester, New Hampshire. "I knew you were praying for me," he told the community.

Foley soon returned to the Middle East, though not before raising $12,000 for the Syrian American Medical Society. On November 22, 2012, he was abducted while reporting for GlobalPost and Agence France-Presse on the ongoing civil war in Syria. For almost two years nothing was heard from him, although one source says that he was "moved a number of times and passed through the hands of various captors."

Didier Francois, a veteran French war correspondent who was held with Foley for nine months before being released with three other French hostages in April, told the Reuters news agency that Foley "was an extraordinary person with a strong character. He was a pleasant companion in detention because he was solid and collective. He never gave in to the pressure and violence of the kidnappers."

Another released Frenchmen, Nicolas Henin, told France's Express magazine that Foley had been treated worse than the other captives, after militants searched his computer and discovered his brother was in the U.S. Air Force. "Because of that and as he was American he got extra bad treatment. He became the whipping boy of the jailers, but he remained implacable," said Henin.

The uncertainty and silence surrounding Foley's fate was tragically broken this past Tuesday when a gruesome video was posted online showing him being beheaded by a masked member of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Notes the New York Times:

Titled “A Message to America,” the video shows [Foley] kneeling in a desert landscape, clad in an orange jumpsuit — an apparent reference to the uniforms worn by prisoners at the American military detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Standing to his left is a masked ISIS fighter, who begins speaking in English, with what sounds like an East London accent. Pulling out a knife, he says that Mr. Foley’s execution is in retaliation for the recent American airstrikes ordered by President Obama against the extremist group in Iraq. . . . [After Foley's decapitation] the video concludes with the fighter threatening to kill Steven Sotloff, another American freelance journalist, who was being held alongside Mr. Foley. Mr. Sotloff is seen kneeling in the same position, in the same landscape and wearing the same style of orange-colored jumpsuit. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the fighter says.

The Obama administration has confirmed the authenticity of the video, and the Foley family has paid tribute to their son, noting that James was "a martyr, a martyr for freedom."

John and Diane Foley also praised their son's "deep courage" and his passion for reporting from the front lines. John Foley said that his son always sought to "humanize" the people and the struggles he witnessed. "He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people," Diane Foley added.

In London, Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy, who worked alongside James in 2011, echoed Diane Foley's sentiments, noting that James had shone "a light into . . . dark places where dictators thrive."

In paying tribute to her friend and colleague, Real News reporter Jessica Desvarieux recounted how "Jim wanted to speak to the [Syrian] people so that we would get a sense of what's really going on. . . . He wanted to share with the world [their] stories."

James Foley himself told the BBC in 2012 that, "I'm drawn to trying to explore the untold stories. I'm drawn to the human rights side. . . . So many of the reporters are. . . . That's the inspiring thing about it."

These words of James' remind me of broadcast journalist Amy Goodman's contention that journalism, and the listening and sharing of other people's stories that it involves, is a "sacred responsibility."

Since news broke about James Foley's death I've been drawn to his story and, in particular, the role that prayer played in his life and the life of his family.

After the ordeal that he and his two colleagues experienced in Libya, for instance, he wrote of how during his time of captivity he had come to trust "some cosmic reach of the universe" to help him connect with his loved ones, his mother in particular. Drawing on his Catholic upbringing, James used the praying of the rosary to facilitate this experience of communication and connection.

Each day brought increasing worry that our moms would begin to panic. My colleague, Clare, was supposed to call her mom on her birthday, which was the day after we were captured. I had still not fully admitted to myself that my mom knew what had happened. But I kept telling Clare my mom had a strong faith.

I prayed she’d know I was OK. I prayed I could communicate through some cosmic reach of the universe to her.

I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed.  I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused.

Clare and I prayed together out loud. It felt energizing to speak our weaknesses and hopes together, as if in a conversation with God, rather than silently and alone.

James' words bring to mind those of Catholic theologian Michael Morwood. You may recall that just yesterday I shared an excerpt from Morwood's book It's Time. The focus of this particular excerpt was on "the Divine Presence," Morwood's term for the ancient spiritual understanding of God "always here, always and everywhere active in an expanding universe."

Of course, if God, the Divine Presence, is indeed "always and everywhere active," then those open to this presence and action are always connected to one another in a profoundly beautiful and mysterious way, one that not even death can put a stop to. I also believe that regardless of whether or not we acknowledge or recognize it, we are all held within, and connected with all creation through, the Divine Presence.

Prayer doesn't create this connection, this mystical oneness, as it's already and always there. What prayer can and does do, however, is attune us to and heighten our awareness of this wondrous connection. Through prayer we open ourselves to what author James Conlon describes as the "embrace of divine energy that enfolds our presence and heals our pain." It's an embrace that, as James Foley and his loved ones experienced, holds us together and provides strength, courage and mercy – a mercy which we can, like Jesus, extend even to those who grievously hurt us. I was quite moved and inspired to hear James' mother, Diane, say in an interview that in the wake of her son's murder she is praying (and asking others to pray) that she doesn't become bitter. "I don't want to hate," she says.

I hope and pray that throughout the duration of James Foley's imprisonment in Syria and right up to the moment of his death and his entering fully into the Divine Presence, that he knew that "inner freedom" he spoke about during his previous captivity in Libya. I hope and pray that he knew liberation from all that sought to undermine or break his sustaining connection, his relationship, with God; that he experienced the strength and love of the Divine Presence and thus of his family who, though half the world away, were still very much connected to him . . . and will always remain connected to him.

I purposefully chose not to include in this post any stills from the video of James' execution. As brave as he was in the moments leading up to his death, depictions of him bound and next to the psychopath who would soon brutally murder him is not how I wish to remember James Foley.

Instead I share some of the images that James took while doing what he loved most: documenting and humanizing the people and struggles he encountered while reporting on the front lines of various conflicts in the Middle East. These photos are from that part of James' Facebook page that is open to the public. They were taken in Iraq in 2008 and 2009, and show what a gifted photojournalist and perceptive human being James Foley was.

May his spirit be one with the transforming love that is the Divine Presence.