For several years I was associated with an international organization, Peace Brigades International (PBI). It had its origins with Mahatma Gandhi, who coined the phrase “Peace Brigades” in his native India, to describe groups of trained volunteers who would go into situations of conflict (often between Hindus and Muslims) and be a force for peace. The volunteers were non-partisan; made contact with all parties to the conflict; wore special identifying clothing; and had the courage of their convictions that alternatives to violence were always possible and preferable.

As an international organization, PBI began in 1981. Since then, PBI has been invited to numerous countries where human rights workers were under threat. The PBI volunteers accompany these human rights workers and their families and in the process put their own lives at risk. Their courage in the face of difficult situations and the constant possibility of violence has been an inspiration to many, including myself. In all those years and all those various settings, no PBI volunteer has been killed, nor anyone they have accompanied, while in their presence. It is a testament to the power and possibility of nonviolence, and the fearlessness of those volunteers who profess it.

We are in need of greater fearlessness! The challenges of the day can send one hiding in a corner or lashing out in anger and despair. What we need instead is people with the courage to face our fears and forge the alternative future we envision.

We know that hiding in the corner doesn’t help. We can understand a child who is afraid of the dark, and we will take opportunities to make them more comfortable with darkness. But it’s harder to excuse the adult who is afraid of the light. Too often fear, originating in issues of the past or expectations for the future, immobilizes. If only we can live more in the present, we will realize we are alive, the sky is still above us and the earth under our feet. 

Some believe that fear is also the origin of anger and even hate. They define hate as a secondary emotion that arises from fear. It could be the fear of rejection or loss; the fear of abandonment or replacement; the fear of mortality and death. We saw this relationship between fear and hate come into clearer focus in the recent “hate crime” in Buffalo, where the killer cited the “Replacement Theory” for murdering 10 Black people in the Tops supermarket. His writings included “statements that his motivation for the attack was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar racially-motivated attacks.” 

There are those who believe the addiction to guns in this country is the result of fear. Most research comparing gun owners to non-gun owners suggests that ownership is rooted in fear. And a 2018 study found that there were more guns in the U.S. than people; 393.3 million weapons to 330 million people. We are the only country in the world with more guns than people! All reports since 2018 suggest the numbers have only increased in the last four years, as mass shootings heighten the fear of government intervention and gun owners stock up on new weapons. 

A case in point: there were approximately 8.5 million assault weapons in circulation after the assault weapons ban ended in 2004. In 2020, the National Shooting Sports Foundation estimated there were around 19.8 million. 

Perhaps if gun owners are fated to be fearful people, they should be afraid of the statistics. Owning a firearm is linked to increased risks of suicide, accidental injury and death and violence against women. One can speculate on the fear factors involved in preferring concealed carry to a locked cabinet at home; or if gun owners have better mental health and sounder sleep.

Gandhi wrote rather extensively about fear. “When God is our protector and companion, why or whom shall we fear, however fierce be the storm, however deep the darkness.” And again, “Fear is a worse disease than malaria or Kalaazar; these diseases kill the body, fear kills the soul. A fear-stricken man can never know God, and one who knows God will never fear a mortal man.”

The Christian faith also seems clear, which makes one wonder what Bible, gun-toting pastors and church ushers, are reading? Try, “There is no room for fear in love; perfect love banishes fear.” And again, for those who allow their fear to turn into hate; “If a man says, ‘I love God,’ while hating his brother, he is a liar.”

Or, if you prefer, skip Gandhi and religious sentiment. Try the Oval Office of another age, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”