The Human Cost of Inaction

What are the consequences of a military strike on Syria?

By Andrea Lieber, associate professor of religion

The consequences of a military strike on Syria are clear: The continued loss of human lives, a costly entanglement in yet another seemingly endless conflict in the Middle East and the sting of criticism that will inevitably come from both our global allies and segments of the American population so loudly opposed to military intervention.

But what are the consequences we face in failing to intervene in a conflict that has already taken more than 100,000 human lives? Does America, founded on the humanistic principles of the enlightenment and democracy, have a moral obligation to stop mass murder outside our own borders when it can? As a professor of religion, I think it's hard not to compare this moment to the world's lack of intervention during the Holocaust, or what we might have done differently in the face of genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia.

Though not a religious war, per se, the current conflict in Syria is deeply intertwined with religion. It is not just the bitter and historical religious sectarianism that divides Syria's Muslim population, or the precarious place of Syria's religious minorities that are at issue, but it is also a question of the religious and secular values that inform our own cultural perspectives-how committed are we, as a nation, to the sanctity of human life, and how much do we risk to defend against injustice?

Read more Dickinson faculty perspectives on Syria.

Published September 7, 2013