“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.” So warned the prophet Isaiah thousands of years ago. We seem in need of hearing that warning again, especially in light of Aaron Bushnell’s death this week.
Bushnell, age 25, was a member of the U.S. Air Force who died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He did so, declaring he would “no longer be complicit in genocide,” referring to America’s support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas.
Some have tried to lionize Bushnell’s act. Cornel West, longtime professor, academic, and now presidential candidate, wrote on X, “Let us never forget the extraordinary courage and commitment of brother Aaron Bushnell who died for truth and justice!” Time published an article comparing Bushnell’s “ritual suicide” to the martyrdom of early Christians at the hands of Roman Empire officials.
Both West and Time should know better. Let us set aside, for now, whether Bushnell’s cause was just. Taking Hamas’s side after the atrocities it committed in a targeted fashion against women, children, and babies is dubious at best.
But we must oppose any praising for the killing of oneself as a form of political protest. We should do so regardless of the beliefs that informed it, however noble or wrong.
We as a society rightly affirm the goodness of human life. In answer to Hamlet, “to be” is better than “not to be.” We trace life’s goodness back to our creation by and in the image of God, something we can glean the truth about not just from Scripture but from nature and reason. It comes from the consequent belief that life has a purpose, one grounded in the pursuit of happiness in the combined care for self and love of others.
This goodness applies to life even when it is filled with tragedy, pain, oppression, and disappointment. It does not make us Stoics, seeking an inhuman detachment from feeling the troubles of life as the challenges they are. Instead, it means an individual and communal experience of grace toward oneself and others, paired with a striving to better one’s life and those of our neighbors.
Bushnell’s self-destruction, though couched in alleged care about human life, projects a cheapening of human beings. It is bad enough when tyrants and criminals view other men and women as toys to be used for pleasure, work, or sport. It is worse when a person sees his own existence as disposable in the name of political theater. It is fake bravery and displays a troubled soul in need of counsel and love, not adoration.
Furthermore, the equation of Bushnell’s suicide with early Christians shows inexcusable ignorance or willful mischaracterization on the part of the media. Christians then and now oppose suicide as against God’s law, an attack on His grace, and a harm to one’s family and society.
The early Christians were murdered by the act of others. True, they chose to accept death rather than deny their faith. Some things are worth risking death at the hands of others. But that is a far cry from a conscious, intentional act of self-destruction, whatever the underlying reasons.
Time calling this act a “ritual suicide” showcases another related problem. Too many now see politics as their religion, advocacy as their evangelism, partisans as their churchmen, political opponents as their heretics, policies as their dogma, and Earth as their only chance at Heaven. They deny Christ’s admonition in the Gospel of Matthew, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
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We should use Bushnell’s horrific act in a much different manner. We should use it as a time to reach out to those who struggle with thoughts and desires to self-harm. We should make efforts to affirm the lives of those around us, especially those struggling financially, emotionally, and physically. We should seek help if we are the ones who struggle and find no shame in doing so, but instead, recognize it as an affirmation of our humanity.
Let us not confuse good and evil. And let us love others in helpful truth, not destructive error.
Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.
