I was interested in your article reviewing comic books ("Holy Warrior Nuns, Batman!" by David Wade, July 2004). Whenever we have a comic or cartoon depicting a superhero fighting for the right against the bad guys, we are perpetuating what Walter Wink calls "the myth of redemptive violence." The prevalence of this myth is the reason the world cannot get over its obsession with war. The idea that violence—if carried out by the guy on the right side—is okay and the only way to deal with the bad guys fixes in our collective minds that violence is the only way to deal with violence. We are so indoctrinated with this idea that nonviolent solutions never even get considered, much less tried. The point is that Jesus gives us another way—the way of nonviolence.
Karen Davison
Shepherdstown, West Virginia
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