Attacks can have several responses. A people can come together and be bonded by memories of the attacks or, as a result of conspiracy theories, a people can be driven apart. Our response depends on how we view the outcome of the attacks. As a result of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and on 9-11, we went to war, but in very different ways.
The results differed for us as a people. After almost four grueling years later, the nation that launched the attack on Pearl signed an unconditional surrender. However, there was no national government to sign a surrender after 9-11, only an amorphous body of religious radicals. Even killing the head of the body, Osama Bin Laden, did not “end” the war or destroy the religious radicalism that gave rise to the terror we experienced.
Religious radicalism, no matter what the religion, is always with us, and one form of religious radicalism breeds another. We’ve always had an undercurrent of Christian nationalism, but it has become more strident – and more dangerous – I think, in response to perceived threats. Faith, or the lack of it, governs how we view the world, and thus our response to events that occur.
Prayer for the Day
The world was young that day, the sky the sharpest blue,
As unexpected terror awaited so many in America;
Embraced into your eternity, firefighters and janitors,
Others in expensive suits, joined in death as never in life.
Heal us, O Holy One, so in remembering, we do not forget those,
Still caught in war, and violence, seeking hope and peace.
In the name of the One who is our solace in memory,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Blaise Pascal, mathematician, physicist, philosopher (1623-1662)
Terror and extremism bear different names and labels. It uses diverse causes. But in each case, it is driven by a distortion of religion and a misguided belief in its power to succeed.
Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician
For who has stood in the council of the Lord so as to see and hear God’s word?
Who has given heed to God’s word so as to proclaim it?
Jeremiah 23: 18