The Four Events of 9/11/01
  Names of Victims: http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/victims_list.htm
   Scriptural selections
   Six "Faiths and Beliefs" columns about 9/11
  An interfaith prayer offered at nine months and a link     [ http://www.communitypeace.com/]
  A comment on American Civil Religion
 
  Respond to the Call [ http://www.respondtothecall.org/  and http://www.respondtothecall.org/Worship%20Resources.htm]

All Times Are EDT

8:48 a.m.: A hijacked passenger jet, American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.

9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, also hijacked, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS SELECTION ARE WELCOMED.
 

       My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is.

                                                    Judaism, Lamentations 3:17

       Deliver me, O God, from the wicked;
       preserve me from the violent,
       from those who plan evil in their hearts
       who stir up conflicts every day,
       who sharpen their tongues like serpents,
       venom of asps with their lips.

                                            Judaism and Christianity, Psalm 140

       Do not take life - which God has made sacred - except for just cause. And
       if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority to demand
       retribution; but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life, for
       he is helped by the law.

                                                             Islam, Qur'an 17.33

       My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
            Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?

       O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
            and by night, but find no rest.

                                             Judaism and Christianity, Psalm 22

       Blessed are the poor in spirit
       for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

       Blessed are they who mourn,
       for they will be comforted.

       Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
       for they will be satisfied.

       Blessed are the merciful,
       for they will be shown mercy.

       Blessed are the clean of heart
       for the will see God.

       Blessed are the peacemakers,
       for they will be called the children of God.

                                                     Christianity, Matthew 5:3-9

       Anyone who kills a believer intentionally will have his reward in hell, to
       remain there. God will be angry with him and curse him, and prepare
       awful torment for him.

                                                              Islam, Qur'an 4.92

       O sons of 'Abdul Muttalib, let there be no retaliation for the act of murder.
       Do not roam about with a drawn sword…and do not start a massacre of
       my opponents and enemies. See that only one man, that is my murderer,
       is killed in punishment for the crime of murder, and that nobody else is
       molested or harmed or harassed. The punishment to the man who
       attempted the murder shall take place only when I die of the wound
       delivered by him, and this punishment shall be only one stroke of the
       sword to end [his] life.

                                                Islam, Nahjul Balagha, Letter 47

       Conquer anger by love.

                                                  Buddhism, Dhammapada 223

       Nor do I absolve my own self of blame; the human soul is certainly prone
       to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His mercy.

                                                             Islam, Qur'an 12.53

       Never does hatred cease by hating in return;
            Only through love can hatred come to an end.

       Victory breeds hatred;
            The conquered dwell in sorrow and resentment.

       They who give up all thought of victory or defeat
            may be calm and live happily at peace.

       Let us overcome violence by gentleness;
            Let us overcome evil by good;

       Let us overcome the miserly by liberality;
            Let us overcome the liar by truth.

                                           Buddhism, Dhammapada, SLT #597

       In wars to gain land, the dead fill the plains; in wars to gain cities, the
       dead fill the cities. This is known as showing the land the way to devour
       human flesh. Death is too light a punishment for such men [who wage
       war]. Hence those skilled in war should suffer the most severe
       punishment.

                                                 Confucianism, Mencius IV.A.14

       The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

       He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the
       still waters.

       He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his
       name sake.

       Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
       no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

       Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou
       anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

       Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
       And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.

                                             Judaism and Christianity, Psalm 23

367. 010915  [special Saturday column]  THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Affirming kinship of faiths a good step to survival

    A few hours after tragic events unfolded Tuesday, I walked by the intersection of Westport Road and Broadway.  There, a young man held a hand made sign that said, "Honk if you want revenge."  Many of us can understand his emotions.
    But his second sign said, "When Americans are killed, Palestinians rejoice."  The two signs together became an incitement to prejudice and violence.
    A Jewish acquaintance, a past president of a Kansas City synagogue, called me about a mutual friend, a Muslim.  On the phone, he broke down, weeping about how our Muslim  brother -- we are all brothers and sisters -- might be faring.  I advised him to call our Muslim friend, who then called me with deep appreciation for the Jewish person reaching out and affirming enduring friendship.
    As the shocking scenes were broadcast over the TV, I sat with a monk from Tibet. He lamented the suffering and deaths as deeply as any American and spoke about the feelings of the surviving families and friends.  He would know about tragedy.  He told me more that 1 million of his people have been slaughtered in the last 50 years.
    In the Kansas City area, leaders of every faith have reached out to one another.  Civic leaders as well are asking how relegious peoples can respond to strengthen our community inthe face of the disaster we have seen and the threats we still face.  Surely isolation is only an invitation to terror, but affirming our kinship is the first step of our survival.
   All religious traditions teach peace and equity.  People of faith must resist accepting the claims of those who pervert religion into violence and injustice.  We as a people are now stressed in many ways, but our basic test is spiritual.

368. 010919  THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Faith can save us from tragedy's abyss

   Many of us are soul-fatigued by the events now a week old. A week is too short to expect release from the overwhelming and multiplying tragedies of September 11.
   We verge at the abyss from which we are saved only by faith. On one hand we must reach out to those of all faiths. On the other, we must become more committed than ever to our own traditions.
   Each faith in its own way addresses the great mysteries: how such evil can permitted, how we can best honor the dead and the suffering, how we can find and bring healing, and how we can live together in peace and justice.
   Even as we rightly rage, no faith endorses rage's wild manifestation. The energy of anger and the holiness of grief are, in time, best offered up as sacrifices we must make, to think clearly, to enlarge compassion, to practice courage even in the darkness.
   We learn the fragility of our hopes, the uncertainty of our expectations. The anguish we ourselves feel, and feel so deeply for others, is an anguish we choose not to escape. We rather willingly bear and share it, to honor those now gone from us and to understand those whose pain is unspeakable.
   For me, religion is not in certitude, but in confidence: confidence in healing, in restoring, in renewing, in the face of public and private grief and calamity and severance. We are called to a bosom where agony becomes irrepressible thanksgiving for the blessings we have known, even as they are snatched from us.
  The joy in the midst of our sorrow is this: As we work together to repair the world, we will discover new depths of love.
 
 

370. 011003  THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Attacks strengthen bonds between faiths

Until Sept. 11 many historians might have said that the event that had done the most to develop understanding of non-Christian faiths was the 1893 World Parliament of Religion in Chicago.
   But one result of Sept. 11, no doubt unintended by the terrorists, is a dramatic shift toward respecting minority faiths. Except for American Indian ways, all faiths here are imports, but Christians have largely defined what it means to be religious in the United States, especially in civic spheres. President Bush's efforts to praise Muslim, Sikh and other faiths in recent days recognizes that these are now American religions. [The Sep 23, five-hour memorial service in Yankee Stadium was unprecedented in its explicit affirmations of America's diversity, with Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, and Hindu leaders.]
   The many interfaith responses in metro Kansas City to the terrorist attacks suggests a marked change from prejudice to sincere desire to embrace every worthy tradition.
   When the Kansas City Interfaith Council learned two days after the attack that Congressman Dennis Moore (Kansas Third District) would be available to speak at an interfaith event Sept. 16, the Council, which I am privileged to convene, put together an observance, "Remembering and Renewing,'' at Johnson County Community College. Thirteen traditions participated: American Indian, Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian Protestant, Christian Roman Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Sufi, Unitarian Universalist, Wiccan, and Zoroastrian.
   Many members of the audience told me afterwards that one of the most moving parts of the event was the opportunity to find someone of a different faith and, one-on-one, discuss signs of compassion and hope they had seen in recent days. Surely interfaith understanding is one of those signs.
 

372. 011017 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Claim to faith does not sanctify unholy acts

The Arabic term jihad means struggle, an effort for a worthwhile purpose, resisting one's evil inclinations, striving against temptation. The term may also designate endeavors to improve the  moral climate of society.
   Jihad is often misleadingly translated ``holy war,'' a term developed within the Christian tradition. Muslim terrorists use jihad to justify their acts, just as some Christians, Jews and others have promoted violence in the name of their faiths.
   What is the Islamic case against the terrorist interpretation of Sept. 11?
   1. Suicide. Last May the highest Saudi religious authority confirmed the position found in all four Islamic legal systems, that suicide is never justified and cannot lead to martyrdom.  Those who kill themselves for any reason are denied paradise because suicide is unequivocally forbidden.
  2. Conditions. Conflict in Islam is limited by strict rules. Only defensive war is permitted. One can only attack combatants (women, children, and the elderly are specifically protected). The property of the enemy must not be damaged; Muhammad warned against even burning a plant or cutting a tree.
   3. Universal condemnation. No responsible Islamic government or leader has supported the Sept. 11 terrorism. Even Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an anti-American Muslim official, condemned the attacks, as have Muslim organizations in the U.S. and abroad.
   Yes, verses can be cited from holy books to justify crimes and atrocities. History shows that terrorists of any religion will try to sanctify their evil. Whatever faith they claim, they prove themselves blasphemers by their acts.
 

373. 011024 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Nonviolence a practice for those with a conscience

Are the instructions of Jesus absolute? Jesus says to "resist not evil,'' to "turn the other cheek,'' and  to "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.''  Can Christians interpret Matt. 5:38-48 literally following Sept. 11?  Do Christians need to apply "situation  ethics'' to practice this wisdom?
   While revenge is surely an unworthy spiritual goal, establishing justice is religiously ordained in most faiths, including Christianity. The Sikh tradition is particularly clear in proclaiming it. Islam is very specific about allowing defense when life is threatened. Most faiths speak of a duty to protect life.
   Readers have asked me whether the Buddhist teaching of karuna,universal compassion, the Jain admonition of ahimsa, no harm, or satyagraha, the truth-force of the Hindu leader Gandhi, can guide America through these difficult days.
   The non-violent methods of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. work if the oppressor has a conscience. But do the terrorists have a conscience? Or if they do, do we have a way of accessing it? It is not obvious how to apply these teachings in the present circumstance.
   In religious literature we can find at least three metaphors to describe what happened Sept. 11: crime, war and disease. Each metaphor has its virtue, and the situation is so complex that no one metaphor is sufficient.
   One advantage of the disease metaphor is that it suggests that all humanity is a body, and the ailment arises from poisons such as greed, ignorance and hate. We then can ask, What is the best prescription to effect the cure?
 

374. 011031 THE STAR'S HEADLINE:
Faith can see beyond the terror

What has happened to our world since Sept. 11?
   Before planes crashed into buildings and anthrax came in the mail, the American sense ofsecurity could be compared with the stable picture of the cosmos held by the ancient Egyptians. The sun rose each day. The Nile flooded each year. The crops grew. People ate. All was dependable. The world showed eternal order and justice.
   But the unsettling of America in the past weeks now more closely resembles the religious style of the ancient Mesopotamians. For them the world had been created by strife among the gods. Now the world had crazy weather and the land was frequent invaded. The mood was anxious. It was hard to plan the future. When the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh discovers his mortality, he turns with new appreciation to his community of friends. His attitude is reflected in the Biblical passage, "let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.''
   A third perspective can be found in the Hindu Bhagavad Gita. While two armies are ready to set upon each other, Krishna provides Arjuna instruction about the battle within his own soul. One can be whole if one performs one's duty without attachment to the result of one's actions. Anger, fear and hatred distort our view of reality. They inhibit our effectiveness. But in the end, the result of what we do is in God's hands.
   Many of the earth's children have long suffered poverty, disease, dislocation and war. Despite noble relief efforts, we Americans perhaps have failed to appreciate the desolation of much of the human landscape. Now we have been brought to its corner.
   With faith, we can find a view beyond the shattering.

407-020619 A prayer nine months after 9/11 [ and a link ]
by Vern Barnet

To mark the nine months that have passed since Sept. 11, members of several faiths gathered earlier this month to pray together silently and then as led by Sister Ruth Stuckel, Anand Bhattacharyya, Doug Alpert, Syed Hasan and Charangit Hundal in words from each of their traditions. I was asked to offer an "interfaith prayer." Here it is:
   As Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and others, we pray: Infinite Spirit of
Compassion, help us these nine months after the shock of a day of terror to remember those of all faiths who have suffered--and those who seek the relief of suffering and injustice--and the repair of the world.
   We come from many religions and have ties to many nations. We abhor the use of our faiths to justify violence and oppression--or the heritage of any land to launch hatred against others.
   We come as members of the Kansas City region who care about our relations with each other.
From different traditions, we grieve together a common loss and work towards better understanding of our kinship.
   We come as citizens also of a planetary community, intimately involved with all peoples, who affect us and whom we affect often in ways we have yet to realize.
   We recognize many disconnected sorrows in these nine months, and we place the events of our focus in this larger human story, in which we pray to discover in compassion the meaning of your spirit as we join in renewal.
   Enlarge our sympathies, deepen our understanding, strengthen our courage and hope, here in our own neighborhoods, and as a model for others everywhere.
   We all pray in the name of peace, salaam, shalom, shantih, waheguru.

[ Prayers for peace also offered at this event: http://www.communitypeace.com/ ]

Many Americans are squeamish about "American civil religion." In fact, scholar Robert Bellah, who popularized the term, no longer uses it. He fears that those who identify Americas with their particular faith may wish to impose their views on the rest of us. Often they assert that God favors Americans over other peoples.
   This is what has given civil religion a bad name. But there is another kind of civil religion which scrupulously observes the wall separating religious institutions and the state. It can be described as a sacred search for the meaning of events in the unfolding history of this nation and the world.
   No  document better expresses this search more eloquently or more profoundly than Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. On the verge of winning the Civil War, Lincoln is not triumphant. Approaching the moment of victory, in the language of his time, he notes that both North and South "read from the same Bible and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other." He is modest about the correctness of his views. He focuses on the task of binding up the nation's wounds.
   But the pivot of his message is the search for understanding--what is the cause and the meaning of "this terrible war"? He suggests that there is a power in the sweep of history that moves toward justice, even at a price made terrible by our offense. He reaches beyond blame for healing.
   Sept. 11 the KC Interfaith Council will lead a day-long anniversary observance of last year's events. The Council wants to shine spiritual lights on the occasion. What lights do you have? What meaning do you discern in 9/11? What questions would you ask? What themes should be explored?

ldiuguid@kcstar.com,mshabbir@carondelet.com,novaria@juno.com,lyeager@ghtc-kc.org,MikeMoors@HAUW.ORG,kitzisvpgkc@gkccf.org,jlehnertz@opkansas.org,noonan@diocesekcsj.org,hinojosa@diocesekcsj.org