The Darker Side Of Religion

Yes, we know who they were and we know how they did it.  But why?  Why, we continue to ask.  The truth is so hard to realize but put very simply, the horrors of 9/11/01 were done in the name of religion.  The religion of hatred.  Organized.  But at the cruel center, still a religion.  I don't believe God has anything to do with religion, but we do look to God when things are done with religious fanatasim.  This is the truth we find so utterly unreal, so unacceptable, so confusing.  How many have asked over and over, is God uncaring?  Is God so indifferent that He would allow this incredible tragedy, this unbearable loss, to just happen??  We all know exactly where we were that morning, but many have taken to ask WHERE WAS GOD THAT DAY?  Well the Judeo-Christian God was exactly where believers know He is:  in their hearts.  I have no idea where Allah dwells.

This is the darker side of religion that America has finally been forced to face.  So many other countries have lived with terrorism in some form or another for centuries, and with broken hearts now welcome us into their numbers.  What happened that day was the worst tragedy in American history.  Was is because of the number of people who died?  No, for in just one day during the Civil War Americans killed 20,000 other Americans at Shiloh.  Was it the way they died?  Certainly horrific and impossible to imagine, that's still not quite it.  I believe it was our worst tragedy ever because of the reason it was done:  Religion.  These Muslim men, young men, truly believed with all their hearts and in their faith - their own jihad - that they were serving God, and in so doing, would become martyrs.  The religion of Islam does not teach such things as mass murder nor even suicide, which certainly is what these men performed.  But to sacrafice one's life for the "community" is thought to be a genuinely good and holy act.  How foreign this is to our minds!  How incredibly cruel this feels to our torn souls!  As it should, as italways will.  This is partly why we will never find true closure, never truly "forget" what happened on 9/11/01, because deep in our being we know this massacre was commited in the name of Allah, God by any other name. 

To live in a world where many people believe in many gods can be difficult, but not impossible.  What's impossible is acceptance of a religion which says only the god of their belief is the true one, and only they know want he wants and what he feels.  To state that you are an "infidel" if you don't believe in this one true god is anathema to our ears.  We've become accustomed to worship in our way and allow others to worship in theirs, giving due respect and validation.  But who can accept such arrogance as to say only their beliefs are the true ones?  It's impossible, most especially in this free land. 

Islam worships Allah.  So in that name were these murders commited - but not for Islam, rather for hate's sake.  Islam turns its face in utter shame at what was done, and rightly so, for in teaching the tenets of a religion one must take responsibility for the fringe, the literalists, the "true believers", the fanatics, the self-sacraficial mind-set of those who seek the higher moral ground.  Never think this is something confined only to Islam.  You find people who think this way in all religions. 

As I try to make peace in my heart with the God of my fathers, I know this has changed me, has hardened my heart and closed off a small part of my mind.  This is made all the more difficult because I watched as that second plane sliced into its target.  My eyes followed the trail of smoke as I stood in shock at my window.  Yes, it IS the way it happened!  Think on all the religious wars fought over the ages of man - each side had their banner and proclamation.  But these people had nothing!  They were innocent, blameless, they did not know their existence was part of someone's religious war, someone's jihad.  They did not know how fiecely they were hated.  All those people knew was their right to life, and that right was being stolen.  They were not soldiers of war - but became heroes to us all, heroes of the human condition, for as that one image reminds us - when all seemed hopelessly lost, two strangers standing on a ledge, with the fires of hate burning at their backs, reached out to each other, and made a leap of human dignity - and faith.