I understand that this blog will most likely be finished in early hours of the 12th, but I started on the 11th, so I'm sticking by that.
I don't think I need to remind anyone what day it is today. I'm sure most of us remember what we were doing today, back then. Thinking about that day still gets me all shook up. Not nearly as shook up as it has now though.
As some may know, I am a comparative religions major. I would be remiss in my duties as a student if I didn't have some sort of an appreciation for the religions. You could understand then that I would be deeply disturbed by what's been going on lately. If you haven't heard about any of what's been going on, I'll fill you in real quick.
- Some Pastor in Florida said he would burn some copies of the Qur'an on 9/11. He got his 5 seconds of fame. He backed down.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/11/florida-pastor-in-new-york-on-9-11-mission-accomplished-we-wi/
-Plans to build a Muslim interfaith community a couple blocks away are met with outrage. People are calling it a "ground zero mosque" and think it should be no where near ground zero. People went as far as to protest for and against it today. Like they couldn't find a better time to do it...
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/11/on-9-11-anniversary-enduring-grief-and-sharp-division/
http://www.aolnews.com/article/mosque-protests-overshadow-ninth-anniversary-of-911/19629863?icid=main|aim|dl1|sec1_lnk3|170002
One of the big slogans about September 11th is "never forget." Based on what I've been seeing and feeling, I dare say: should we "forget?" I'm not saying we pretend it never happened. I'm not saying we forget about the sacrifices. I'm not saying we shouldn't appreciate those sacrifices. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm saying we shouldn't besmirch the sacrifices that were made on that day.
9/11 was a momentous tragedy in the history of our great country. There's no denying that. It served to unite the country in our time of need as well. I believe that time has come and gone. 9/11 has transformed from a symbol of unity and fidelity to a symbol of division. The Anti-Muslim sentiments that have spawned as a result truly disturbs me. What disturbs me even more is that Christians are openly fanning this disaster into flames!
Take for example the Florida Pastor. This guy decided he would publicize the fact that he was planning to burn copies of the Quran on 9/11. Small time Pastor from a small church decides to spark all of this unnecessary controversy. Of course he gets all kinds of flak from it, which he should. That doesn't mean he ought to have sparked such controversy to begin with. He goes on to claim he never intended to burn copies of the Qur'an, but instead wanted to bring to light the radical elements of Islam. He even flew out to New York to meet with the Imam of the project to build an interfaith center in New York, probably to help convince him that it was wrong to build such a thing. There's a ton of kickers here.
First and foremost, what ever happened to "Love your neighbor as yourself?" Have we as Christians forgotten? Christ wasn't just talking about fellow Christians here, guys. Are we not all human beings, created by God, in his image? Does he not love us all as his creation? What ever happened to us being the light of the world? Now, I understand this guy has as much right as any one to say whatever he feels like. That doesn't make him right though. As a Christian, I don't think we should be sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, letting the rest of us get a bad reputation for what this guy does. Actions speak louder than words, after all, and I think it's about time we started combating ignorance instead of going along with it.
Another thing I'd like to dismiss; that same Florida Pastor went on to compare his current struggles with that of Abraham. Going as far as saying God stopped him from burning the Qur'an just as he stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son. There is a tragic irony about this. Let me serve to educate those who care about it. Abraham isn't known as the Patriarch for nothing. Abraham is seen as the Patriarch of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. All three! He is revered by all three! He is the father of Isaac, who would have a son named Jacob, who would have his name changed by God to Israel, who would continue to spawn the Israelite nation, who would give birth to Judaism, which would evolve into the Judaism that we know today. Without Judaism, there would be no Christianity. We can't really get around that fact. We read the same Old Testament which they call the Tanakh. It is the exact same thing. We seem to forget, or just ignore the fact that Abraham had Ishmael first, who would come to be the father of Islam.
Abraham has come to be a unifying factor in interfaith talks. As he should! Did you know that the Qur'an speaks highly of Abraham? The Qur'an even has it's own version of Abraham's potential sacrifice, this one involving Ishmael of course. The same point is made. Did you know that both the Bible and the Qur'an record that Isaac AND Ishmael buried their father together? That speaks volumes. The prophets of the Old Testament, as well as other outstanding Biblical heroes, are viewed as prophets within the Qur'an. They also view Jesus as a prophet. Christians would, of course, disagree, but that's not the point here. Even Allah (basically meaning God) is the same God of the Jews and the Christians. The same God of the Bible who created everything. This is not something new and unheard of. This is not some well guarded secret! In short: Islam isn't evil. Islam is not of the devil. Islam should not be hated. Islam should be understood.
As Christians and Americans, should we really be upset that Muslims want to build an interfaith center blocks away from ground zero? I think it should be quite the opposite. I think Islam was injured on 9/11 as much as, if not more than the American pride. Not to mention it isn't as if they are building on the site of ground zero itself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we're allowed to keep them from building an Interfaith center blocks away, let alone a Mosque. Instead of getting in the way of its construction, I think we, as Americans and as Christians, should get behind it. It's an Interfaith center. What better way to dispel ignorance. Not to mention this would be long strides toward peace in the middle east. I really doubt that radical Muslims are going to use this interfaith center as a forward base of operations to the downfall of the Americas, or whatever far-fetched claims people care to make about it.
We all want to see stability in that part of the world. We all want to see our soldiers home. The fight starts here. The fight starts where it all began. If we want to see change, it ought to begin with us. We should stop treating ground zero, and 9/11 by extension, as some kind of an open wound. Let it heal. We need to let it heal. Nobody wants to see conflict over here either. As Christians and Americans we need to forgive and forget. Should Christ be the only one to provide Grace, Forgiveness, and Love to all? Should we allow such a tragic event in U.S. history become synonymous with hatred and intolerance, or, like the survivors and surviving family members of the tragedy, heal and recover? Should we let 9/11, in its current form, drag us down, or should we as a nation grow from it? 9/11 should continue to change the way we all think, but for better, not for worse.
So much of these issues are about pride. We got sucker-punched by a group of people. Get over it, America. Islam did not do this to us. They were radicals. We have our fair share. 9/11 does not justify such hatred against Islam.
I think it's about time we "forgot" about 9/11 and remembered the principles which this nation was founded on, and as Christians, we should remember the sacrifice our Savior made for humanity. Remember that all human beings were created in God's image and should be respected as such wonderfully made creations.
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6 comments:
As long as there is a subset of Muslims that strictly adhere to Sharia Law, I doubt there will ever be peace between non-Muslims and Muslims. 9/11 is a reminder that there are forces around the world that wish to dismantle the freedoms we have in this country. We could be absolutely lovely to the rest of the world and they'd still want to kill us. To them our mere existence is enough to justify jihad.
We haven't forgotten Pearl Harbor, yet Japan is one of our closest allies (I hope the reverse is true even with our use of nuclear weapons). We haven't forgotten Hitler's atrocities in Europe, but Germany is still a close ally. Our country was formed by spilling English blood, but Britain can be considered I best friend in the world. We haven't forgotten the 600,000 that died during the Civil War, but we are still a strong undivided Union.
All these events took time for the country to heal from, but they were mainly political and secular in nature. 9/11 was religiously motivated, something that we've had relatively little experience with. We were able to heal before because the conflicts were resolved, but I think the country knows that this conflict is not over yet.
The Smoking Gun has some documents from the church in Florida, geesh they're a bunch of loons. The mainstream media failed again by giving this cult 1 minute of coverage.
Look, I used that crack pot as an example. I'm not saying he is the only reason. Intolerance within America is the reason. I used him as an example to build off of.
You cannot possibly deny the fact that Christianity has it's fair share of extremists. They don't have to be violent to be nuts. It stuns me how much hatred and intolerance runs from Christianity alone. How many people get pissed off over a disagreement in faith? Instead of dialogue, we just break off and make another branch. That seems to have steered us right within Christianity so far, right? So much ignorance.
I'm not saying we need to all get behind a mosque at ground zero and "let the muslims win." I don't think we should be thinking in such terms. That's a dumb way to think. Yes, they should be considering how americans feel. I won't deny that, but I think americans ought to do the same freaking thing. Not to mention it's a "mosque/community center/place of worship for other religions as well." I will be honest that I don't know what they are running with this time, but I will commend a bunch of Muslims for promoting some understanding between them and us, if they are actually trying to do that at least. We haven't been doing any of that. Half of us still pretend we understand "Jihad" and "Islam" based off what these crackpots did to us on 9/11. That's not Jihad. That is not Jihad as used correctly in the Qur'an either. Americans don't understand Islam. Like the Bible, the Qur'an is open to interpretation. So this is less a problem straight with Islam and more a problem with human nature. How can you distinguish between peaceful Muslims and "radicals" if you don't understand what you are talking about to begin with?
The problem is Americans don't want to dispel this ignorance. They just go along with it. Islam has this bad rep now because of 9/11 and everyone is buying into it! Maybe a mosque near ground zero, or within in New York at all (if you want to be a real ass about it) is insensitive. How could you disapprove of their idea though? From what I've heard, it's a community center to promote education and awareness. And if that's not what that place is about any more, then I don't support it. I will support the idea of Americans and the rest of the world working to understand a religion that has some how become our enemy.
It's obvious that I know people don't see Islam as I do. What other reason would I make such a lengthy blog about it? I'd like to promote awareness and promote understanding. You guys fail to understand that Christians and Americans are as guilty as these Muslims you seem quick to point out when it comes to hatred and anger. Are we some high and mighty race now? Silly.
We are not exempt just because we've been wronged. I'm speaking as an american and a Christian here. The latter being far more important than the former. Understand that. Giving up on any dialogue between Christians and Muslims, or Americans and Muslims because there are people who always will hate us is dumb. Let's throw the baby out with the bath water now, guys. Just because it seems impossible, doesn't mean we shouldn't try for it. As a Christian, should I stop loving others just because I know I will not receive love from everyone else in return? No. I will Love others, regardless of what they think of me because it is the right thing to do. I think pursuing peace between Muslims and Christians, and Muslims and Americans is the right thing to do. Oh Cory, are you bashing the war our country has been fighting in the middle east? Are you pissing on the memories of everyone who has been killed by terrorists? EFF YOU! Quite the opposite. I'm just saying we need to stop being ignorant Americans and try to do some freaking understanding instead of buying into all of this hatred crap being shoveled down our throats every day.
If you want to get literal with my blog title, then by all means. But you misunderstand greatly. The current course for which we celebrate the atrocities that happened to America is disturbing. I think we ought to fix that. I never said forget the sacrifices. I've been stating that we shouldn't misunderstand the sacrifices and the reason we should remember 9/11. We shouldn't be thinking, every year when it comes around that "oh, a bunch of muslims did this to us. Aren't those guys the worst!? Let's hate on those guys!" That's not what it's about. That's not what it should be about. Like I stated earlier in my blog post, 9/11 has evolved from a symbol of unity and patriotism for us into one of hate. We shouldn't let that happen. If you didn't get that from my post then you really need to read it again and stop homing in on just a few things that you wanted to hate on while disregarding the mass majority of things inherit in your faith you should be standing behind. Or has being an American become more important to you then following Christ? And if it has, then we need not bog ourselves down in nonsensical discussions about loving others.
"All these events took time for the country to heal from, but they were mainly political and secular in nature. 9/11 was religiously motivated, something that we've had relatively little experience with. We were able to heal before because the conflicts were resolved, but I think the country knows that this conflict is not over yet." I agree with this 100%, Andrew. My point is we still don't understand it, and I don't think we're exactly trying to. I think we ought to though.
The Qur'an is open to interpretation, like the Bible, however, you can't get around a specific word's definition. Jihad, as used in the Qur'an, refers to a spiritual struggle within oneself, between them and God." My point being people can cook up whatever they like from Holy scripture, that doesn't make it right, and that doesn't mean everyone is getting the same thing out of it.
I guess I've been playing fast and loose with the words "radical" and "extremists" I was more or less saying Christianity has its fair share of crackpot groups who think some crazy things and are not too kind about it. Not necessarily violent, though.
My overall point was that just like Christianity, Islam has some people with crazy ideology who claim they are Muslim when they, in fact, do not act like them. That's as far as my comparisons go. I don't know of any violent Christian groups.
I won't deny the violent tendencies of this "Muslim" groups, and I won't deny that there are a few gunning for us. I just don't think we should be judging Islam as whole based on what these guys do. I think that's what people have been doing since 9/11 happened, and that's what people are still doing. This is natural of course, but I wish we would be promoting education and awareness in regards to that.
I like the idea of the "ground zero mosque" as people are calling it. I think they should build it, but if placement is getting in the way, and it is upsetting people, then they ought to move it. I still think they ought to build it though, and we ought to support it's construction. It definitely is controversial. I never denied that. I am just fond of the idea of a group of Muslims reaching out to educate the rest of us, not to mention create a place of prayer for other faiths within their community center/mosque. That's totally unheard of, and I thought it ought to be commended.
I think a lot more people ought to be reaching out and promoting understanding. I'm not saying we're the only ones who need to do it. They ought to do some understanding as well.
I think a ton of the friction that exist is due to the fact that Christians don't understand Muslims, and Muslims don't understand Christians, and so on and so forth.
I am aware of all that is going on in the middle east. Not just Christians being killed, but Jews and Muslims as well. Things are pretty violent over there, and Christians are sometimes required to fight back in order to survive. I never said it was just peachy for everyone else, I'm just saying working to understand is a step in the right direction.
pffft, are you kidding? Someone's got to muta harass while I'm spitting zealots out.
Wow. Great post... loved reading the comments too.
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