9-11-01… Never Forget…

Until now…

I’ll be honest. It’s hard to stay mad about something that happened a long time ago.

I remember waking up on September 11, 2001, turning on the TV and seeing the Towers collapse. I was still very young, but I remember the memorials, the somber news coverage, and the way it brought our whole society together.

But that was over 9 years ago, and “9-11” has become a byword in most American homes. We look at it as an inconvenience, since it caused airline security to be much more intrusive. Additionally, it was the great catalyst for the controversial “War on Terror.” that has been a major political issue every since it started. The attacks have changed the course of American history. As a country, we understand the gravity of the attack, but the initial sting is completely gone for almost everyone outside New York City.

However, Times have changed.

In the days after the after the attacks, the idea of building a mosque next to Ground Zero was unthinkable. But in our age of religious tolerance, there is a misled minority that still naively believes that appeasing the Muslim world will somehow make them more agreeable towards America. One might ask “What makes those people think this way? Don’t they look at the facts about Muslim teachings and see the evil in them?” This is a valid question and I believe the answer highlights a very interesting worldview question: What is Evil?"
For one side,  Evil was embodied in the 9-11 attacks. The perpetrators were religious extremists, who were told by the hateful teachers of their culture that they have nothing to live for, but that by dying in Jihad, they would be granted immediate entrance into paradise. In the full scheme of things, the ultimate blame lies not on the bombers themselves, but on the planners of the attack who would desire harm and terror upon innocent people. For those of us who use our God-given conscience, it is never acceptable to kill the innocent. But Islam clearly teaches that the infidels (non-Muslims) should be put to death, and this killing makes the Muslim more righteous. This is evil.

But for the supporters of the mosque, the great evil in this situation is the infringement of the Muslims’ religious freedom. This side sincerely believes that Islam is a peaceful religion and that the 9-11 terrorists were just a radical fringe group. Initially, it may seem that this side is naive, ignorant, or just plain crazy, but the answer lies deeper than the surface. They believe this because of their worldview. If you believe that there is no God, or that there is more than one way to heaven, it logically follows that the Muslims are the victims of the controversy. If you believe that truth is relative and that everyone can make their own truth, then one could fight for those who are being forbidden to worship in the way they want. By fighting for a cause such as this, it is easy to imagine the self-righteous feelings that come from being a warrior for tolerance. Additionally, this side sees America as nothing more than a giant bully who oppresses the poor nations of the world. There are some who say that America is unfairly occupying Arab Muslim countries, and so letting that culture have a mosque would somehow balance the scale of justice. This goes back to worldview again: What is fair? Is it offering equal opportunities to all? Or giving special treatment to those whom the government determines have less?

It seems to me that this second side has forgotten, and America is worse off for it.