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Is religious intolerance on the rise this 9/11?

12 Sep 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

An angry God in this Sunday’s first reading complains to Moses that the Israelites have “turned aside from the way I pointed out to them.” Leaders of many faith traditions fear that some of the American people are being persuaded to turn away from the value of religious tolerance, especially when it comes to Muslims. From the debate over a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City to a pistol-toting Florida pastor’s plans to ignite a bonfire of Qurans on 9/11, observers fear a rising tide of intolerance. Rev. Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove Outreach Center, a small Pentecostal church in Gainesville, Florida, has sparked worldwide condemnation for his plans to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The Vatican said Wednesday that burning the Quran would be an “outrageous and grave gesture," and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it would be a “disrespectful, disgraceful act.” Fearing violence, some Muslims are leaving Gainesville this weekend to avoid problems. Last week in South Florida, 13 mosque leaders issued a call to the region's Muslims for nonviolence in anticipation of high emotions over the desecration of Islam's holy book. In a rare example of a military official commenting on domestic affairs, Gen. David Petraeus, directing the military effort in Afghanistan, said Monday that the provocative act would hurt U.S. troops and play into the hands of extremists. Meanwhile, hundreds of Afghans protested in Kabul and burned Jones in effigy. The Gainesville Fire Department has denied Jones a permit for the event, but he plans to go ahead with it anyway. Known for posting signs proclaiming that Islam is the devil's religion, Jones says the U.S. Constitution gives him the right to publicly set fire to the Quran. In response to the ongoing controversy over the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero, a group of prominent Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders held an “emergency summit” meeting in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to denounce what they called the "derision, misinformation, and outright bigotry” aimed at American Muslims. “This is not America,” said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the emeritus Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, flanked by three dozen clergy members and religious leaders at a packed news conference at the National Press Club. “America was not built on hate.” Source: Articles by CNN wire service, Liz Goodwin and Mitch Stacey for Associated Press, Dave Cook for the Christian Science Monitor, Jaweed Kaleem for the Miami Herald, and Damien Cave and Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times

Muslims 911 terry jones anti-muslim religious tolerance dove outreach center quran theodore mccarrick david petraeus florida gainesville
World Trade Center cross makes atheists cross

07 Aug 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s first reading is replete with images that at one time or another have been used to represent the sacred: Horeb, “the mountain of God,” as well as a powerful wind, an earthquake, a fire—and, finally, the “tiny whispering sound” of God passing by Elijah. As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approaches, controversy is brewing over the inclusion of religious symbols in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, especially one dubbed “the World Trade Center cross.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stepped into the controversy last Friday, defending the display of religious symbols, including the World Trade Center cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. In his weekly radio address Bloomberg responded to a lawsuit filed by a group of atheists seeking to remove the WTC cross display from the memorial. "A lot of people looked to religion for strength after the attack," said Bloomberg, who is named as one of the defendants in the suit filed by American Atheists. He also noted that other religious symbols, not only the WTC cross, would be on display at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. They include a Star of David cut from a piece of steel from the WTC rubble, a Bible fused with a piece of steel found during the recovery effort, and a Jewish prayer shawl. The iconic WTC cross, made up of two intersecting steel beams found intact amid the rubble of the attacks, was moved from the side of St. Peter's Church in Lower Manhattan, where it had been housed while the memorial was being prepared, and was installed at the memorial on July 23. President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will be joining Bloomberg this coming September 11 at a ceremony to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Sources: Articles by Katherine T. Phan for Christian Post and CNN

michael bloomberg 911 crosses 911 memorial and museum world trade center cross american atheists symbols
World Trade Center cross makes atheists cross

07 Aug 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday’s first reading is replete with images that at one time or another have been used to represent the sacred: Horeb, “the mountain of God,” as well as a powerful wind, an earthquake, a fire—and, finally, the “tiny whispering sound” of God passing by Elijah. As the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks approaches, controversy is brewing over the inclusion of religious symbols in the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, especially one dubbed “the World Trade Center cross.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stepped into the controversy last Friday, defending the display of religious symbols, including the World Trade Center cross at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. In his weekly radio address Bloomberg responded to a lawsuit filed by a group of atheists seeking to remove the WTC cross display from the memorial. "A lot of people looked to religion for strength after the attack," said Bloomberg, who is named as one of the defendants in the suit filed by American Atheists. He also noted that other religious symbols, not only the WTC cross, would be on display at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. They include a Star of David cut from a piece of steel from the WTC rubble, a Bible fused with a piece of steel found during the recovery effort, and a Jewish prayer shawl. The iconic WTC cross, made up of two intersecting steel beams found intact amid the rubble of the attacks, was moved from the side of St. Peter's Church in Lower Manhattan, where it had been housed while the memorial was being prepared, and was installed at the memorial on July 23. President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will be joining Bloomberg this coming September 11 at a ceremony to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Sources: Articles by Katherine T. Phan for Christian Post and CNN

michael bloomberg 911 crosses 911 memorial and museum world trade center cross american atheists symbols
9/11 turns 10: Remembering and reflecting

11 Sep 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Exploring themes such as the harm caused by vengeance and the healing possible through forgiveness, the Sunday readings are tailor-made for the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. PrepareTheWord and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops provide a number of useful resources and reflections to help commemorate the events of 9/11 and their aftermath. A slew of articles and media specials this week also are focused on the anniversary of the attacks. Among the many noteworthy stories: Religion helped in 9/11 recovery. According to a summary of a study which will be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, religious and spiritual Americans reported better physical and emotional health in the three years after the September 11 attacks. “The more likely people were to participate in religious activities, the more likely they were to experience positive emotion, and the less likely they were to ruminate about the events of 9/11 and the less likely they were to develop physical health problems,” said Roxane Cohen Silver, one of the psychologists who wrote the study. “The same basic message comes from what we call spirituality.” The researchers showed that attendance at religious services was associated with positive emotions such as happiness, affection, and joy; lower odds of developing new ailments; and a smaller number of intrusive, unwanted flashbacks to 9/11. Complicated attitudes toward Muslims. A new poll from the Brookings Institution reports that more than 8 in 10 Americans said that self-proclaimed Christians who commit violence in the name of Christianity are not really Christians. By contrast, less than half (48 percent) said that self-proclaimed Muslims who commit acts of violence in the name of Islam are not really Muslims. "Interestingly, we find that Americans basically have a double standard when it comes to evaluating religious violence," said Robert P. Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, which produced the survey along with Brookings. The survey of 2,450 adults paints Americans' attitudes toward Muslims as a complex picture of acceptance and wariness. Nearly nine in 10 Americans agreed that "America was founded on the idea of religious freedom for everyone, including religious groups that are unpopular." And by a 2-to-1 margin Americans rejected the idea that Muslims want to establish Islamic law, or Shariah, in the United States. But they were divided as to whether Islam is at odds with American values, with 47 percent agreeing and 48 percent disagreeing. The poll's authors likened this ambivalence about American Muslims to the evolution of attitudes toward Catholics, who were once widely suspected for their loyalty to the pope, and Mormons, once widely reviled for their beliefs. Chaplains reflect on their 9/11 experience. Immediately following the 9/11 attacks spiritual leaders from all traditions gathered to offer comfort to the families, friends, and workers. A few of their reflections 10 years later: Father James Martin, S.J.: “That night, I put on my clerical collar and walked through the empty streets to a nearby hospital to help with victims who never came. The next day, I spent several hours in a counseling center helping bereaved families examine hospital records for their loved ones. “Finally, on Sept. 13, with the city still in chaos, a police officer offered me a ride to Ground Zero, where I would spend the next few days and weeks, along with my brother Jesuits, ministering to the firefighters and rescue workers. “There, at this most terrible place, I encountered grace as powerfully as I ever have--in the outpouring of compassion and charity among the rescue workers.” Rev. Dr. Martha R. Jacobs: “Shortly after 9/11 I was working at Respite Center 1 [near Ground Zero] as an American Red Cross chaplain. I would make my way to the respite center and spend the day with police, fire, and recovery/construction workers, helping them to be able to continue to do their work, listening to their stories of pain and anger, confusion and grief. It was a time of deep listening because I could not take away their pain or their anger or their grief. “I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve those who were there to protect us and recover the remains of those who died. It was not something I ever envisioned when I answered a call to serve God.” Sources: Articles by Naomi Zeveloff for Forward, HuffingtonPost.com, and Lauren Markoe for Religion News Service

religion Islam Muslims americans 911 chaplains spirituality
A positive footnote to 9/11: Interfaith cooperation rises

18 Sep 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Book of Isaiah encourages us to “seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near,” while the psalmist makes this worshipful pledge: “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever” and asserts that “the Lord is near to all who call upon him.” If there is a silver lining to the destruction that occurred ten years ago on 9/11, it might be this: Interfaith worship has doubled in the U.S. in the past decade, according to a new study. Although more than seven in 10 U.S. congregations still do not associate with other faiths, the survey by an interfaith group of researchers found that about 14 percent of U.S. congregations in 2010 engaged in a joint religious celebration with another faith tradition, up from 6.8 percent in 2000. Interfaith community service grew nearly threefold, with 20.4 percent of congregations reporting participation in 2010, up from 7.7 percent in 2000, according to the Cooperative Congregations Studies Partnership. After the 9/11 attacks, “Islam and Islamics’ presence in the United States [became] visible in a way that you couldn’t ignore,” said David A. Roozen, one of the report’s authors and the director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. National Muslim groups tried to build bridges to other faiths, who in turn “reached out in new ways to be neighborly,” Roozen said. Reform Jewish congregations led the way, with two-thirds participating in interfaith worship and three-quarters involved in interfaith community service. Sources: Articles by Piet Levy for Religion News Service and Ecumenical News International

Muslims david a roozen cooperative congregations studies partnership community service interfaith worship interfaith cooperation 911 congregations reformed jews hartford institute for religion research