9/11 - Florida Book Burning & WTC Mosque

Today marks the 9th Anniversary of the Terrorist attack in New York and DC.

I remember it as though it happened yesterday.  I was a senior at Cochranton Jr/Sr. High school in Cochranton Pennsylvania.  I had a 2nd period study hall, which i normally spent in the Library.  I was in the library, on the computer checking emails (yes i was a computer geek/addict back then - it has actually gotten better), and the Librarian came out of her office to say there had been a bombing at the World Trade Center.

Moments after she turned on the TV they announced that it was not a bomb but a commercial airline that had struck the building.  The bell rang and i raced across the hall to Mr. A's psych class.  We watched as the 2nd plane struck the North Tower.  We watched as CNN switched from NY to DC to announce that a 3rd plane had struck the pentagon.  Someone knocked on the classroom door, Mr. A got up to go answer it, and the whole class yelled at him "Mr. A the Tower is falling".  We watched as the towers fell.  By 3rd period we'd heard there had been a 4th plane and that it had gone down somewhere in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, but that was the last we heard.  The districts superintendent wouldn't allow even the seniors to know what was going on. Teachers were given orders not to tell us anything.  We did later find out that it went down in Sommerset (about 20 minutes from where i attended college the following year).

Remembering the Tragedy of 9/11 should be about remembering the innocent lives of those on the high jacked airlines.  Remembering the heroes of Flight 93, who fought back and brought the plane down so that they were the only casualties of that flight.  We should be remembering the lives of the Police and Firefighters who were lost when they responded to the Emergency at the WTC.  And we should be remembering the soldiers who have given their lives to protect our freedoms in the resulting wars.

We should not be:

1.) Fighting over the building of a Mosque near the World Trade Center.

Those who attacked us are a part of a radical sect of their religion.  Majority of Muslims do not believe as these splinter groups believe.

America was colonized as a place of religious freedom.  Our First Amendment [Bill of Rights]  gives us the right to worship our God or gods in anyway that does not impede of the rights of others in which we wish.  While we were founded on Christian principles, not being a christian doesn't make you any less American.

The Bill of Rights also states that the Government can have no control or say in religious establishments. We should not stand in the way of this building being built.  I Believe that in allowing this building we would be saying to the world, that America will not respond in hate.  It would send a message to the world that we still respect religious freedom, that we still value freedom, and no amount of hate towards us will change who we are.  We will not bow to terrorism, but we will protect our own.

2.) Book Burnings weather the Koran or Harry Potter, is a really STUPID thing to do.

Everything that we do as Christians should show those who do not believe, the mercy, grace, and love of God.  If you do not agree with a person's theology, the way to introduce them to God is not to attack what they value.

I know it is not my place to judge a person's heart, that is left for God alone.  But anyone who could even think to act in a manner with so much hate towards a group of people, with no regard to how it will effect those of their own people could not have ever experienced the love of God in their own life.

There have been so many horrible things done in the "name of God"  that I am sure God would never have endorsed.  The life of Jesus gives us a good idea of what God would not approve of.  The Crusades, the Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, and any book burning are high up on that list.

Jesus came to "seek and save the lost" not to scream in their faces and burn what they value.  The sick, not the healthy need a doctor,  just as the sinner, not the righteous need Jesus.  But here is the thing.  We are ALL sinners. Not one of us is blameless on our own.

The difference between a Christian and a Non - Christian (be it any other faith or no faith at all) is that a Christian while a sinner has sought and accepted God's forgiveness, while the Non-Christian, also a sinner, has yet to take that step.  Sin is Sin to God, no one sin is any worse than any other, a murder and liar are on the same playing field when you remember that "the wages of sin is death".

Please Remember 9/11 and the tragedy it was, pray for the families still dealing with their losses, and for those who are still at war.  Please don't make another tragedy with in it by responding in hate towards people who have nothing to do with the act of terrorism that started it all.

Tolerance isn't about saying "it's okay if you're going to hell, do what you want", it's about saying "I care about you as a person even if i don't agree with your religion, or lifestyle".  Tolerance takes a nation farther than hate will any day.