Two September Mornings Eight Years Apart

On a bright Tues. morning, eight years ago this month, an event happened that changed the world forever. Nineteen Islamic jihadists used box-cutters to commandeer four jetliners then used those planes as guided missiles to destroy iconic buildings, killing nearly 3,000 Americans in the process. No one in this country should ever forget that day; what we saw, how we felt, or the lessons we should have learned. I know I won’t and I have vowed to keep those lessons in front of my readers every year during this month. We all saw the same things. We all heard the same news. Yet many who experienced that day came away from it with different impressions and different lessons than I. Some blame the United Sates for arrogance and perceived imperialism that they think created conditions abroad that drove these men to such actions. Others blame then President George Bush, believing incredibly that attack was orchestrated by our own government to give a pretext for the Iraq war. Some blame it on extremist fanatics who were following some twisted cultish version of an otherwise peaceful religion. What were the reasons behind this attack? Political correctness often keeps our leaders from seeing or saying the truth. But unless we acknowledge the real reasons behind this attack we will suffer another. Former President Bill Clinton said that when he heard of the planes hitting the twin towers he immediately thought one thing: Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden had tried once before to take down the towers. In 1993 a truck bomb placed in the basement parking lot exploded causing damage but failing to destroy the towers. The enigmatic Al Qaeda leader had vowed to strike again, and this time he had succeeded. But why? Why did he do it?

Bin Laden himself explained it in a “fatwa” that he issued years before the attack. In the “fatwa” or Islamic religious decree, Bin Laden details his reason: simple obedience to the Koran. The actions taken by the 9-11 highjackers were not the result of some crazed, twisted, extreme, cultish interpretation of the sayings, teachings and examples of Muhammad. On the contrary they were the well thought-out reasoned responses of well-educated obedient Islamic followers who actually took the Koran at face value and practiced what it preaches. Many say that Islam has been highjacked; that it is a religion of peace and that true followers of Islam are not violent. Those who say such things are either being deliberately misleading or they obviously have neither read the Koran nor studied the life of Muhammad. Perhaps they are just scared.

Two mornings from now, on Sept. 25th, there will be a gathering in Washington, DC. For the first time in history, the “Jummah,” the Muslim call to prayer, will be blared over loud speakers on our National Mall and echo from the dome of the American Capitol. The event is being called, “Islam on Capitol Hill 2009 – A Day of Islamic Unity.” I urge you to visit their web-site and see what they are planning: http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/. The planners are hyping an expected attendance of 50,000 Muslims. Some might say, “So what! Isn’t that their right? The Christian Promise Keepers marched on the mall as did Louis Farrakhan’s followers in the so-called million-man march. Now these Muslims are just expressing their freedom of religion too. Isn’t that what makes America great?” Maybe so, but something bothers me about this event.
I am certainly not against any one in America expressing the precious freedom of religion guaranteed to us all in the first amendment of our Constitution. The chilling part of this “prayer” event is summarized in the words at the bottom of their web-page advertisement: “Our time has come!” Should “their time” ever come in America, (i.e. Islamic rule and Sharia law, which is the stated goal of Islam) it would mean the end of America, the loss of religious freedom and all other freedoms for everyone who falls under Islamic rule. This is what those who will attend on Friday will be praying for and seeking to establish. For their freedom to pray, and mine, I thank the One true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who gave it to us and all those who have vigilantly defended it. I am neither frightened nor offended by an expression of Islamic freedom…but by the doctrine that lies behind it, revealed in the desire and demonstrated capacity to deny that same freedom to others - the doctrine that gave rise to 9-11.

“Our Father’s God, to Thee, Author of liberty, to Thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedoms holy light. Protect us by Thy might, Great God our King!”