Ten Years On
There are certain iconic events in each generation that everyone remembers - for my parent's generation it was when JFK was shot, for mine the most significant was the murderous attack on the twin towers ten years ago today.
It is important that we should never forget the events of that day. About three thousand innocent people were murdered for no better reason than that they happened to be working in a building which to the perpetrators was a symbol of things they disapproved of, or were rescue workers who tried to save the lives of people in that building, or were on the civilian airplanes which were hijacked to crash into those buildings.
The victims were male and female, young and old, citizens of many different countries (including about a hundred British people), undoubtedly included people of possible political viewpoint (from those who had voted for George W Bush to those who despised everything he stood for) and certainly did include every possible religious viewpoint (from devout Christians to people of no faith to devout Muslims.)
It is important to recognise two things about this attack. While wise policies might make it easier to get on with the Muslim world and foolish policies may make it harder, we must never forget that
* the perpetrators of this attack are the enemy of every free country and will remain so whatever policies we adopt, and cannot be appeased. Whatever we do they will find some excuse to hate us, and they will hate Britain as much as the US whether we ally with America or not.
* In opposing them we must not become like them. We must not hate all Muslims the way that the barbarians behind 9/11 hate all Christians, all Jews, and all atheists. Because not all Muslims are like these viscious murderers. And we must always strike a balance between security and freedom.
It is important that we should never forget the events of that day. About three thousand innocent people were murdered for no better reason than that they happened to be working in a building which to the perpetrators was a symbol of things they disapproved of, or were rescue workers who tried to save the lives of people in that building, or were on the civilian airplanes which were hijacked to crash into those buildings.
The victims were male and female, young and old, citizens of many different countries (including about a hundred British people), undoubtedly included people of possible political viewpoint (from those who had voted for George W Bush to those who despised everything he stood for) and certainly did include every possible religious viewpoint (from devout Christians to people of no faith to devout Muslims.)
It is important to recognise two things about this attack. While wise policies might make it easier to get on with the Muslim world and foolish policies may make it harder, we must never forget that
* the perpetrators of this attack are the enemy of every free country and will remain so whatever policies we adopt, and cannot be appeased. Whatever we do they will find some excuse to hate us, and they will hate Britain as much as the US whether we ally with America or not.
* In opposing them we must not become like them. We must not hate all Muslims the way that the barbarians behind 9/11 hate all Christians, all Jews, and all atheists. Because not all Muslims are like these viscious murderers. And we must always strike a balance between security and freedom.
Comments
not a lot really, the results of that day said it all.
But in my opinion, and it may be only opinion, me not sure.
see without religion, Good people will do good things (on the whole), and bad people will do bad things (on the whole).
But for good people to do really bad things that needs religion.
"Good people will do good things (on the whole), and bad people will do bad things (on the whole)."
Nevertheless, for every instance where religion has prompted someone to do something evil there are hundreds of instances where it has prompted someone to do something good.
Clearly there are some truly dire instances of foul crimes perpetrated in the name of religion but in most cases it is completely obvious that the founders of the religion concerned would have disowned them.
I have never understood how any sane person who had actually read the gospels could possibly imagine that Jesus, the man who said "Love your enemies," confronted an angry mob and persuaded them not to stone the woman taken in adultery, and asked God to forgive the people who were driving nails through his hands, could possibly have countenanced the actions of those who have killed in his name.
Nor how those who call Allah "the compassionate, the merciful" could imagine that there was any compassion or mercy in the 9/11 attack.
So I don't think such crimes as 9/11 represent good people doing evil - anyone sick enough to imagine that God wants them to murder innocent people is not a good individual.