Was Religion to Blame for 9/11?

I don't want to just follow a trend; but today everyone is talking about the historic event now known simply as "9/11." So I will, as the saying goes, add my two cents' worth.

I remember the day well, and the officers of the company I was working for allowed employees to gather in a conference room and watch the TV coverage of the events of that day in New York. We saw footage of the planes hitting the towers and then footage of the towers collapsing. Both were beyond astonishing. It's been hard for everyone to get their minds around those events and all the consequences: both loss of life of a large number of innocent people; and peril to the health of the rescue personnel who were exposed to harmful smoke, ash, and so forth.

Of course America and, hopefully, most people elsewhere feel that this country and its civilians did not deserve anything of the sort. And we wonder, Why was this done?

There has been a lot of discussion about whether Islam in its prevalent forms tolerates or even preaches this kind of thing. From the limited amount I know about Islam, I tend to think it does not. But I also think that there has definitely been preaching, within some Muslim circles, of hatred of the West, hatred of "infidels" (which would not be a new idea), hatred of America, hatred of Christianity (and, while we're at it, Judaism).

But to take a larger perspective, every religion has tended to take a view of its challengers and opponents which is in various degrees intolerant. It can manifest itself in discrimination, in hostility, in persecution, in war and killing. So I hasten to point out, it's not just Islam. I even at times think that every religion contains within it, somehow intrinsically, a seed which can blossom into this kind of jihadist, holy war thing. If you want to look at it, Christianity is far from innocent. There have been wars between Catholics and Protestants in Europe over the centuries and in more recent times in Ireland. The Crusades involved capturing, for Christian control, the Holy Land. Once they captured Jerusalem, they slaughtered all its Muslim defenders and inhabitants plus virtually all the Jews there as well. (Incidentally a few Jews were slaughtered along the way as well. The Crusaders, revved up to be zealous for Christianity and militant against its enemies, as they passed through towns in Europe on their way to the Middle East, would slaughter whatever Jews they happened to find along the way.)

Not to mention the Inquisition. Prior to the completion of the "Reconquest" of Spain by Christians, the Islamic kingdoms in Spain—at least generally, and at most times—were models of toleration. Jews and Christians were tolerated and lived peaceably beside Muslims. However, it's no coincidence that as soon as the Reconquest was completed, in 1492, the Jews and Muslims were driven out of Spain. Any members of those groups wishing to remain had to convert to Christianity. Any who remained but were suspected of not being sincere converts would be tortured—perhaps to death—by the Inquisition.

The Inquisition generally was not a pretty matter at all; it even put to death numerous Christians who were suspected of having Protestant leanings; or anyone else whom they viewed as heretical, like Giordano Bruno (who was a Dominican friar and thus Catholic, but who held cosmological and theological views that were considered not sufficiently orthodox, so he was burned at the stake in 1600).

Here I have attempted to point out just a few examples of intolerance that have had religion at their root. Whether they kill 3 or 30 or 3,000—or six million—the less noble sides and corners and crannies of religion have been responsible for a saddening—no, shocking—amount of Man's inhumanity to Man.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein