February 22, 2002

'Empty skies' on Sept. 11?

Through A Glass Darkly, by John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

The Institute on Religion and Democracy has published a thoughtful commentary on the war against terrorism, exploring responses by the religious right and left and the ground between.

"Straight Answers to Moral Confusion in National Crisis" is the booklet's title, with a series of articles, all authored by the aptly named Alan F.H. Wisdom and subtitled, "Observations on, and Responses to, Religious Discourse since September 11."

The first essay asks the question "Where was God on September 11?" and then gives responses from the two extremes of American Christian leaders on the religious left and the right.

From the left, Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong shows why he is one of the most outspoken, controversial and even outrageous religious leaders in the country with his comments.

"We once conceived of God as external to life, supernatural in power, and able to intervene in human history to accomplish miraculous rescue. We know intellectually that such a God is but a phantom of human hope. The images of hijacked planes crashing into buildings, killing thousands of people, give us no hiding place for theological pretending. The skies are empty of a protective deity ready to come to our aid. God defined theistically has died," Spong said.

Sorry to hear your god has died, Bishop Spong. My God is still alive and well. And on Sept. 11, He was in the same place he was when His Son was dying on the cross, in control of His universe.

Then from the right, Rev. Jerry Falwell explained God's design in the Sept. 11 attacks, saying "God continues to lift the curtain (of protection) and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve." He went on to blame pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU and others "who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this to happen.'"

Falwell later said he had to agree with his grandson, who told him "you messed up," and he apologized for his insensitivity.

I'm leaning more toward Falwell than Spong, but I don't think I'm qualified to say just what God did or didn't have in mind and why He allowed the attacks to take place on Sept. 11.

I find myself more in agreement with Wisdom's conclusions.

He comments "There must be a faithful middle ground between the collapsed faith of Spong and the presumptuousness of Falwell. In line with the orthodox center of the Christian tradition, we must confess both God's sovereignty and our own limited understanding."

He adds, "The question, 'Where was God?' becomes sharper still as we contemplate the death of God's only son on the cross... Surely the evil that was done this past September 11, terrible as it was, did not surpass the offense of Good Friday."

Wisdom concludes "It is only a sovereign God who can assure that terrorists -- and other oppressors of humankind, will not be victorious in the end... "It is likely that there are collective sins for which God is calling Americans to repent. It is also probable that God may be summoning our nation to higher virtues. But we must avoid the presumption that our thoughts are the same as God's thoughts."

I'll share some more of these essays in later columns.