Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

'Life has changed forever'

When the twin towers of the World Trade Centre came crashing to the ground four weeks ago, commentators were quick to proclaim, "Life has changed forever."

In one sense, we could hope that this was true. We could hope that this terrible tragedy would knock some sense into the Western world. We could hope that people would see that the gross disparities between rich and poor in the world, the reckless and abundant destruction of human life, and the abandonment of objective moral norms were leading us on the path to destruction.

We could hope that people would see that the basic way out of our morass is through a society that believes more in God than in the individual ego. And if these sorts of realizations gripped the Western world, we could truly say, "Life has changed forever" and that it was a good change.

Alas, society has changed but not for the better. The Western world has been gripped by fear and seen its economy knocked speedily into a recession. Hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, the airline industry is careening towards bankruptcy and new tensions have been created between Canada and the United States. We may soon see serious political destabilization throughout the Islamic world, with the most reprehensible manifestations of a great religion coming to power in a number of nations.

In short, to this point, the terrorists are winning. The Western world is going bananas and Islamic fundamentalists may get a better chance to seize power in their own part of the world.

It could have been different. Symptomatic of what is wrong was the official Canadian memorial service for the victims of terror. Not a single prayer uttered - not by a Christian, Muslim, Jew or aboriginal! The powers that be in our nation are so wedded to secular humanism that they are unable to see that that is what most needs to change.

The only religion they see as safe is the bland holding to the customs of our ancestors. The religion that has fire in it, that turns people's souls inside out and causes them to want to make themselves and society itself more holy, is something to be feared. It is the sort of religion, in their view, that gives rise to terrorism, whether in Northern Ireland or Afghanistan.

They can't see that it is the religion of Moses, Jesus, Mohammad or Buddha that holds the only real hope for this world. It is this religion that enables people to turn away from fear, guilt and self-centredness. It is secular humanism that ultimately ends in selfishness because it refuses to bow to some power greater than itself.

One must say of the terrorists that, despite their Islamic trappings, they too have refused to bow. They are so sure of their own pipeline to God that they failed to realize they were listening to their own mad designs - a madness that is present to some extent in each of us. Likewise for those who want massive retaliation.

Life could change because of the Sept. 11 terror. But right now it is the proponents of terror and those terrified of them who are holding sway. But a better analysis could still lead people to realize that it is faith in Almighty God that holds out the best hope for positive change. We need to hear the voice of him who said over and over, "Be not afraid."

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