How September 11th Changed America Forever

This article reflects on the impact of September 11th, honoring the courage, faith, and resilience of those who lived through that day. It reminds us how God’s hope and presence can shine even in the midst of national tragedy.

 

It was a peaceful morning. I was flying to Chicago for a business trip, so I had eagerly anticipated the arrival of September 11, 2001.

As I looked out the airplane window over the patchwork of farms in America’s heartland, I had no conception of the horror that my fellow countrymen were facing at that very moment. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m. I was chatting with my boss who was flying with me. When United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the south tower at 500 miles an hour at 9:03 a.m. I was marveling at the beautiful farmland below us. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:40 a.m. as we began our descent into Chicago.

Nineteen al Qaeda militants hijacked four airplanes that fateful day. At the World Trade Center, 2,763 lives were lost, including 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 police officers, and 37 Port Authority officers. At the Pentagon, 189 lives were lost. On Flight 93, 44 people were killed when the plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania— after passengers fought the terrorists for control of the plane.

As we exited the plane in Chicago, we were met by a national guardsman, armed with a military automatic rifle. He was allowing passengers off the plane while keeping others from getting back on. We hurried to the nearest television and witnessed for the first time the image of the burning World Trade Center towers. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. Turning to my boss I declared, “Our lives have just changed forever. It will never be the same.”

How Have We Changed?

More than twenty years have passed since that fateful day, and America has changed, just as I knew it would. Ours has become a security-focused world. There was a time when my children could walk to the gate with me at the airport to say goodbye and watch my plane take off. That all ended with the September 11 attacks.

Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 9/11 terrorist attack reminded Americans that we can no longer hide between two mighty oceans. During the frightening days immediately after 9/11, the leaders of the Bush administration analyzed the ongoing threat to America from Jihadist terrorism. In what became known as “the one percent doctrine,” Vice President Dick Cheney declared, “If there’s a 1% chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al-Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. It’s not about our analysis … it’s about our response.”

Since that time, America has fought the “War on Terror” around the world. This effort has transcended six presidential administrations—the highlight being the finding and killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in 2011.

This effort has been both praised and condemned by people around the world. Some see these operations as American police actions, protecting the world from terror while others see it as American aggression or colonialism, imposing western ideology on the world.

On the Home Front

The attacks on September 11^th polarized America even further than it had been previously.

Like in the days of Vietnam, today we seem to have the hawks who believe the War on Terror is necessary to prevent another massive terror attack. Their philosophy is that it is better to fight them over there than to have them attacking us here.

Then there are the doves who criticize the War on Terror and promote their idea of tolerance and understanding between different religions and cultures. The problem tends to be that this brand of tolerance has historically morphed into appeasement and compromise, opening the door for more attacks by the Jihadist.

We are also seeing a disturbing trend of self-hate among certain segments of society—primarily among many young people. In a conversation with a young man about September 11^th, I was asked if somehow the terrorism attack was our own fault—that somehow American activities around the world invited these attacks. I was aghast. My only answer at the time was, “No, this was simply an act of pure evil.”

The Jihadists attacked America on 9/11 because we are the leader of the free world. And we defend liberty around the globe. They attacked America because we reject tyranny. And they attacked the United States because we support and defend Israel—our staunch ally and friend, and the only democracy in the Middle East.

It was NOT because of any American foreign policy other than this.

Understanding the Real Threat Behind the September 11th Attacks

In a recent forum, a Muslim asked commentator Brigitte Gabriel to comment on the peaceful Muslim majority in the world and why they don’t receive more attention.

Thanking the person for the opportunity to address this question, Gabriel responded: “There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world today. Of course, not all of them are radical—the majority of them are peaceful people. The radicals are estimated to be between 15 and 25 percent according to all intelligence services around the world. … But when you look at 15 to 25 percent of the Muslim population, you’re looking at 180 million to 300 million people dedicated to the destruction of Western Civilization.”

“So why should we worry about the radical 15 to 25 percent? Because the radicals kill. Because the radicals behead and massacre. … On September 11th… we had 2.3 million Arab Muslims living in the United States. It took 19 hijackers—19 radicals—to kill almost 3,000 Americans that day. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.”

Changing Minds?

Finally, we see a growing trend in America of syncretism—the combining of different religious beliefs and the blending of various theological schools of thought for the purpose of tolerance and inclusivity. The problem with this viewpoint, of course, is that the major religions are vastly different. To try to make them the same is to create something that does not, in reality, actually exist. In other words, it is a naïve approach to solving the problems of this world.

America values freedom for all people—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and economic freedom. We end our pledge of allegiance with the words “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” So everyone in this country has the right to worship God in the way that they choose—or to not worship at all. But no one has the right to take away another person’s rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Tolerance—in order to be real—has to be a two-way street. People must never use tolerance as a means to silence, intimidate, blacklist, or injure.

Defending Liberty and Faith in a Post-September 11th World

Those who love liberty lost much that we hold dear on the fateful day of September 11, 2001. We must remain resolute in our determination to reject any attack on the American ideals of freedom that were threatened that day. We will defend liberty both in America and around the world.

The words of President John F. Kennedy, spoken in the midst of an earlier global struggle, the Cold War, are just as true for us today:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

May God bless America. May we remain that shining city on a hill carrying the torch of freedom on this earth—and the eternal liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations.

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