The God stuff, aside from being obnoxious to all the agnostics and atheists in this country, helps to lend credibility to OBL's claims that he is embarking on a Holy war with the West. Not the way to play it, imo.
Tucson, Arizona Tuesday, 25 September 2001
Speaking of God ...
Renewed interest in public prayer raises questions of sensitivity and balance
By Doug Kreutz
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
God help us.
Those words were on the minds of many Americans in the first agonizing moments after savage terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., Sept. 11.
Since then, such appeals to the deity have been not only on the minds - but also the lips - of speakers at countless public gatherings.
Religious leaders, elected officials and everyday Americans are uttering heartfelt prayers and declarations of religious faith as they speak to audiences in Tucson and across the land.
Is this a wondrous new national connection with God? Or is it an improper imposition of personal religious values where they don't belong?
It all depends on whom you ask.
Several members of the Tucson clergy - representing Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic faiths - said public prayer is not only appropriate but vitally important in times of turmoil.
An Arizona spokesman for a national atheist group disagreed vehemently - calling religious declarations by elected officials divisive and a violation of doctrines separating church and state.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union said it's important to remember that many people, including government leaders, rely on faith and prayer, to cope with crisis.
Monsignor Robert Fuller, of St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, 3201 E. Presidio Road, said public prayers and references to God are comforting and appropriate - so long as they're inclusive.
"I can go to a meeting and express a prayer from my Christian tradition, which would involve Jesus Christ, or I could give an invocation that would invoke God the father of all people and not exclude anybody - except those who don't believe in God," he said. "That's the route I choose."
Fuller said he met with 15 other members of the Tucson clergy last week - and that all of them reported vastly increased attendance at religious services following the terrorist attacks.
"At our masses on Sept. 15 and 16, there were faces I had never seen before," he said. "Something has happened that brought these people to their knees, and they've felt the need for God in their life.
"I think it's a real phenomenon here in Tucson and all over the world. And I see it as a positive thing."
Fuller said he views inclusive forms of public prayer as anything but divisive.
"To talk about God, and to sing 'God Bless America' is not to impose a particular religion on a country of various religions," Fuller said.
"We have people of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and other religions - all of which believe in a God," he said. "Everybody in this country, except an atheist, can sing 'God Bless America.' "
Monty Gaither, Arizona state director for a group called American Atheists, stands across a vast religious divide from Fuller and other believers.
Public prayer, Gaither said, "is totally inappropriate. It's divisive.
"When President Bush keeps saying we should pray, it's showing that the government has a preference for those with a religion," he said. "And since most of the prayers invoke a monotheistic theme, they leave out polytheistic and non-theistic people."
Gaither said prayers and religious declarations by public officials amount to a violation of doctrines separating church and state.
"Pushing religion is not the government's job," he said. "The government's job is to protect us and help us when we need it - not to ram superstition down our throats."
Gaither said public prayer is a "slap to the memory" of the many non-believers and non-Christians who have died for their country.
"And singing 'God Bless America' in Congress was very offensive," he said. "The national anthem would have been a lot more appropriate."
Rabbi Samuel Cohon, of Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Road, said he's encouraged by the apparent renewed interest in prayer and faith.
"I welcome that turn toward an understanding of God's presence in our world," Cohon said. "I think that the great lesson for America, and one of the reasons people want to destroy it, is its openness to all the many religious traditions."
He said it appears most political leaders have been sensitive to that religious diversity when offering prayers or making religious declarations.
"There is some ignorance on the subject," Cohon said. "For example, it's not clear to everyone that not everybody in America prays to Jesus. But with a little education, most people are really understanding and trying to be as inclusive as possible.
"Care is necessary in public prayers because we're trying to bring people together."
Cohon said he sees no easy answer to the concerns of atheists.
"There's not much you can do about that piece of it," he said. "I don't say atheists are not Americans or good people. But if you're a religious person, you can't exclude your own belief in God" to accommodate atheists.
Pastor Sondra Krogstad, of Tanque Verde Lutheran Church, 8625 E. Tanque Verde Road, said she's comforted by the fact that government leaders are speaking out about their religious faith in these trying times.
"I and the people I've talked with feel very blessed to have a president who is a Christian," Krogstad said. "I've not heard anyone say anything negative about President Bush and his public faith. We feel much comforted to know that he is a man of prayer."
Imam Omar Shahin, director of the Islamic Center of Tucson, said interdenominational public prayer has been a vitally important part of the nation's response to the terrorist attacks.
"Since this atrocity took place, we've had many memorial services," Shahin said. "One took place on the University of Arizona campus - hand in hand with the Jewish community."
He said more than 100 people from Christian, Jewish and other faiths joined Muslims in another joint prayer service.
"We plan to continue the tradition of praying together with the Jewish community and the Christian community," he said. "Now we're getting closer to each other - brought together by what happened."
Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, an affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization's stance on recent public prayer might surprise some people.
"This is very unusual for me and the ACLU, but I think at this point in time people need to be given a great deal of leeway as they grapple with their personal feelings," Eisenberg said.
"I think it's human nature to look for answers and try to understand things," she said. "There are some people, including public officials, who look to their faith for those answers. And that's understandable."
Eisenberg said she believes the key is to strike a balance between personal freedoms and matters of state.
"Freedom of speech and the free practice of religion are at tension with the separation of church and state idea," she said. "The courts and the country have a need now, as they have in the past, to balance those in a thoughtful way."
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