Religious Leaders Excluded From 9/11 Commemoration

[wyguy]

Religious Leaders Excluded From NYC 9/11 Commemoration

Religious leaders will be excluded from the 10th anniversary memorial service of New York City's 9/11 tragedy. Critics of the decision argue that religious leaders played an important role during and after the tragedy and should be included.

Former New York Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington, who was serving in office at the time of the September 11, 2001 attack, expressed outrage at the exclusion in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“This is America, and to have a memorial service where there's no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me. I feel like America has lost its way,” Washington said.

A spokesperson for New York's City Hall told The Wall Street Journal that previous 9/11 anniversary memorials did not include religious leaders and they wanted to strike a similar tone with the 10th anniversary. “There are hundreds of important people that have offered to participate over the last nine years, but the focus remains on the families of the thousands who died on Sept. 11,” the spokesperson said.

City Council Member Fernando Cabrera, a pastor at New Life Outreach International, told The Wall Street Journal that religious leaders were “one of the pillars that carried us through. They were the spiritual and emotional backbone, and when you have a situation where people are trying to find meaning, where something is bigger than them, when you have a crisis of this level, they often look to the clergy.”

John Long, director of the Federation of Fire Chaplains for the Mid-Atlantic, seemed confused when he heard that religious groups would be excluded from the 10th anniversary 9/11 memorial service. In an interview with The Christian Post, Long said, “You can't have a memorial service without religion. If it wasn't for God and his direction, you couldn't have memorial services to begin with.”

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, told The Wall Street Journal that he sympathized with city officials because one of the difficulties would be finding people to represent the diversity of religious groups in New York.

“Who's going to agree as to who the representatives of the faith…will be? We have all the different groupings. If we have four denominations, what about the fifth denomination? There are practical considerations when planning something, where you want to be as inclusive as possible but sometimes you find it impossible to have everyone present who should be present. It's very difficult,” Potasnik said.

Long said he does not buy that argument. “For the National Day of Prayer they include different religious groups,” Long explained. “What's the difference between the National Day of Prayer and the 10th anniversary memorial?”

There have been other controversies involving religion and ground zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Last summer, there was a controversy about the construction of an Islamic community center a few blocks from ground zero, dubbed the “ground zero mosque.” Critics claimed that the group building the center had ties to radical Islamic groups and that it would desecrate the “sacred ground” of the 9/11 attack site.

Supporters argued that the builders are peaceful and one of the goals of the center was to build better relations between Muslims and other religious groups. Supporters also pointed out that the “ground zero mosque” would be neither a mosque nor at ground zero.

In a separate controversy, an atheist organization, called American Atheists, filed a lawsuit over the inclusion of the “9/11 cross” in the 9/11 memorial and museum. The cross is two steel beams forming a small letter “t,” or cross, that was found in the World Trade Center rubble after the 9/11 attacks.

American Atheists argue that the 9/11 cross on public property violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because it is state-sponsored religion. Supporters of the 9/11 cross argue that the cross was a meaningful symbol to many New Yorkers in the aftermath of the attack, and thus, appropriate to include in a memorial and museum devoted to remembering the events of September 11, 2001.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended both the Islamic community center and the 9/11 cross.

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[Guest yod]

Freaking hypocrites!!

They were all vying for face time to declare "God bless America" when it happened. I knew they were liars then but this should make it crystal clear who their "god" is.

[Bold Believer]

Irene will straighten it all out. Hehehe. The 'angel' Irene will rain on their parade.

When you see this, just remember this from II Thess 2:

2Th 2:3,4 Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction ,who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

Those who have excluded God from society are part of that category of men Paul calls the man of sin. They think they're God. They exalt themselves over every other god or object of worship. They've bought The Lie. Don't sweat 'em. Their day is almost here.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

[Guest]

this should make it crystal clear who their "god" is.

Not

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. Jeremiah 17:5

To

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. Jeremiah 17:7

Worry

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17:9-10

For Their Nest

As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. Jeremiah 17:11

Is Not Our Safe House

A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Jeremiah 17:12

Nor Is Their End

O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. Jeremiah 17:13

Our End

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Jeremiah 17:14

And All Because Of Jesus

These things I command you, that ye love one another.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. John 15:17-22

Bless His Holy Name

[Guest]

Worthy Service

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Psalms 116:15

Dear LORD Jesus Thank You For Calvary And For Your Priceless Blood

Freely Poured Out To Redeem Whosoever Will Believe

Our Hope Rests In You And In You Alone

We Ask You To Bless America

To Your Glory

And We Thank You For Israel

And We Ask You To Bless The Children Of Jacob

And To Protect Them In These Times Of Trouble And Please Pour Out Your Holy Spirit Upon Them

And Save Now ~ In The Holy Name Of Jesus Of Nazareth

Thank You For Answered Pray

I Love You

Amen