25 Years After 9/11: Choosing Love Over Hate in a Divided America

‍Weaponized Faith vs. Radical Compassion: Two Responses to 9/11

Twenty-five years ago, I was living in lower Manhattan on 9/11 and I watched the towers fall from my rooftop as people around me collapsed in grief. While still numb, I looked around for a way to make sense of the terrible tragedy and saw two distinct paths.  

One was set by Christian nationalists – Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson –  whose corrupt version of faith prompted them to immediately politicize and weaponize the attack, blaming secular Americans, the LGBTQ community, feminists, abortion and even the ACLU. Others like them spearheaded the demonization of our Muslim friends and neighbors, ignoring how so many of them had also suffered from the attack. In the months and years that followed, Muslim Americans, as well as Sikh Americans, were demonized, terrorized and killed. 

However, these were not the only responses. In the minutes after the towers fell, I saw people lining up to give blood to help survivors. Hours later, we were volunteering, seeking small but meaningful ways to show up for one another, loving our neighbors of all backgrounds. Together we started to imagine how we might rebuild New York City, and ultimately our country, to come back even stronger as a nation rooted in love.  

There were countless neighbors from diverse faiths and beliefs who showed up side by side to recommit to our common bond as Americans and to uplift equality, solidarity and shared humanity. Our communities’ tears flowed in common sorrow, joined together to water gardens of hope of a shared future. 

How Has Anti-Muslim Hate Changed in the 25 Years Since 9/11?

I was a newly minted minister in 2001, and over the past 25 years I have spent my ministry deeply inspired by the vision of a multi-racial and multi-faith democracy in which all are afforded equal dignity and rights as guaranteed by the constitution. On this anniversary of 9/11, I reaffirm my calling to hold fast to that promise – as a follower of the Prince of Peace, as the president of Interfaith Alliance and as an American. 

However, that future feels more imperiled today than it has in any time during these last 25 years. We are experiencing a spike in anti-Muslim rhetoric, rooted in an increasingly influential and malevolent version of the same white Christian nationalism that first sought to take advantage of 9/11 in its immediate aftermath. 

This hate has become so normalized that the Mayor of my city is being widely attacked – including by some so-called religious leaders – for fulfilling his sacred duty of attending the memorial ceremony at Ground Zero. The scapegoating and targeting of the Muslim community is taking place alongside the rise in antisemitism, attacks on trans people and the fatal cruelty and abuse of ICE in our cities. It’s destructive and deadly – and it's on all of us to stop it. 

There was a symbol of New York in the days after September 11, 2001, which was a heart with a blackened corner at the bottom to represent where the Twin Towers had fallen with the language: “I Heart New York – More Than Ever.” As a people, our hearts are still fragile twenty five years later. However, I continue to love New York, and every one of my neighbors – more than ever. I continue to be inspired by the memory and example of all those, in my city and beyond, who reacted to horror with empathy and the courage to double down on love and care. 

How Can We Counter Hate on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11?

I invite you to join me in observing this 25th anniversary of the heartbreak and pain of 9/11 by committing to fight hate, to reject demonization and the politics of recrimination, and to work for the well-being of all our nation’s people, of every race, religion, or background.  

By loving our neighbors – all our neighbors – we can help heal our heart and our world.