{"id":20236,"date":"2011-09-10T12:42:31","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T17:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=20236"},"modified":"2011-09-10T09:58:11","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T14:58:11","slug":"peter-leithart-on-911","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Leithart on 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

From First Things<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago, they saw themselves as heroes of an apocalyptic holy war. For a moment, it seemed that they had instead given new life to secular modernity.<\/p>\n

During the decades preceding 9\/11, religion of an intense variety made a surprising comeback. Pentecostalism<\/a> blazed through South America, an exotic stew of indigenous Christianities bubbled up in Africa, Chinese churches grew at an astonishing rate, Evangelicals had political clout in the U.S., Islamic fundamentalism was on the rise. As the\u00a0Economist<\/em>\u2019s John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge put it in the title of their 2009 book, \u201cGod is back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some found the news of God\u2019s return alarming and after 9\/11 they said so, loudly and repeatedly. Days after the attacks, Richard Dawkins wrote in\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, \u201cTo fill a world with religion, or religions of the Abrahamic kind, is like littering the streets with loaded guns. Do not be surprised if they are used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stateside, Sam Harris interrupted his studies to write\u00a0The End of Faith<\/em>, which lumps jihadism with the Christian political theology of Antonin Scalia. \u201cWe should not be misled\u201d by the apparent benignity of Western religion, Harris warned. The influence of religious ideas on the U.S. government \u201cpresents a grave danger to everyone.\u201d For Christopher Hitchens, September 11 proved that the \u201cpoison\u201d of religion \u201cwas beginning to reassert its challenge to civil society.\u201d New Atheism rose from the ashes of the WTC. \u201cYes, God is back, and look where He got us!\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholars of religion got well into the fray. Religious violence was already a subject of scholarly interest, but after 2001 it became an academic cottage industry across a variety of disciplines: Charles Kimball\u2019s\u00a0When Religion Becomes Evil<\/em> (2002), Charles Selengut\u2019s\u00a0Sacred Fury<\/em> (2004), M. J. Akbar\u2019s\u00a0The Shade of Swords<\/em> (2002), J. H. Ellens\u2019 four-volume collection of essays on\u00a0The Destructive Power of Religion<\/em>(2004), Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer\u2019s\u00a0Is Religion Killing Us?<\/em> (2005), and on and on\u2026.<\/p>\n

Others learned a more lasting lesson from 9\/11.<\/strong> Tony Blair seized the opportunity to establish the Tony Blair Foundation \u201cto promote respect and understanding between the major religions.\u201d Without attention to religion, politicians are hamstrung in today\u2019s world. \u201cWe in the West tend to see people of religious faith as people to be pushed to one side,\u201d Blair said earlier this year. \u201cThat quite aggressive secularism you see in the West does not understand what is happening in the rest of the world.\u201d Blair wants to see religious passion harnessed to \u201cmake globalization work,\u201d but he resists secularists\u2019 efforts to use fears of holy terror to bludgeon believers back into their hovels.<\/p>\n

Ten years on, all this is now obvious. Resurgent secularism is a blip on the screen, New Atheism a rearguard action in a losing battle. The ferment among Muslims and Christians continues apace, and in some places it will again turn tragically violent. We have no choice but to deal with it. The message of 9\/11 was always this: The gods are still back, and they are here to stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago, they saw themselves as heroes of an apocalyptic holy war. For a moment, it seemed that they had instead given new life to secular modernity. During the decades preceding 9\/11, religion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPeter Leithart on 9\/11<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peter Leithart on 9\/11\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-10T17:42:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-10T14:58:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart on 9\/11\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-10T17:42:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-10T14:58:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Peter Leithart on 9\/11\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Peter Leithart on 9\/11","description":"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Peter Leithart on 9\/11","og_description":"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2011-09-10T17:42:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-10T14:58:11+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/","name":"Peter Leithart on 9\/11","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-09-10T17:42:31+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-10T14:58:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"From First Things: When nineteen jihadist hijackers slammed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and another into the Pentagon ten years ago,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/10\/peter-leithart-on-911\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Peter Leithart on 9\/11"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}