{"id":546,"date":"2011-09-11T14:22:35","date_gmt":"2011-09-11T14:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experts.patheos.com\/expert\/frederickwschmidt\/?p=546"},"modified":"2011-09-11T14:22:35","modified_gmt":"2011-09-11T14:22:35","slug":"911-a-loss-of-innocence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2011\/09\/911-a-loss-of-innocence\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/11: A Loss of Innocence?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Reflecting on the events of 9\/11, one veteran journalist called the events of that day \u201ca loss of innocence.\u201d\u00a0 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the primary connotations of the word innocence (from the Latin, innocentia<\/em>) are:<\/p>\n

1. Freedom from sin, guilt, or moral wrong in general; the state of being untainted with, or unacquainted with, evil; moral purity.<\/p>\n

2. Freedom from specific guilt; the fact of not being guilty of that with which one is charged; guiltlessness.<\/p>\n

3. Freedom from cunning or artifice; guilelessness, artlessness, simplicity; hence, want of knowledge or sense, ignorance, silliness.<\/p>\n

4. Of things: Harmlessness, innocuousness.<\/p>\n

I assume she had in mind the second half of item one: \u201cthe state of being untainted with, or unacquainted with, evil.\u201d\u00a0 If that is so, then experience as a \u201cveteran\u201d journalist cannot count for much these days, because reporting, if nothing else, should acquaint us with evil.\u00a0 And just a bit of sober self-exploration should vanquish the rest of whatever lack of acquaintance with evil we might claim.<\/p>\n

What she meant, but probably would not have said (if she had thought about it) was that 9\/11 signaled the end of na\u00efvet\u00e9 \u2014 a state of denial that consists of a number of unnamed, indefensible assumptions:<\/p>\n