Meaningful Emptiness: Ground Zero 1

Abstract

According to the most ancient Greeks, the planet Earth was created by a battle among gods. That battle happened before human beings were put on Earth. On 11 September 2001, a battle, said to be between the god of Muslims and the god of Jews and Christians, removed 3,000 humans from the earth. "Praise Allah!" said the Muslim terrorist, "for helping us kill that many." "Thank God," said the Jew and the Christian, "for saving so many others." What a misuse of religion! God does not fly airplanes and God does not save people. God does not decide who is to die and who is to be saved. God gave one thing to the human species: the capacity to make decisions and lay out a path for their life to follow. Ironic, is it not, that the architect of the World Trade Center, Minora Yamasaki, was also the architect for Saudi Arabia's King Fahed International Airport and its magnificent mosque, so beloved by Muslims of the Eastern Provinces. Ironic, too, is that a world trade center owes its history to the ancient Arabian caravansary. The ironical is what cannot be explained by cause and effect. The irony of all ironies is the slaughter of innocents in the name of God.