Quotation Marks

"We've been kind of seduced by the myth of modernity, that things are getting better. … But the World Trade Center plops this whole notion of evil back in our laps."
Randall Balmer
Columbia University
religion historian

"I don't want to see the paramedics of the nation—the church —stuck in the library studying what the accident means while the victims are traumatized on the side of the road."

T.D. Jakes
senior pastor,
The Potter's House

"What these Muslims like about Christianity is that it is a religion that heals."

Gary Lane
news director of Voice of the Martyrs, noting that Christianity is spreading quickly in rural Afghanistan

"If prayer works for people, great, do it, but don't exclude us . …We're as patriotic as anyone."

Helen Lea
of the East Bay Secular Humanists on not being invited to San Francisco's interfaith memorial service for attack victims

"A hurtful, divisive message."

ACLU
describing a "God Bless America" sign at an elementary school in Rocklin, California

Sources: The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, UPI, Time, San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee

Related Elsewhere:

For more quotations to stir the heart and mind, see Christianity Today'sReflections:

The Word of God (October 22, 2001)

Leadership (October 11, 2001)

Suffering (September 13, 2001)

Change (August 14, 2001)

Living Tradition (July 18, 2001)

Sacred Spaces (June 11, 2001)

Friendship (May 17, 2001)

The Cross (Apr. 12, 2001)

The Quotable Stott (Apr. 27, 2001)

For more perspective on the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, see Christianity Today's previous essays and editorials:

Blame Game | Seeking mercy is a better response to 9/11 than seeking meaning. (Nov. 8, 2001)

Blood, Sweat, and Prayers | One man's journal of ministry among New York City's firefighters and police officers at Ground Zero. (Nov. 8, 2001)

Rally Round the Flag | America may not be God's chosen nation, but it does have a mission that churches can support. (Nov. 7, 2001)

Wake-up Call | If September 11 was a divine warning, it's God's people who are being warned. (Nov. 5, 2001)

Judgment Day | God promised that calamity would follow disobedience. So why are we quick to dismiss it as a reason for the September 11 attacks? (Sept. 25, 2001)

Now What? | A Christian response to religious terrorism. (Sept. 21, 2001)

To Embrace the Enemy | Is reconciliation possible in the wake of such evil? (Sept. 21, 2001)

After the Grave in the Air | True reconciliation comes not by ignoring justice nor by putting justice first, but by unconditional embrace. (Sept. 21, 2001)

Taking It Personally | What do we do with all this anger? (Sept. 14, 2001)

A Wake-Up Call to Become Global Christians | The deadly attacks on America will provoke many responses, but Christians are commanded to love our neighbors. (Sept. 12, 2001)

God's Message in the Language of Events | In the face of evil, we must focus on keeping our hearts right. (Sept. 11, 2001)above all else.

When Sin Reigns | An event like this shows us what humans are capable of becoming—both as children of darkness and of light. (Sept. 13, 2001)