Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

September 11 revisited

Sunday 14 September, 2003 · Posted by Philip Bassett

I sat writing this on Thursday morning, September 11, 2003. On Wednesday night I had watched a late movie on SBS which was a French made semi-documentary on four people�s lives leading up to the incidents of September 11, 2001, and the impact on their lives afterwards. Part of the movie was vivid news footage of the destruction of the twin towers.

Also on Wednesday evening I had watched the news in which the death penalty was announced for Iman Samudra, the mastermind behind the Bali bombings. Every day, it seems, we receive news of some action by militant Muslims somewhere in the world.

One of the things I struggle with, and I know many others struggle with, is trying to understand what it�s all about. On the same news last night there was a group of Australian Moslem women who were launching a newspaper and a web-site to try to communicate the fact that Islam is not just about hatred and bombings.

A book that I and others have found useful and insightful is �Islam In Our Backyard� by Tony Payne and available from Matthias Media. Quoting from the cover notes, �The events of September 11 catapaulted islam back into Western consciousness. Was this the opening shot in a new level of conflict between the Islamic East and the Christian West. How much were the attacks bound up with Islam itself? Just what does islam teach, and how are we in the west to relate to it?�

Tony Payne�s book explores these questions in a very readable way and �More than that, he explores the religious challenge to Western society — not just in relation to terrorism, but in how we are going to deal with the big questions of God and truth in a multicultural society.�

I encourage you to read this book or something similar so you can be informed and know how to best pray for the salvation of our Moslem brothers and sisters.

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