By John W. Morehead
Every September 11th Americans mark the somber anniversary of the terror attacks that shattered the national psyche. It provides us with an opportunity to not only reflect on the lives lost and the impact it had on American foreign policy, but also how it shaped the way evangelicals view religious others, especially Muslims. When I teach evangelicals about how to understand religion I also preface the study with contextual considerations, one of which is our post-9/11 environment. Below I’ll touch on a few examples of post-9/11 evangelicalism, and I encourage those interested in the topic to click on the links for a further exploration.
As we begin, we need to understand how the terror of the event shattered the American psyche in ways comparable to Pearl Harbor for generations past. The stark reminder of our mortality had several effects. The first was a tendency to emphasize our worldview against all competitors (particularly Muslims) as a form of psychological defense.
Writing about the traumatic psychological effect that 9/11 had on Americans through the lens of terror management theory and how we respond when we are directly confronted with death, the contributors to In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror write:
It is much simpler and more common to defend against such alternative worldviews. To do so, people respond to others having different worldviews with a series of psychological and behavioral reactions that serve to bolster confidence in their own worldviews. The first line of defense is to belittle people who are different… By disparaging those with different beliefs, the threat posed by those beliefs is diffused and no longer challenges the received wisdom of one’s own cultural worldview.
So rather than taking Islam seriously as a diverse religion with a complex history that needs to be understood and carefully interacted with in a variety of ways, evangelicals came to see Islam in reductionist terms, as little more than a dangerous enemy to be defeated. Related to this, evangelicals found a new cultural crisis that would come to define their posture toward cultural engagement, and various religions within it. Just as the Scopes Trial and evolution has dominated evangelical theology and science conversations for so many years, so too has 9/11 in different theological areas. This is the argument Walter Ratliff makes in his book Christians and Muslims at the Epicenter: How the Sept. 11th Attacks Shook and Transformed American Evangelicalism. In his words,
At the turn of the millennium, the Sept. 11th attacks forced the Christian world to not only deal with the pressures of modernity, but also a host of new theological, political and cultural challenges. Whereas theologically-conservative Christianity once primarily identified itself against secularism and theologically-liberal movements, the postmodern world presents challenges from other religions, alongside a variety of systems competing for legitimacy and adherents.
As an example of how evangelical approaches shifted after 9/11, consider the research of Richard Cimino. In his insightful essay “‘No God in Common:’ American Evangelical Discourse on Islam after 9/11,” he discovered a dramatic change in the ways evangelicals conceived of and wrote about Islam pre- and post-9/11. As the abstract for his essay summarizes:
After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., evangelical leaders emerged as strong critics and even antagonists of Islam. This rhetoric is reflected in evangelical books and articles that have been published in the last decade, but particularly since 9/11. Through a content analysis of evangelical books on Islam published before and after 9/11, this article finds that there was a noticeable change of emphasis and perspective on Islam after the attacks. Most of the post-9/11 literature draws sharper boundaries between Islam and Christianity and asserts that Islam is an essentially violent religion. This polemic against Islam takes three forms: apologetics to prove the truth of Christianity against Islam; prophetic literature linking Islam as the main protagonist in end-times scenarios; and charismatic literature applying “spiritual warfare” teachings to Islam. The article concludes that the greater and more visible pluralism in American society is challenging evangelical identity, leading to the erection of new boundary markers between evangelicalism and other religions. Such new boundaries can strain interfaith relations, yet they also function to strengthen evangelical Protestant identity in the U.S.
Finally, the impact of 9/11 not only shaped the way in which evangelicals relate to those in other religions, and Islam in particular, but also how we examine ourselves. Our emphasis on boundary maintenance and fears of syncretism has also led to problematic ways of assessing those who we fear have gotten too close to our “enemies” in the Muslim world. Consider the cases of Rev. David Benke and Dr. Larycia Hawkins. I’ll just summarize here and encourage you to click the links for more, but Benke participated in an interfaith memorial prayer service at Yankee Stadium just days after 9/11. As a result, his denomination, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, suspended him and he was accused of heresy. Eventually he was reinstated. In the PBS Frontline documentary Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, he shared how deeply this experience caused him to question his faith. In the case of Hawkins, when she was a professor at Wheaton College she made statements on social media about embodied solidarity with Muslim women while wearing a hijab, and said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This led to concerns by college donors and a conflict with Wheaton leadership, and she eventually had to step down. While we can debate the theological details about the actions of Benke and Hawkins, the psychological trauma of 9/11 shaped the way in which they were viewed, with an emphasis on theological fence-building versus bridge-building.
How will you remember 9/11? I have discovered that sometimes introspection can be very helpful. I suggest that one way evangelicals can best remember the tragedy of September 11th is to look at ourselves critically and to come to grips with the ways in which we’ve changed.
John W. Morehead is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy, and the Director of its Evangelical Chapter (Multifaith Matters). You may contact him at johnwmorehead@msn.com .