REMEMBRANCE OF 9 11

This weekend is the 10th anniversary of the mass murders that were planned, executed, and thwarted on September 11, 2001.

These horrible mass murderers were using the excuse of religious fervor. They were not the first people to use religion as an excuse to murder.

King Richard the Lionhearted murdered thousands of helpless prisoners of war because he did not want to "waste" manpower on guarding them. He figured he needed all of his men to take Jerusalem, which he believed was his religious duty.

Too often, people use religion to revile anyone who does not believe exactly as they believe. "Non believers" are considered to be "non people", who can be killed with impunity. The people who believe this are not actually following the teaching of their religion. They are using a few sentences, taken out of context, to justify their reprehensible actions.

Every time you say, "That person is not one of us, so what happens to him/her does not matter", you are making it a little bit easier for someone, somewhere, to commit an atrocity.

Many of the world's religions believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet and/or the son of God. Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the Earth." I think he meant that those who could learn to live without violence will be the people who rule the Earth.

In order to live without violence, we need to RESPECT each other. My beliefs may be different from your beliefs, but we can live together in mutual respect and without violence. But there will always be violent criminals, and we will need the good guys who use violence within the confines of the law to bring the bad guys to justice.

If you lost a loved one on 9 11, please accept my condolences.