Has the search for religious faith in America been affected by the attacks of September 11, 2001?

By admin · Monday, July 13th, 2009

The search for religious faith is a journey most americans partake in. Rarely ever is there anoccurrence which catalyses said search; while many events are claimed to aid in the spiritual growth and expansion of the metaphysical american psyche, the attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11th did not result in any sort of increase in the religious populous (aside from the normal linear growth or decay). Although the attacks did not make way for a religious expansion, they did result in a religious uprising. This uprising, as with many other religious movements, could easily have been mistaken for an increase in believers.

Modern age religious communities all rely on a similar method when it comes to the indoctrination new members into their respective religions. This methodology utilizes the fundamental, and natural, fears of mankind; the fear of pain, suffering, and death. Christianity, being the largest religious group in America (about 75%), will be used in this article to demonstrate how, and in what sense, the religious community uses fear as a method of indoctrination.

One of the widest held beliefs in the christian faith is the belief in a hell. It is a belief that if one’s soul is tainted with evil, or sin, they will be, upon death, cast down to a place of torture, fire, and suffering for all eternity. This teaching, first and foremost, is the primary belief which causes young children to affiliate themselves with a religious sect. Religious adults usually bring their children up into the same faith, using the myth of hell to frighten them into never committing sin, and never converting to another “rival” religious group.

For the experienced, stronger-minded adult, this myth can not be accepted without substantial evidence of its existence. The religious community, knowing this fact, choose to use every day catastrophes as examples of God’s wrath, which therefor proves, in their eyes, the existence of “hell.” The attack on the World Trade Centers were one such example. After the attacks, religious communities all over America stood up and proclaimed that it was the judgement of God; some claim it was because he was unhappy with homosexuals while others claim that is was God’s hatred of the growing atheist community. They protested and rallied, each religion claiming that it was the right one, and at the same time, trying to “save” humanity by converting others into their sect.

This same technique has been used during every time of crises since America’s founding! From Hurricane Katrina’s devastation to the current economic crisis, religious groups always associate unfortunate events as God’s wrath.

This sort of thinking is detrimental to the growth of humanity. By blaming everything on an angry God, we strip all the responsibility from ourselves. The attack on September 11th was not God attacking America, but rather a Middle Eastern Islamic religion’s attempt at pleasing their god. Violence like this will never end; people have always, and will always fight over the metaphysical with unfounded, yet devoted, faith in their respective religious beliefs.

As stated above, the attacks on the World Trade Centers on September 11th didn’t result in an increase in those searching for religious faith, but rather in an increase of religious propaganda. As long as there lies a doubt in humanities concept of the afterlife, faith groups will never stop using each and every large disaster as a tool in hopes of indoctrinating non religious individuals into their brain washed cults.