At the World Trade Center, on September 11, 2001 almost 3,000 innocent victims died. On September 11, 2011, there will be no clergy there to pray for them. This is unconscionable.

Cooper: No room for 9/11 chaplains | timesfreepress.com

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

And people wonder why I hate this city with a seething vengance.

Nor will there be room for first responders. Funny, there was plenty enough room for clergy, firemen and police officers at ground Zero 10 years ago...

From the way I understand it the Official Remembrance is for the families, only. If that is true and the city has no room for anyone but the families, maybe they should move the fence to allow more of the families' invitees?
I'm torn as the world was attacked on September 11th and the USA in particular. The effect on me was nothing like those that lost loved ones in the terror attacks.

The Worst of 9/11

When I first read the title of this thread the thought that entered my mind was simply this, because of the few we will always be looking over our shoulder. It's a horrible way to have to live our lives. The fact that those who represent the voice of the majority are excluded from this event, for fear of offending the few, is almost a crime in and of itself. Just my worthless opinion.

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FCSA Member
NRA Benefactor

Whut he sed!

I was not at the WTC site until 9/12, because they held us back at our command. These are just my feelings, so just try to be understanding.

I don't really have a problem with 9/11 responders not being a part of the ceremony. The hero responders of 9/11 paid with their lives and deserve to be honored. I do have a big problem with the clergy being excluded. Victims deserve to be prayed for and remembered.

As for the living 9/11 responders, the public at large gave them a long 15 minutes in the spotlight. I wasn't too happy with the "look at me" hero mentality some of the uniformed services sought out right after 9/11. I felt it was over the top and very insensitive to all the innocent victims of 9/11.

In the early days of 9/11 I remember frantic parents giving me flyers printed out showing their very young adult son/daughter in silly little "facebook" type of poses, begging me to keep an eye out for them. It was heartbreaking, especially since you did not want to dash their hopes of seeing their children again.

Right after 9/11 you had volunteers waiting on you hand and foot, doling out food and water. They thanked you incessantly and needlessly. These beautiful people are largely ignored now.

Bloomberg excludes the clergy, but he is all for building a "Victory Mosque" near the WTC. They are actually contemplating using Federal funds to do so. A very selective seperation of Church and State going on, these days.

Honor the memory of almost 3,000 people by bringing in the clergy.

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Fidelis Ad Mortem

Well said.

Fact is , if there were ANY official clerical or religious denomination center stage , the muslims would demand the same air time , and that would ignite an even bigger firestorm.

Do we really need or want some Iman bellowing Allah Akbar (or Death to America) at ground zero?

It is my understanding that there were innocent Muslims killed in the Towers. Since the purpose of having clergy at the event is to pray for the souls of the dead and comfort the living I think it would be entirely appropriate to have Muslim Clergy at the memorial.

I understand that this has been done in the past; I think it was a Police or Fire Department Chaplin.
Bloomberg is an ***.

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Ipsis Rebus Dictantitbus

Then don't invite them. It was a Muslim declaration of Jihad, not the Episcopalians or Methodists.

I couldn't care less what some yammering Imam says. Until 95% of the Muslims out there vociferously disown Al Queda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and their ilk, I'm not interested in hearing anything else they say. Further, they need to declare their own war on the radical sects.

We know the chances of this happening: Slim and none; and Slim's headed out of town.

9/11 I am kinda glad to see the ten year come. To me its time to stop pushing it so hard, I dont want to forget it but give it a brake. It now about politicians and money nothing more or less.

We cannot rebuild the Greek church that was damaged on the sight but we can build the Muhammad Attah memorial mosque in a building damaged by one of the planes, go figure.

That day brought out the best of the USA and to me has been used in the wrong way today. 911 families, it was a big blow, heroes died as did innocents. The American people gave with open hearts and wallets to them. They all walked away taken care of.
The poor guys cleaning up the mess, being exposed to the remnants of everything didnt fare as well and still have to fight for things. Yet I just saw an ad on TV wanting to give more to the 911 families. Seems greedy to me.
Brave firemen, the same heroes had a bad fire on Fathers day, four fire fighters lost their lives. Their families didnt get millions in payouts. Their loss is not different to me. They are almost forgotten about, I think that was one of the worst days the NYFD had in it history.

Some of you may get angry for what I have written, no need to. We all have a perspective of it.

Paper, powder and steel...



I will share my 9/11 story,

9/10/01, I had to go to Henry Repeating Arms in Brooklyn, I was stuck in traffic. For some reason I leaned over in the truck and was looking at the WTC. Three thoughts went through my mind, the first attacks in 1993. I thought how stupid those people were that they could really think that they could knock them down (boy was I off the mark). Then I thought how dirty the windows looked, seemed filthy to me. My last thought was my about my dad (passed on less than a year at the time) and the work that he did for a company that made items used in the building, they were new special built items, bigger than any before it{insert memories and a bit of pride}. The strange thing is that I had to go out of my way to look at the building. I had driven passed it many times and hardly noticed it or gave it a thought, strange.

They next day, I was glad I was not sitting in traffic in Brooklyn...

It was unpleasant to go back thinking what next, gas attack? Should I buy a level three suit to keep in the truck? I didnt but you had to think it as soon after came the anthrax attacks.

Even driving to NJ for work I could see smoke coming from the site.

It was a strange time after wards, folks were kinda depressed, didnt know what to expect next. Then came flight 587...
Business came to almost a stand still and was slow for along time.

Time moves on I suppose...

Well guys, they formed a 9-11 commision, who actually came up with some very good ideas, but I just heard two of the members interviewed briefly, and they are incredulous because of the overwhelming disdain that their recommendations have received, and the one I find "almost" unbelievable is that there still is no way for first responders to communicate on a common net!!!!!! I think that the more people that they keep away from the memorial, the better it is. They blew up the building twice, I just don't know what's to keep them from bolwing up the monument. There were firemen rushing in to the towers while a police helicopter tried to alert them that the thing was going to fall, but they couldn't communicate with them, so they died. You would think that that would be enough to get them to at least fix that. Right now my wife's 81 year old Oxygen dependant parents have no electricity, they called on a cell phone, I could tell they were scared-they are originally from NYC. Nobody knows why the power is out, where the problem is, or when it might be restored, but I'm pretty sure someone in a blue suit will be around soon to make the one point that they are interested in making, that they don't know anything about the power outage, only that they are absoulutely positive that it wasn't terrorism. Homeland security is an oxymoron. Flapjack.

I have no use for religion, but this seems stupid and malicious to me.

I'm pretty good at ignoring other people's religions. I don't need to try to stop them from being religious or from expressing their religious beliefs in appropriate ways.

I find the building of a mosque extremely offensive, all in the name of political tolerance. I bet if you asked the families if they wanted clergy there, there would be an overwhelming "YES"!!! That being said, be careful with these threads, they can become out of control very quickly.

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Dyin ain't much of a livin

Very well said Mark.

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Sure you did

On the outrage scale of 1 to 10, this gets about a 1.8 from me -- irritating and annoying because of the insensitive way it was addressed by the mayor's office, but way down the list of things we could advantageously worry about.

It is a pretty safe bet that whether religious leaders are recognized participants in the commemoration or not, prayers will be said in the thousands by those attending, and most of those attending, if their faith supports such perception, will feel the presence of God. If God is there, who needs His designated hitters? We live in an age in which more and more people are seeking a personal relationship with the divine and direct perception of divine influence. Just let that emerge from the situation and the circumstances on this occasion. I submit that there is no need of mediators from institutionalized religion to make this gathering any more faith-based than it will be by its very nature.

For a faith columnist, the author of the column referenced in the original post seems to have a pretty narrow definition of the term. If he would dial down the rhetoric and turn up the gain on his faith antenna, I think he would be surprised at how much of what he thinks is important is already deeply rooted in the vast majority of the population.

Outrage is like a bar of soap: you use it up. If we consume our personal supplies on superficial things like this, as individuals we won't have much left when we really need it.

I do not oppose the presence of clergy at this commemoration; I consider their presence unnecessary.

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David Wilson