The failure behind 9/11 continues to produce a broken world

If Karleton Douglas Beye Fyfe -- a name almost big enough to hold his 6-5 frame and winsome personality -- had died in, say, a car wreck or of cancer at age 31, it would have been a personal disaster for my extended family. (The first photo here shows his name at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.)

But my nephew KDBF, as we called him, died 23 years ago today as a passenger on the first plane that the 9/11 terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center. So his death instantly became something much larger -- a symbol of radical violence rooted in religiously based vengeance for what the leaders of the perpetrators were convinced were American national sins that could be absolved in no other way.

The nearly 3,000 people who were murdered on 9/11 were, in effect, given the death penalty to pay for what the terrorists' leaders believed were our American government's and our culture's violations of their rigid theological standards.

It was far from the first time that misguided religion had led to bloodshed. Nor did such faith-based horrors end with 9/11, either.

But what they all had in common was the radical failure of some people of faith to understand and act on the key concept at the root of almost every generative religious tradition -- the inestimable value of every human being, a concept that springs from the conviction that each person bears the image of God.

That concept may have been articulated before Judaism enshrined it in its sacred scriptures -- words eventually adopted as part of the Christian Bible and studied by Muslims because Islam requires them to understand the Bible so they can better understand the stories in the Qur'an that are rooted in the Bible. But the book of Genesis is where most people find it today.

As Rabbi Irving Greenberg writes in his new book, The Triumph of Life, "Humans, like all life, are planted in the ground of the Divine. Just as plants rooted in alkaline soil evolve to become more alkaline and more absorptive of the nutrients in the ground, life itself absorbs the distinctive Godly energy and evolves to become more and more like its ground, the Divine. . .That is why the bible describes the human being, the most developed form of life thus far, as being in 'the image of God.' This means that human life, however finite and limited, nevertheless possesses capacities so striking and powerful that they bring to mind the operations of the unlimited capabilities of the Creator." (I recently reviewed Greenberg's book here.)

(The small photo here shows a stone marker where KDBF was buried in North Carolina.)

The failure to understand that foundational concept about the preciousness of each human being helps to explain why the 9/11 terrorists murdered Karleton and so many others. And why already this year some 100-plus people in Kansas City have been fatal victims of gun violence. It's why so many of our social systems treat people of different racial and economic backgrounds in prejudicious ways. And it's why the concept of white supremacy has had such staying power.

Had he lived, Karleton (pictured here a few months before his death), would be 54 now. His extended family, including me, continue to miss him like crazy -- his quick humor, his touching sensitivities, his loving, giving nature, his capacious brain.

But as I think about such things today, I am painfully aware that the primary reason he's not still alive today is that some people either were never taught or they never understood or they just willfully violated the idea that each human being is of infinite value because each one bears the image of the creator.

Our continuing failure to live as if that's true is why the world remains in desperate need of what Jewish people call tikkun olam, or a commitment to repair of the world. Let's be about that task today in memory not just of Karleton but of all people who have ever fallen victim to this failure.

(My book about 9/11 and the trauma it put my family and the world through -- and what we can do about that now -- can be found here.)

* * *

A NEW NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER EDITOR

There's some good, Kansas City-related news about The National Catholic Reporter, the independent newspaper based here in KC. As this RNS story reports, James V. Grimaldi, a member of the Grimaldi family reared here in KC, has been named NCR's executive editor. Grimaldi comes to NCR from The Wall Street Journal and brings a wealth of experience and a history of great reporting (he's been part of reporting teams that have won three Pulitzer Prizes). His brother Mike and I worked together for a time at The Kansas City Star, and I've also known his brother Tom. Mike's wife, Carol, is a leader in my Presbyterian congregation. James Grimaldi will work from NCR's offices in Washington, D.C. The paper is in many ways the progressive voice of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and has been a leader in covering such stories as the abuse scandal involving priests and the bishops who covered for them. I used to write a regular column for NCR, though now I just do occasional book reviews for the publication.

* * *

P.S.: A little KC-area seminary news: Central Seminary (also known as Central Baptist Theological Seminary) will move this December from its current location at 6601 Monticello Road in Shawnee to a new, smaller location at 8620 W. 110th St. in Overland Park. Central is an American Baptist (not Southern) seminary. The Southern Baptist seminary in our area is Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, North. More details about the Central move can be found here.