No ordinary evil

Eight years ago, a group of warped individuals perpetrated heinous acts of terrorism inside the USA. They managed to bring down two massive structures of steel and concrete, killing over 3,000 people in the name of their religion.

September 11, 2001, and the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, did little to improve our impression of islamists and their campaign to annihilate 'infidels', that is: you and I. If anything, this cataclysmic event served to illustrate just how perverted human minds and hearts may become, whether influenced by religious, inflammatory hate-speech, or falling prey to the machinations of pseudo-scientists (Nazi Germany).

EVIL UNLIMITED

I remember wondering, in the days following September 11, whether Mohammed Atta and his nefarious accomplices really imagined that their acts of terrorism would actually help to sway the West into accepting Islam? Well, I have experienced time and time again that our human capacity for folly is limitless, and so, deplorably, is our capacity for evil. Just as ordinary Germans were willing executioners under Hitler, so ordinary people like Mohammed Atta seem to carry on this vile tradition of trying to achieve 'good' by murders and massacres.

Some see in September 11 a perfect example of what forces really lie behind Islam. Yes, Islam was originally spread using brute force and zero love, but it makes relatively little sense here, I think, to make use of this act of atrocity to prove the thruthfulness of such an assertion. Because cruelty isn't native to any particular religion. We are all prone to be carried away by our basest instincts, instincts fuelled either by intellectual pride or spiritual darkness.

WHY DIDN'T GOD INTERVENE?

But why did God allow September 11 to happen? Anne Lotz Graham, daughter of famous evangelist Billy Graham, came up with a possible answer that should cause us all to reflect on how we lead our lives: Mrs. Graham asserted that as we tell God to, in effect, stay away from interfering with our choices and our lifestyle, God is prone to grant us what we desire. He doesn't force his protection or blessing on us, so as he withdraws from us - in response to our express wishes - we're really left to fend off evil on our own.

But we're terrible at that particular game. We seem to lose almost every point, game, set and, eevntually, every match. There is evil our there that isn't human. Evil that shows its terrifying face on days like September 11, 2001.