FROM THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT: Dr. George O. Wood reflects on the “Anniversary of 9/11.”

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9/11 & CHRISTIANITY: “New York’s Post-9/11 Church Boom.”

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9/11 & THE CLERGY, PART 1: “9/11 Chaplains Reflect”offers a variety of perspectives on the spiritual impact of 9/11 by Christian clergy who ministered in its aftermath.

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9/11 & THE CLERGY, PART 2: “With 9/11 anniversary on a Sunday, pastors prepare their sermons.” Of course, they’d prepare their sermons whether 9/11 was on a Sunday or not. Still, CNN has written an interesting article about the divergent ways clergy will address the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in their messages.

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9/11 & ISLAM IN AMERICA: “Muslim 9/11 Reflections: Islam in America 10 Years Later” offers a variety of perspectives on the topic by American Muslims. Interesting reading, especially “A Muslim American Declaration.”

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9/11 & ISLAM IN THE WEST: “Imam Feisal: The Future of Muslim and Christian Relations in the West.” Gabe Lyons interviews Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Interesting.

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CHRISTIAN MISSION TO ISLAM AFTER 9/11: “Muslim Missions: Then and Now.”

Whenever Muslim governments have adopted a militant type of Islam or have tried to impose a form of Shari’ah law—and where there has been a local example of an alternate, friendly Christian presence—Muslims are attracted to the gospel.

And…

What led to that bin Ladenism and 9/11—the post-Soviet fighting between Mujahideen, the rise of the Taliban, and terrorist camps—resulted in thousands of Afghans fleeing to Pakistan, where they were put in refugee camps. In one of these camps outside Peshawar, conditions were dismal. Since refugee children ran around barefoot in intense heat and cold, a Christian organization brought in hundreds of sandals. The group decided it would not just distribute the sandals but wash the children’s feet first. To do this, they enlisted as many Christians as possible, including our daughter-in-law, who carefully washed the children’s filthy feet, put medication on their sores, and prayed silently for them before giving them the sandals.

Some months later, a primary-school teacher in the area asked her children who the best Muslims were. A girl put up her hand and said, “The kafirs” (“disbelievers”).

After the teacher recovered from cardiac arrest, she asked, “Why?”

The girl replied, “The Mujahideen killed my father, but the kafirs washed my feet.”

Ultimately, the future of missions to Muslims will be affected less by the flames of 9/11, or even the flames that started the Arab Spring, than by the inner flames that are ignited if we so follow our Lord, who modeled the basin and the towel, that our Muslim friends may echo the words of the disciples in Emmaus: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

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PROGRESS: “My Guantanamo Experience: Support Interrogation, Reject Torture.”

The well-trained interrogator committed to personal integrity and professional excellence knows that the humanity of the detainee is of central importance. He or she learns to leave his or her personal emotional responses outside of the process. The detainee’s hopes, dreams, quirks, foibles, and idiosyncrasies, i.e., components of the detainee’s humanity, must be the core focus of all efforts.

Thus torture and interrogation are opposites. Torture eliminates the humanity of the detainee and unleashes what is inside the torturer, whereas interrogation is built precisely on the humanity of the detainee. Thus dehumanization in torture actually creates a barrier for interrogation.

Torture, moreover, stains America’s reputation. It brings decay rather than improvement and excellence to our intelligence collection professionals. Also it can undermine public support for detention and interrogation in times of military conflict from those Americans who, rightly, reject torture, but conflate torture with legitimate interogation. And a lack of public support from certain quarters for our national intelligence efforts can in and of itself be a barrier to intelligence collection. We need to consider not only today’s conflicts, but also those of tomorrow, which surely will come. For these and other reasons torture in interrogation should be of particular concern to those who want to support intelligence collection for the prevention of future aggression.

What our nation needs is a rejection of torture in order to support intelligence collection through interrogation. We must eliminate the phrase “enhanced interrogation techniques” from our discussion. Methods implied by this phrase do not “enhance” interrogation. Techniques of cruelty and torture are no enhancement nor are they part of the interrogation methods of the U.S. military.

From my experience as an interrogator, I consider rejection of torture both an affirmation of human dignity and an expression of support for excellence, integrity, and long-term sustainability in intelligence collection.

Whether and how we Americans conduct interrogations reflect who we are as a people. Humane treatment of detainees, and interrogation, are vital for our security and they are, when carried out with excellence and integrity, entirely consistent with each other. For Americans voting soon in presidential and congressional primaries and elections, now is the time to consider that what we need is national level leadership that supports interrogation and rejects torture.

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REGRESS: “Turkey Embraces Crudest Anti-Semitism.”

Turkey is showing its true colors; it is a country increasingly infected by hatred. It is also a country that is no longer safe for Jews and, frankly, will soon no longer be safe for Americans.

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NON SEQUITUR: “UK MP: Churches That Won’t Perform ‘Same-Sex Marriages’ Shouldn’t Perform Marriages At All.” Expect to see this kind of argument making its way into American political discourse.

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THEY’RE CERTAINLY NOT GETTING ANY HELP FROM WASHINGTON: “Church invites jobless to place resumes on altar.”

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FROM MY MAGAZINE: “It Adds Up: Colossians as a Guide for Discipling People Toward Holiness” by Jennifer Gale.