Seminary Student Reflects on Sept. 11

Jonathan Owens was on his way to class at Calvin College on Sept. 11, 2001 when he saw breaking news on a television of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

His girl friend, Jennifer, now his wife, stood next to him, as they watched, stunned and horrified, at what was unfolding in New York City.

When classes were cancelled, they turned from the TV, where images kept replaying of the twin towers falling in great plumes of dust and smoke, and headed with others to the college chapel.

“We prayed for the families, rescuers, police, and others involved — and we also prayed that this would not lead into a knee-jerk political reaction which would bring about a war against a then-unknown target,” says Owens, who is finishing the M.Div program at Calvin Theological Seminary.

“Little did we know how this would play out over the next 13 years, and a large part of my interest in interfaith dialogue has come out of the wide-ranging American reaction to these events and the consequences of that reaction,” he says.

This time of year — as the anniversary of Sept. 11 rolls around — he always recalls the significance of that day and what it has meant to him.

For instance, after college, he worked for a time at a church in Salt Lake City, Utah with people leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It initially lead to in-depth study of Islam, and further developed into an idea of starting a PhD program next year where he can study how our religious beliefs shape our public reality.

Meanwhile, Owens recently was one of five seminary students and five rabbinical students in North America to be selected, on the strength of short articles, to attend the annual conference of the of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

Held over the Labor Day weekend in Detroit’s Cobo Hall, the ISNA conference drew more than 20,000 Muslims from North America for seminars, plenary sessions, times of prayer and informal opportunities to share interfaith beliefs.

ISNA is an umbrella organization that meets every year to provide a place where American Muslims can come together for a “cultural reunion” and a safe place to discuss a wide variety of topics.

“Myself, a Christian, came to this convention with certain stereotypes and preconceptions, and I quickly found those inadequate to describe what I experienced,” says Owens in an article, as yet unpublished, that he wrote after attending.

 “The first thing that struck me is that just as there seem to be 37 different ways to pronounce ‘Masjid’ (Mosque), there is a multitude of expressions of Islam, similar to Christianity’s.”

Even though he already had a strong sense of the multi-facted nature of  Islam and its followers, he wasn’t quite prepared for what he experienced in Detroit.

“Whenever I would look around one of the Cobo’s rooms, even a small one, I was amazed at the diversity of people in attendance.

“I saw Muslims of every tradition, race, age, gender, and socio-economic status in attendance. There were college students, professors, business people, laborers, young couples, old couples, single folk, moms, dads, and kids.”

He met American Muslims, “some born here and others immigrants, who love this country. They expressed that they came here on purpose – to seek freedom of religion, to raise their families in peace, to find economic opportunity. I heard conversations about all of our religions working together to hold secularism at bay.”

He was invited to prayers and the Friday Khutbah (sermon), and each day from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m., he attended main sessions, meals, and a number of smaller conversations – 163 sessions to choose from.

“The topics ranged from practical, like making mosques accessible to those with disabilities, finding the ‘right one’ to marry, and navigating Obamacare; to fun, like how to use your camera phone to produce art or learning Arabic calligraphy,” he writes.

More serious issues addressed included dealing with secularism, protecting religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries, and finding peaceful solutions to Palestine.

“I learned when I was there that there is so much that we hold in common,” he says. “Many of the same issues we as Christians struggle with — the LGBT issue, young people leaving church or the mosque, and racism — are ones Muslims have.”

He says he was also reminded that Christianity “has denominations and they have schools of thought. They disagree, as do Christians, significantly on issues and practices.”

Beyond all of that, he says, is the difficult issue of how to deal with Muslim extremism: contain terrorists or try to wipe out the religion itself.

It was discussed at the convention and has been much on his mind as the anniversary of Sept. 11 is this week and the U.S. Congress is debating taking military action against the group called the Islamic State or ISIS.

“There are those who believe the only way that we will ever stop militant extremists who identify themselves with Islam is to annihilate the religion itself, but this is simply not true,” he says.

History has shown that violence only begets violence that creates desperation leading to even more suffering and violence.

“We need ways to build interfaith dialogue. In fact, our only chance as people of God to fight against a growing secularism in our society is to work together and respect each other.”