Words Of Wisdom

"The greatest memorial is not to be afraid. The Trade Towers may not be there, and we'll miss them. But that's not what makes us. We are what makes us. You be a tower yourself."
--THE REV. CALVIN BUTTS
Abyssinian Baptist Church, Manhattan

"I will never look at a firefighter the same way again. What is in someone, hundreds of them, to compel them to run into a burning building while everyone else is running out, just to save people they don't even know? Their bravery has become part of our collective national legacy. Their bravery dignifies us all."
--THE REV. BILL HYBELS
Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, Ill.

"Such inhuman acts, in the final analysis, are directed against all humanity, against civilization, against freedom, against all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam alike. For example, it is mentioned in the Bible: 'There is a time for peace, and a time for war.' Nowhere is it written that there is a time for terrorism."
--IMAM MOHAMMED GEMEAHA
Islamic Cultural Center of New York, Manhattan

"May we learn: that courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity to act in the presence of fear. Faith is not the absence of doubt, but the courage to believe in spite of doubt. Trust is not the absence of qualms, but the capacity to go forward despite misgivings.

We admit that we thought we were brave. We thought we were strong, but we had not expected what has come upon us this week."
--THE REV. MARY F. HARVEY
Grace United Methodist Church, St. Louis

"Today, the world is not the same as it was yesterday. If we are the same as we were yesterday, then it is pure folly."
--RABBI YAAKOV PERLOW
Agudath Israel of America, Brooklyn, N.Y.

"Thousands of blossoms, red, brown, white, yellow, black scattered on ground made tender by their falling.
This human body, more fragile than the dew drops on the countless tips of morning grass.
My wailing voice is the bright September wind and in the dark night, silence speaks:
I will die only when love dies and you will not let love die."
--BONNIE MYOTAI TREACE, SENSEI
Fire Lotus Temple, Zen Mountain Monastery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

"In the midst of the tragedy of Tuesday, Jesus Christ came to walk over the chaos. The passengers of the plane that crashed outside Pittsburgh knew they were going to die, and they took a vote, which was unanimous, and rushed the terrorists to take the plane down before it could reach its target. They did better than Peter did when Jesus told him that he, too, could walk over the chaos."
--THE REV. H. DANA FEARON III
The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, N.J.

"In the World Trade Center incident, we have suffered a double grief. Many of us lost friends and relatives. And now some of us face the stereotypes that because we are Muslims, we are somehow to blame. Do not be afraid. We have to protect ourselves because there is a lot of ignorance out there. But if someone calls us a name, glory in it, and understand it is coming from grief. We have to understand the agony people are feeling."
--AHMAD SHEDEED, DIRECTOR
Islamic Center of Jersey City, N.J.

"Sometimes, the grief, the sadness, the horror is overwhelming. All we can do is be silent unto God. And in the silence be touched."
--THE REV. MARGARET A. MUNCIE
St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Manhattan

"Underneath the debris is a foundation that was not destroyed. Now we have a choice: Whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation, or whether we choose to become stronger through all of this struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. And I believe that we are in the process of starting to rebuild the foundation. That foundation is our trust in God. That's what this service is all about."
--THE REV. BILLY GRAHAM
At Washington National Cathedral

"I hope you will all go out of your way in the days ahead to practice the second great commandment and love your Arab neighbors as yourself. Few outside the circle of those who lost loved ones in yesterday's tragedy are more surely its victims than are the millions of innocent Muslims whose God's name has been taken so savagely in vain."
--THE REV. FORREST CHURCH
All Souls Unitarian Church, Manhattan

"Must we be angry with those who do evil? Absolutely. We must also be angry at God, for to be angry with God, as Elie Wiesel has taught us, means to be in relationship to God. I feel God in my fury and love God in my bewilderment."
--RABBI DAVID WOLPE
Sinai Temple, Los Angeles

"If we could love even those who have attacked us, and seek to understand why they have done so, what then would be our response? Yet if we meet negativity with negativity, rage with rage, attack with attack, what then will be the outcome? These are the questions that are placed before the human race today. They are questions that we have failed to answer for thousands of years. Failure to answer them now could eliminate the need to answer them at all."
--THE DALAI LAMA

"America has been asleep, relaxing, taking it easy. But I want to serve notice on every evil, demonic force attacking us: we are awake now. We need to seek the face of God as never before, but I do not suggest that God has gotten angry at us and decided to allow the enemy to destroy us. I do not believe that this is the work of God."
--BISHOP T. D. JAKES
Pastor of Potter's House, Dallas, Texas

"Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say. Christian hope is based on this truth; at this time our prayerful trust draws strength from it."
--POPE JOHN PAUL II

"From Ground Zero I am having trouble seeing it, but I believe that there is another light to follow ahead. It is a light for all nations, and in this light there is no darkness at all. I am putting my feeble trust in this light, day to day, sometimes hour to hour."
--THE REV. JOSEPH E. GRIESEDIECK III
St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Manhattan