In light of recent debate over the location of mosques and the burning of books today I cannot bring myself to write a simple remembrance post. Because we haven’t forgotten the sadness or terror…but we have forgotten how it came to be and who we are.

911 was a result of hate, hate for the West, hate for people who believed differently than those who planned and carried out the attacks. And as a result too many of us have responded by letting the same kind of hate grow in our hearts, hate for all Muslims.

Some people say that Islam breeds violence, that Islam is the problem. The same people seem to overlook the violence and problems bred by other religions, such as Christianity. No religion is immune to interpretations which lead to hate and violence. Not all Muslims choose to interpret Islam that way, just as not all Christians choose to interpret the Bible to justify homophobia, hitting their children, or blowing up family planning clinics. If you want to burn Qur'ans because you think the Qur'an contains hateful things than you had better throw some Bibles on that bonfire pile too.

On 911 Muslims were victims too. Muslims were heroes too:

It is not al Qaeda that plans to build a community center in the same area of New York City as ground zero. Let us remember that.

Let us remember what America stands for, freedom of religion. Let us remember that all religions have motivated people to do evil things. Let us remember that the men who flew planes into the towers and the Pentagon did so because they hated and feared us. Let us remember that we want to be better than that. Let us remember that Muslims died that day, and served that day too.

Never forget.