Pacifica Institute Marked the 10th Year Since 9/11 (September 6th and 10th, 2011)
We marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with two separate events.
The first of the two events took place at the Pacifica Institute offices in Westwood. Sheriff Leroy Baca of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department made a thought-provoking address to the guests that filled our lecture hall.
Sheriff Baca spoke on the importance of focusing on the future. He spoke of the importance of outreach and sharing experiences, religious and otherwise. Realizing our common values brings us together in brotherhood and that is the only way forward, he said. Sheriff Baca asked the audience members to remember that God is the only one who can judge and what God never stops doing is loving. The job of our leaders is to realize this value rather than divide and pit constituents against in each other.
On September 10th, 2011 a panel of speakers was invited to share their reflections on the decade since 9/11. The speakers were Dr. Reuven Firestone of the Hebrew Union College, Dr. Gwynne Guibord of the Guibord Center and Dr. Ozgur Koca, a PhD condidate at Claremont Graduate University. All speakers jointly made it clear that any terrorist activity no matter from where or by whom it is conducted is a serious blow to human dignity, global peace and freedom. No matter what the grievances are such heinous acts cannot and must not be justified. Dr. Reuven Firestone talked about some biblical verses addressing war and treatment of others. He concluded that those verses dealing with war needs to be understood in their specific context but not as general rules, and that the Hebrew bible provide us with enough encouragement to act justly towards the Other and to love our neighbor. Mr. Ozgur Koca reminded us the Quranic message that each lifeis sacred and unique in the eyes of God. Mr. Koca touched on that the Quran also advises how to dealwith the injustices and grievances we encounter in our lives and the Quranic injunctions and prophetic tradition allow war only under a sovereign andproperly ordained state and only toput an end to persecution -even that of non-muslims-; and even in times ofwar indiscriminate killing of non-combatants, women, children and torturingotherwise ill-treated prisoners are categorically forbidden. Mrs. Gibort gave a short account of the developments in interfaith and intercultural dialogue activities in the post September 11 era. Many religious communities, Mrs. Gibort argued, responsibly acted to cultivate mutual understanding between diverse groups and to diminish enmity stemming from ignorance. She specifically praised Pacifica Institute for its diligent work to make a world a better place.