We are all 9/11 victims

I was not a direct victim on September 11, 2001. But I could have been, had the attackers considered my city a more desirable target than the US Capitol.

Twenty-five years ago today, Al Qaeda terrorists commandeered four passenger flights in the eastern United States. They flew the first two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. The third hit the Pentagon, across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The fourth, which took off later as United Airlines Flight 93, was near Cleveland, Ohio on its way to San Francisco when the hijackers gained control of the plane. They turned in in a southeasterly direction, toward Washington. Evidence indicates that the US Capitol was their intended target.

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On its new flight path, around 9:50 a.m., the plane passed almost directly over Pittsburgh, the only large city on the route to Washington. I was in one its tallest buildings, the 31-story Regional Enterprise Tower

On its new flight path, around 9:50 a.m., the plane passed almost directly over Pittsburgh, the only large city on the route to Washington. I was in one of Pittsburgh’s tallest buildings, the 31-story Regional Enterprise Tower, which had previously served as headquarters for the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). One of my employers, the agency that oversaw transportation and economic development planning for the Pittsburgh region, had received the building as a donation when Alcoa downsized its headquarters.

When I arrived for a meeting on the 23rd floor that morning, television monitors were already showing the first crash in New York. To my amazement, even as information about the second and third crashes became available, we continued our meeting and did not evacuate until about an hour later.

At 9:57 a.m., valiant Flight 93 passengers and crew, having learned through phone calls about the other hijackings, resolved to attempt a counterattack. Outnumbered and unwilling to give up control of the plane, the terrorists crashed it into a field. All 44 people on board died.

Had the hijackers known that they would not reach Washington, Pittsburgh would have been the best alternative site to perpetrate mass destruction. Had they aimed for Pittsburgh, the 62-story US Steel Tower would likely have been the preferred target, but the Regional Enterprise Tower, two blocks away, could have been hit as well.

Now Americans are punishing the wrong people. Not a single Christian victim of religious persecution has been admitted into the United States in the past 11 months

Today, 25 years later, commentators say that “the war on terror is over.” The US can hardly claim to have won that war, since the Taliban controls Afghanistan again. Every time (which is thankfully not very often) I pass through security hassles at an airport, I am reminded of the enormous costs and inefficiencies the US has endured since 2001 due to the success of Al Qaeda’s plot and other attacks on airplanes.

Even worse, now it often seems as if the US is on the side of terror. During the last two years, it has hesitated to defend Ukraine against the terror unleashed by Vladimir Putin, while treating Putin and hardline leaders from El Salvador to North Korea in a discomfortingly chummy manner.

Meanwhile, Americans are punishing the wrong people, including innocent Christians all over the world. Last week World Relief, the relief and development arm of the US National Association of Evangelicals, released a report indicating that not a single Christian victim of religious persecution had been admitted into the United States in the past 11 months.

Indiscriminate Islamophobia is rising as well, as I frequently hear Christian friends tell me that US security requires keeping all Muslims out

In a September 9 webinar, World Relief staff talked about how they have coped with 18 months of chaos resulting from the Trump administration’s cutoff of global humanitarian aid and refugee resettlement support, as well as its brutal treatment of legal immigrants. World Relief CEO Myal Greene spoke of visiting refugee camps in South Sudan and Burundi, where non-governmental organizations and the United Nations World Food Program have had to reduce their aid due to lack of funding.

According to a study conducted by World Relief and several partners last year, one in every 12 US Christians was at risk of losing a family member to deportation under current administration policy.

Indiscriminate Islamophobia is rising as well, as I frequently hear Christian friends tell me that US security requires keeping all Muslims out. They make no distinction between Islamists and peaceful Muslims, which makes as much sense as if Muslims blamed me for the professing Christians who breached the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Conspiracy theorists claim that once enough Muslims get into our country, they will all be pushing for the enactment of sharia law. To control my exasperation at such claims, I remind myself that many Christian friends used to spread conspiracy theories about the Illuminati, Jewish financiers, and the new world order. (I’ve included a link to the Wikipedia article on that last topic because my 1993 debunking of two such books is cited there, in the third paragraph under the “Conspiracy Theories” heading.)

While others imbibe conspiracy theories, real people are suffering. Let us remember the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001 with a renewed commitment to opposing real threats—including authoritarianism of all types—and bringing help and hope to those who suffer.

Bruce Barron, author or coauthor of seven books on religion and politics and a former US congressional aide, was editor of the World Evangelical Alliance’s theology journal from 2018 to 2024. Subscribe to his blog at brucebarron.substack.com.