What you are seeing, in all of this mess, is a general acknowledgemnet that security, as we knew it before the event, will be defined differently from that ugly moment on. People everywhere are scrambling to feel "secure" again, since having money, wearing nice clothes, driving the nice car, etc. doeasn't matter anymore. People are looking for something more to provide security. All of a sudden, people are being a lot more receptive to "god", granted, it's a god they define for themselves and put into their box. The US was founded by Christians, who were unable to practice their faith in England under the church/political rule of the time. They set up the government in the US not to be a christian government, but to make a safe haven for anyone to come and worship their own god, or not worship, as they saw fit. There was never an intention of injecting a christian god into the government, but likewise, people who claim "seperation of church and state" have it wrong as well. The government was not designed to ignore people's faiths, but rather accept and acknowledge diversity and have a place of freedom where people could practice their religion free from government infuence.
I am not going to promote my own Christian faith at this point, rather, I will say that the silence of godly people up until now was not a lack of practicing muslims, christians, Jews, whatever. But it was a sign that most people of faith had grown comfortable, and rather than be publicly spiritual, and openly pray in public and acknowledge their god, it was much safer to do it within the confines of their religious buildings. This tragic event has not only brought many of these people out of the woodwork, stepping up to the plate in this time of crisis, but many others who were not practicing any faith are now searching for a new definition of security. My church normally has about 885 in attendance at the service I usually go to. Last week, the first sunday after the disaster, there was over 1400 people. They had to set up overflow rooms for all the people. Do we think most of those extra people were seriously there to worship Jesus? Probably not, but it is representative of a search for spiritual answers. People are flocking to places of worship everywhere with a desire to say a prayer, or find deeper meaning to all this, whatever. This is not intended to be a slam on people who choose not to beieve in anything, rather, to acknowledge that some people are finding comfort in referencing a higher power right now. To me it's sad that in a few weeks or months, people will have put their god back into their pocket to be brought out next time a tragedy occurs, but it would be wrong of me by society's standards to judge people for not practicing what I believe. Within my faith, Christianity specifically, it is time to come out of the woodwork to show the world that Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are wrong, and are not representative of how most christians feel, just as most Muslims are stepping up to denounce bin Laden's views. Also, that we are not a faith that keeps God in our pocket, but that we worship him in times of joy as well as sadness.
