“A way that would satisfy God”

What makes a young man a willing agent of his own and others’ destruction? His faith in a god who wants those things. Hijacker Atta’s note read: “Then every one of you should prepare to carry out his role in a way that would satisfy God.”30 Why would he put his faith in a god that wants so much death? Being an agent of god must be a comforting role. Being an agent of god that makes such a big bang assures him of his fifteen minutes of blazing light. Does he value the faith his superiors and fellow worshippers have in him? Does he enjoy bonding with men in a death wish? Does he enjoy satisfying a male leader? Is it easier to see the world in Manichaean black and white?

“Pray the morning prayer in a group and ponder the great rewards of that prayer.” (Atta’s letter) The letter describes his coming “reward” at least four times, in the excerpts alone. His faith requires indoctrination, a social network, and reward. “…the time between you and your marriage in heaven is very short. Afterwards, begins the happy life, where God is satisfied with you,… Know that the gardens of paradise are waiting for you in all their beauty, and the women of paradise are waiting, calling out, ‘Come hither, friend of God.’ They have dressed in their most beautiful clothing…” (Atta’s letter) Their god is satisfied; has their god paid up? Has the marriage been consummated?

Everyone has a god – Communists, fundamentalists, eco-advocates, humanists, atheists. What does your god want from you? What do you want from you? And what is the reward? The highest Jewish teaching is to “do the right thing” for its own sake. Or, the act itself is its own reward31. Could Atta and his fellow worshippers have acted as they did without confidence that they would be compensated? The act itself doesn’t seem to offer that much gratification.

We choose the gods we worship. We choose our values. We choose how to interpret our sacred texts. We can investigate and delete the cruel wishes of our hearts that drive us to cruel interpretations. Yet, it is much easier to be an instrument of a god than to think for oneself. In our heart of hearts, we might “know” what God wants, but others will surely know what god we worship by our acts. “God’s will” cannot be proved, it can only be enforced. “God’s will” is a weapon in the hands of vengeful people of all creeds. Was it God’s will or Abraham’s will to sacrifice Isaac, anyway? Keep God out of it. God has got a bad name.

The Mishnah, the 2nd century commentary on the Torah, writes that “a good heart” is the “good way” that subsumes all other good ways.32 “For Judaism, the heart symbolizes the seat of freedom, the decision-making element in man.”33 The heart discerns, and it can learn, with good teaching, to further clarify distinctions. Is the heart cultivated as a tool of discernment or mutilated into a weapon of hate? “It hath been told thee, O man, what is good, And what the Lord doth require of thee: Only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”34 God is quoted in the Hebrew Bible saying, “I place before you today life and good and death and evil…therefore choose life.”35 These are values that appear worthy of human beings.