wfn.org | RESENDING WITH NOTE: 9-11 Anniversary Statement by National

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

If you e-mailed me earlier today for a sound file and/or interview, please
resend your request -- or better yet, phone me at 212-870-2252.  My e-mail
program seems to have "eaten" all incoming e-mails between about 12:30 and
3:30 p.m. ... Yeesh!  Sorry for the inconvenience.  Carol Fouke

STATEMENT BY GENERAL SECRETARY BOB EDGAR
OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES USA, NEW YORK, NY
For September 11, 2003

As we contemplate the sobering events of September 11, 2001, and their
tragic theft of human life and national innocence, let us never forget the
victims and their survivors, whose personal histories were savagely altered
on that day.   As we memorialize them, let us also renew our commitment to
be better stewards of the challenges of our time.  We must work diligently
to assure that such senseless atrocities never happen again, in the United
States or in any nation.  We must press tirelessly for justice, freedom and
peace in every troubled corner of our world, knowing that injustice, bondage
and war breed the kind of hatred that begets terrorists in every culture.

Let us wisely seek multinational partnerships in a foreign policy that
acknowledges the interdependence of the world in which we now live, and not
isolate ourselves in a foolhardy retreat from the global realities of our
time, where instant communication, rapid transportation, and free-flowing
commerce make every nation a neighbor to all the other nations, whether we
wish them to be or not.  Only when we live as friends and active, caring
partners with all our neighbors can we be secure as a free people.

And let us reflect on those conditions of national security that go beyond
defense and diplomacy.	No nation is secure unless its people are well
educated, healthy, and economically stable.  Today, America is dangerously
insecure in each of these areas, with declining investments in the education
of our children, the health care of our families, and the employment of our
work force.  A skyrocketing federal deficit, fueled by irresponsible tax
cuts, threatens the economic future of generations yet to come.   We have
work to do on these issues of national security, and they are urgent issues
indeed.

September 11 is just one date on the calendar, but it is a benchmark date in
our memories and in our agendas, as we stand boldly and proclaim the
American experiment still a glorious work in progress.	That will be the
most fitting memorial to those who perished on that fateful day.
-end-

For MP3 Sound File and/or Interview, Contact: NCC Media Dept., 212-870-2252
Web: www.ncccusa.org; Email: news@ncccusa.org

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