by Scott Birch

Created on: November 02, 2008

Without a doubt, September 11th, 2001 has impacted the zeitgeist of North American culture dramatically, certainly affecting the way that we as a free nation perceive the world. Beyond the obvious manifestations of these affects, it's also possible to see that even the way we think about life and our view of religion has shifted over the course of the last seven years.

From what I've observed, it's obvious that 9/11 has made the faithful more devout and the skeptics more critical, but for those who had yet to make up their minds on the matter, they surely did on that day.

It was predictable when Christianity portrayed its best face during the days immediately following the destruction. News cameras focused directly on anyone who had a crucifix in one hand and the American flag in the other (literally or figuratively), and for a moment it seemed that the entire country had been converted. Perhaps the shock drove them to it, it is understandable.

What the media failed to broadcast was the other end of the belief spectrum: What did Atheists have to say about September 11th?

Of course I cannot speak for every unbeliever on the continent but I can give the perspectives I've observed from a couple public figures who are Atheists, namely Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, as well as give my personal opinion.

The search for religious faith has indeed been affected, but not necessarily in the way that is generally portrayed. It's reasonable to say that there were many people that were driven from their belief in God as a result of the attacks.

The reason is simple. September 11th made it absolutely impossible to ignore the dangerous repercussions of religious fundamentalism and how much it is affecting the world. However, "the world" got much smaller on that day. The problem hit home.

To say that the nineteen men who hijacked flights 11, 77, 93 and 175 were the most faithful people on those planes is an extreme understatement. They believed whole-heartedly that they were carrying out the most noble and righteous acts of devotion imaginable and would be rewarded for their loyalty (73 virgins was it? It must have been some comedian who first said that the Muslim religion doesn't specify the gender of those unfortunate trophies).

A Social Studies teacher of mine once remarked to our class "The attacks were not a result of religion," she carefully looks at the one young man in the classroom who happens to wear a turban, "They were motivated by pure evil."

While I do not take

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